How to Fix Squeaky Shoes Bottoms – Best Ways

by Jennifer Porterfield | Last Updated: March 24, 2021

Are your shoes squeaky? If yes, then you are in the right place. I’m a bit of a sneakerhead and I tend to spend too much money on sneakers. I love shoes! I am sure a lot of women and guys can relate. I recently bought a pair of Adidas sneakers for $150 bucks. Guess what? After a couple of weeks, the shoe bottom became very squeaky. I was a bit annoyed, but knew there had to be a solution.

So, as a sneakerhead, I started experimenting to fix my squeaky shoe bottom. Then finally found 10 best ways to fix squeaky shoe bottom. Below you will find how I fix the squeaky shoe problem.

Table of Contents

• How to Fix Squeaky Shoes Bottoms? (10 Best Ways)
  • 10 Best Ways to Fix Squeaky Shoes Bottoms
  • 1. Improve Traction on New Shoes
    • Sanding the sole
    • Using a Dryer Sheet
    • Spray it with a Grip Adhesive
  • 2. Fix Wet Water Damage
  • 3. Reattach Loose Parts
  • 4. Sprinkle Baby Powder on Shoe
  • 5. Soften Your Soles
  • 6. Apply Some Petroleum Jelly
  • 7. Throw the shoes on the Dryer
  • 8. Apply WD-40
  • 9. Rub the shoes with a dryer sheet
  • 10. Rub the shoes on a Saddle Soap
• Conclusion

How to Fix Squeaky Shoes Bottoms? (10 Best Ways)

10 Best Ways to Fix Squeaky Shoes Bottoms

1. Improve Traction on New Shoes.
2. Fix Wet Water Damage.
3. Reattach Loose Parts.
4. Sprinkle Baby Powder on Shoe.
5. Soften Your Soles.
6. Apply Some Petroleum Jelly.
7. Throw the shoes on the dryer.
8. Apply WD-40.
9. Rub the shoes with a dryer sheet.
10. Rub the shoes on a Saddle Soap.

1. Improve Traction on New Shoes

You need to improve the traction on your new shoes but if the shoes are still under warranty then just get your new shoes replaced for brand new shoes, if the warranty is expired or voided then follow these steps.

There are many reasons why shoes make a squeaky sound the one reason is that there is a smooth rubber on the soles that would cause the bottom of the shoes to squeak. So to fix this you need to roughen up the soles to get rid of that smooth rubber on the sole.

To Improve Traction on your new shoes, you can follow these methods.

• Sanding the sole
• Using a dryer sheet
• Spray it with a grip adhesive

Sanding the sole

If you want to sand the sole then just get fine-grain sandpaper or get this cool sanding sponge on Amazon, this is really helpful. I have used this sanding sponge and it does the job better than a regular sanding paper. Sand the sole of the shoes with the sanding sponge or paper. Doing this will remove the smooth rubber that is causing this squeaky noise.

Using a Dryer Sheet

This method is to rub the bottom of the sole using a dryer sheet. Its very simple. Just rub the bottom of the sole using a dryer sheet.

Spray it with a Grip Adhesive

This method is to use a rubber sole spray to improve the shoe’s grip or shoe’s traction. If you are looking for suggestion then get this Performance Grip Shoe Spray on Amazon. I have used this one and it worked wonders. Just spray a coating at the bottom of the sole and let it dry for a while. Just makes sure it doesn’t get wet for some time till it drys out completely.

2. Fix Wet Water Damage

This is huge. This is one of the main causes of the squeaking shoe bottom. I bet the water damage was the issue for my squeaky shoe. This is common, you get expected to keep the shoe dry all the time because shoes are mostly outdoors.

Read This: Best Quiet Shop Vac

There many ways to fix wet water damage on shoes such as using a hairdryer or throwing the shoes on the radiator or throw the shoes on the dryer.

Remove all the parts of the shoes such as the laces, insoles, and others. You can just a hairdryer or dryer to completely dry the shoes but there is a chance of damaging the shoes with those. My suggestion would be to keep the shoes in the sunlight for a whole day. Make sure you take it off because you don’t want to make it wet by raining making the issue much longer.

Other methods are stuffing your shoes with rice or newspaper. These two will soak up all the moisture on the shoes.

3. Reattach Loose Parts

Loose parts on the shoes also are a big reason for squeaking shoes. There are two places that you need to concentrate on tightening such as the inner part of the shoe and the outer part of the shoe. In these two places, there are multiple layers that you need to take care of.

If they are loose then tightening them and if they need to be glued then glue them with a strong adhesive glue.

4. Sprinkle Baby Powder on Shoe

This is a very effective method to get rid of squeaky shoes. Moisture is one of the main reasons for the squeaky noise and baby powder is known for removing moisture from any type of surface. Use some baby powder or talcum powder on the inner sole and also under the inner sole and let it dry for a while. The baby powder will absorb the moisture and hopefully will rid of the squeaky sound from it.

5. Soften Your Soles

If your shoes are brand new then they will cause a lot of squeaky noise because the soles of the shoes are very hard. It will take a long time to soften the soles. So you can speed up the process by using sandpaper to soften the soles. Just rub the sandpaper on the soles for some time making it soft. Hopefully, this will fix the squeaky sound in the shoes.

6. Apply Some Petroleum Jelly

Apply some petroleum jelly to the insoles of the shoes. Just smear a thin layer of petroleum jelly such as Vaseline under the insole of the sole. This will fix the squeaky noise on the shoes.

7. Throw the shoes on the Dryer

Throw your shoes into the dryer. It might sound dumb but trust me it works. If there is water trapped in the shoes that would cause the shoes to squeak. The dryer will make sure the trapped water is dried.

Read This: How to Soundproof a Floor

Add a little bit of fabric softener on a sponge and toss the sponge into the dryer with the shoes. Run the dryer for 5 minutes not more than that or the shoes could shrink and damage more. Hopefully, this would fix the squeaky sound.

8. Apply WD-40

For this method, you need WD-40. WD-40 is a compound or also called as Silicon Spray. WD-40 is used for a lot of stuff, it has a lot of applications.

Spray the WD-40 on a cotton ball or a cloth and apply it to the outside seams of the shoes. This could fix the squeaking issue. Don’t apply to Suede and other regions, this could damage the shoes permanently.

9. Rub the shoes with a dryer sheet

Rubbing the shoes with a dryer sheet can fix the squeaking issue or you can try placing a dryer sheet under the insole so it would act as a buffer to stop the noise.

Read This: Best ways to soundproof a window

10. Rub the shoes on a Saddle Soap

Shoelaces can be the culprit for most squeaky shoes. But people ignore it. You might be wondering how can laces be an issue. right. When you are walking, your laces on a leather shoe will rub against the shoe and that could be the source of the noise. So to fix this rubber the lace on a saddle soap to moisture the lace.

Conclusion

The annoying shoe squeak problem has been solved! Hopefully, you followed one of the ten choices provided earlier to fix your squeaky shoe bottoms. If you discover another solution to fix squeaky shoes, please drop it down in our comment section below.

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