boot cuff rivet wear

I am currently on my 3rd pair of AT boots since joining the backcountry crowd. I have had wear issues with the plastic on the boot cuff where it interfaces with the rivet, particularly on the outside rivet (the one that does the canting adjustment). The plastic elongates, causing a lot of slop to develop, and the boots lose their secure solid feel on the downhill. The boots i have used are Scarpa Denali, Garmont Megaride, and now Scarpa Maestrale. All 3 have done this, and it is the issue that forces me to retire the boots and move on to the next. I am not a big guy, about 175# and 6' tall, and also older (55). All these things would lead me to think that i am pretty easy on the gear, but the boots just don't hold up. In fact the maestrales are wearing at a rate much faster than the 2 previous pairs. Any thoughts or suggestions?

put in new larger rivots

Check out the thread on Megaride boot cuff rivets from nearly two years ago.

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=17150.0

I experienced the same thing and contacted Garmont through their website. They asked me to send a digital photo of my boot and then rushed me two sets of superior replacement cuff fasteners at no cost, even though my Megarides were around five years old. I now always carry the spare and the hex key in my bag of field repair tricks.

If you still have your Megarides, you might be in luck. As you can see, others have found good reasonable repair solutions from local shops and manufacturers. I rarely have a problem I can blame on the maker, but when I do, I always contact them or the supplier. They have always been very anxious to make me happy. It is a growing market that is well connected and the makers know early on what their defects are. They don't want that splashed all over the headlines, but they seem to be quick to resolve individual complaints.

It is usually fun getting new gear, but I prefer to totally wear out my old stuff or let a friend break it for me. I hope this helps.

Alpy- since this is the outside pivot (canting bolt) I can't replace it with larger rivet. I need the canting adjustment.

Don- I no longer have the megarides, but when i did i had the rivet (inner) replaced at a shop, and like you carried the field repair bolt from garmont in my pack. Good advice.

I guess I should have been more straight forward in my request for advise/help/problem solution. I was hoping that someone had developed a fix for this obvious weak area in AT boots, by developing a bushing-/insert, or something like that to install after the boots had reached a point where they would otherwise need to be retired. Once again, any thoughts or suggestions? Ron