I’m on my second pair of Gel Nimbus and have found the sock liner (I think that’s what the inside fabric is called) has worn through in the heel after about 250km on both pair. Is this a common problem with the Nimbus? Never had this with other shoes.
Having said this- I wonder if these shoes are too big for me. The shoe store girl thought I needed the E width, and they felt super comfy. I bought a pair of Saucony Omni Grid on a whim cause they were on sale- same size, regular width. These feel tight when I put them on, but after a minute or so on my feet they feel fine. Result- no wearing of the heel fabric after ~300km.
So should I forever banish Asics from my closet or did I just buy shoes that were too big?
Hmm, no idea, I sell running shoes part time and have never had any problems, or at least heard of any as I use orthotics personally in any of the asics. The Nimbus is generally a very well recieved shoe, runs a bit narrow in the D so I’m assuming you got a 2E wide (only dress shoes come in E and 3E widths, sports shoes are generally 2E & 4E for some random reason).
To check your sizing put on a sock of the same weight you generally wear, put on both shoes, lace them up snugly making sure your heels are all the way back in the shoes while lacing them up. You want to check that you have minimal movement in the heel all the way through the midfoot, ie it should be snug up to your around your 5th metatarsal head (think the knuckle of your little toe) or approx to the end of the lacing. Your foot should match up with the width of the foam midsole meaning the edges of the shoe upper (they synthetic leather/mesh part) should basically go straight up around the edges of the shoe. If you’re bulging out then the shoe is too narrow and if you have a lot of midfoot slop the shoe is too wide. You should have what feeels like way to much room in the toe box meaning no contact with the toebox on the sides or fronts of your toes. Generally aim for about 1/2" of space between your longest toe and the end of the toe box in front of that toe. Again, check all this while standing.
If your heel is still moving around even though you have them sized right you might have to lace them a bit snugger or use a different heel lacing pattern to lock down the heel a bit more. I only mention the lacing snugness as I see a ton of casual runners complaining about sliding around or lifting out of the heels of their shoes and the most common reason is that the have their laces so loose that I can often slide a finger under the laces even with the laces tied and “snugged” up.
Anyways, good luck. Asics are generally tip toppity notch shoes and the Nimbus is one of the top nuetral cushioned shoes on the market. Doesn’t mean it’s right for you but it is a really nice shoe.
Happens to me with every pair of running shoes I own regardless of make. (I generally run in 2090’s although I am currently running in the new brooks adrenalines). It doesn’t seem to bother the back of my foot or how the shoes fit so I’ve never worried about it.
I always figured it had to do with the shape of my foot. Is the wearing causing discomfort?
happens to me too…my feet don’t notice it and i run that way for weeks and the uppers fall apart…i only come across it by happenstance, but it happens to me to
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Thanks for the fit suggestions Tai. I tried the Nimbus vs. Grid and based on your criteria the fit in the Nimbus is OK. I forgot to mention I use custom orthotics in both. The grid feels much stiffer- now that I’m used to that fit the Nimbus feel a bit sloppy. My chiropodist scolded me for lacing too tight in the past, so I’ve been trying to get used to looser laces.
One more question- I think the Grid 5 are a stability shoe, no? I’ve been wearing these with my orthotics- any problem with doing that? In the past I’ve always used a neutral shoe with orthotics.
hmm, thought you meant the original sockliner as in the original insert/insole that was in the shoe. I’m assuming you take that out to drop in your orthotics so you must be talking about the mesh layer below the original insert. Your orthotic is probably just catching on it and rubbing through it. You might want to try some baby powder or body glide on the bottom of your orthotic to cut down the friction a bit, it’ll also quiet down your shoes if they squeak at all.
On the omni issue, yes the omni is a stability shoe and actually comes in two versions an “ultimate” stability version and a standard but both have a LOT more correction than the nimbus. Whether this will be a problem for you or not depends more on your biomechanics and what the orthotic is meant to correct (severe overpronation, morton’s neuroma, fallen lateral arch, etc) than anything else so there’s no generic answer for this. But yes it could possibly prevent a problem is your stability level with orthotic+nuetral shoe is perfect and the omni+orthotic might have a bit too much correction causing you to actually supinate or underpronate a bit, ie it might actual correct for the excess rolling in to the point of making you roll outward. Quick test which may or may not help. If the omni’s are pretty worn place them side by side on a flat surface and look from the back to see if the midsole is smashed down excessively on the outsides (lateral) which might actually cause the shoes to lean a bit outward/apart. If this is the case and the Nimbus wear more evenly than yes you might want to stick to a good stable cushioned shoe+orthotic versus the stability+orthotic but honestly there’s no way to tell over the net…
Anyways, as long as you like the shoes keep wearing them. The Omni’s are excellent shoes, nice and durable, great stable base and good cushioning with an upper that snugs down real nice without many hot spots. Good luck.
Right Kiri- I was referring to the fabric in the heel of the shoe.
The Grid feel more snug and “stable”. I’ll keep an eye on the wear pattern as you suggest to see if the orthotics are causing an over correction. They are on treadmill-only duty for another month or so.
Can you be a bit more specific on the “grid”? That is a system that Saucony uses in a few of their shoes. It would be like describing a nike shoe as “air”. There are quite a lot. Look at the tounge and it should say…“omni” “guide” “ride” “triumph”, etc… Or, if all else fails, look at the medial part (inside part) of the midsole and if there is grey material, it will help us figure out what shoe it is. But, some shoes do have deeper heel cups, much as the Sauconys have been known for having a stiffer collar on them. What could be happening is that your orthotic has raised up your heel a bit and causing a less snug heel fit. This happens in some of my shoes, but never caused a tearing in the sock liner. You will blister at some point if you haven’t yet with the current Nimbus. Let’s figure out what Saucony shoe you have first, and go from there…
Eric- the Saucony shoes are the Omni 5. They do feel quite snug though the heel and have no sign of wear (although they only been used indoors). The orthotics do feel very “high” in the Saucony shoes (compared to Nimbus and a past pair of Mizuno wave Inspire). Didn’t like this at first, but after a few km I got used to it and now quite like the fit. (Yes I removed the insoles that came with the shoes)
The Nimbus have indeed caused blistering/irritation on the heel once the sock liner started to rip. I put some duct tape over the rips and use the shoes for trail runs (the soles still seem fine and the km are <300). What you say about the heel fit is interesting- have you tried Nimbus with your orthotics? Visually it is clear the orthotics sit lower in the Nimbus.
I have the SAME exact problem. I have bought the Gel Nimbus 14 three times and also the GT1000. The GT1000 I had for 2 years and ran way too much in them (got too lazy to get new shoes) but the heel fabric is still in tact. The three pairs of Gel Nimbus 14’s are ALL ripped fabric all behind my heels and all 3 of them happened after running between only 80-100 miles. Ridiculous. I’m so upset because they are the best shoes I’ve ever run in but I can’t afford to keep paying $139 for new running shoes every 2 months when I should be able to run 200-300 miles in them easily. Now I don’t know what to do with them because my heels have repeatedly blistered from them rubbing on my heels during runs, yet the rest of the shoe is structurally intact and still has quite a bit of wear left in them. I haven’t tried the duck tape, but maybe I will. I just hate to throw them all out. They still LOOK new. One thing I have done is wear bandaids on my heels (inside my sock) and a cotton face pad over that as well (also inside my sock), then I wear thicker socks as well. But I was glad to at least see your post as that gives me hope that maybe its just a Gel Nimbus 14 problem and won’t be an issue with the 15. I am willing to get 15 a try otherwise I will have to switch to another ASICS or another brand of running shoe.
I wrote that post over 5 years ago. That was the last pair of Asics I bought.
I found the New Balance 1060 accepts orthotics much better. I have been using these as my training shoe for 4 years with zero injuries and they last forever.