How to repair High Heel Shoes for a few dollars

A very easy guide on repairing high heel shoes for a few dollars.

The damaged high heel shoe culprit, notice the lack of any heel and the exposed dangerous metal pin.

Damaged high heel, notice the metal pin protruding

Damaged high heel close up

The first task is to remove the old metal pin, depending on how worn the heel is depends on the ease of doing so. If there is a little rubber still visible or about 1mm of the pin showing it will be quite easy. I like to use a vice to squeeze the protruding head and then pull the shoe while rotating left and right, it should be easy enough with pliers, only a little more fiddling around.

If there is very little of the metal pin protruding and you are finding it very difficult to get a good grip on it, I sometimes cut about 1mm of the white plastic heel around the pin with a knife to expose more of the pin.

Remove the metal pin in a vice or with pliers

Once the pin is removed, give the heel a file to make everything nice and flat. Notice quite a bit of wear on the heel, depending on how fussy the owner is, you can remove any hanging leather and give the heel a nice coat of black paint. Personally, I don’t think it matters as it is quite hidden when worn.

Metal pin removed

After a double spray of flat black paint.

After a double coat of flat black spray paint

Now, I purchased 10 pairs of 10.5mm (7/16″) replacement heel tips for £7.50 (roughly $15 Australian, including shipping to Australia) on eBay. I have found that the majority of heels are around 10mm, there was one instance I had a stiletto of roughly 8mm and all that was required was some grinding/filing to obtain the required size. The shoes pictured are 10.5mm.

Replacement heel tips

In some cases the size of the pin hole may be too large for the regular 2.9mm (7/64″) pin, so some convertors to 3.1mm (or what they call Flexitubes) may be required. I purchased 8 pairs for £2.85 (roughly $5.7 Australian, including shipping to Australia) from Stiletto Heel Tips Online.

Flexitubes - converts 2.9mm pin to 3.1mm pin

To fix the new heel to the shoe, first make a very basic shoehorn. Notice the wood is at an angle, as the sole of the shoe as actually at an angle to the heel. A slightly thicker piece of wood would have been better.

Very basic shoehorn

Hammer the new heel all the way down till the plastic heel is touching the shoe’s heel. Make sure it is facing the right direction, the curved size facing back, and the flat side facing front.

Hammer the new heel tip into the shoe

The completely repaired high heel shoes for the cost of less than $2.50 Australian.

Completely repaired high heel shoes


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Comments

21 responses to “How to repair High Heel Shoes for a few dollars”

  1. Sophia Williams Avatar
    Sophia Williams

    Your article is wonderful! Hold it. And my favourite high heel shoes is christian louboutinshoes , they are very nice and sexy !! Recommend christianlouboutingirl.us online store ! Thanks !

  2. Adrian Avatar

    Hey … I found this site by mistake. I was looking in Yahoo for Registry software that I had already bought when I came upon your site, I must say your website is really informative, I just love the theme, its amazing!. I don’t have the time at the moment to fully read your site but I have bookmarked it and also signed up for your RSS feeds. I will be back around in a day or two. thanks for a great site.

  3. online fashion shopping Avatar
    online fashion shopping

    I am a self confessed shoe freak! i have more than 1000 pairs, although i have worn only half of them, i still continue on my crusade to find that perfect shoe, only thing is, i nearly always think it’s the perfect pair at the time of purchase, but the high quickly fades once i get my credit card bill! i thank you for your “How to repair High Heel Shoes for a few dollars | t’s technology blog” page. It gave a true fashion enthusiast the perfect fix!

  4. zbsports Avatar
    zbsports

    great tips that is the thing i need to know…to make my repair cheaper…

  5. Sperry Avatar
    Sperry

    I happen to click on your site last and had given up trying to find how to fix my heel and was going to take it to the shoe repair shop. I was SO happy to see pictures of exactly what my shoe looked like!! In less than an hour I got the old metal pin out of 5 heels! thank you So much!! great stuff!

  6. Josie Avatar
    Josie

    thanks for the tip so easy thanks again 🙂

  7. Paige Avatar
    Paige

    These are definitely some great tips on shoe repair! I try to repair my old heels when needed, but I’ve actually been using this cool product called IdealHeel on all of my new ones. Basically it’s this new footwear accessory that you actually add on to your heel and it prevents any damage from occurring. It also makes it so much easier to walk in heels, especially on difficult terrains. A definite must have! http://www.idealheel.com – and all of the info is listed on the website!

  8. […] Pictured: Equally unacceptable. (Via) […]

  9. […] Pictured: Equally unacceptable. (Via) […]

  10. Cap'n Dan Van Blarcom Avatar

    Thank you for the great site, I just fixed my wife’s heels with your help. I found it better to use my vice to squeeze the new heal in – worked well. Thanks again!

  11. Christina Avatar
    Christina

    You don’t have to buy your heel tip replacements through ebay, you can get them at http://www.newheeltips.com also. It’s better this way, because you can buy the exact size shape and color that you need instead of getting a huge bag of the same size tips (it’s not like you’re a cobbler!) If you get in the habit of changing them out yourself before they get too damaged, your shoes will last longer.

    1. MECTILE Avatar

      Christina, and you forgot to mention that buying from newheeltips.com is 4 times the price compared to buying from eBay, and that isn’t even including shipping!

  12. Kirsten Avatar
    Kirsten

    Thank you for this great post. I’ve from the Netherlands and just recently found out that I can purchase them from heelsrus.nl. I found this weather good, since I can send them back if the tips aren’t the right size.
    Well, I just very enthusiastic! THank you for this great post!

    Kirsten

  13. primigi shoes Avatar
    primigi shoes

    Almost every woman has a pair of favorite high heels. However, wearing the heels too much can lead to the rubber part of the heel breaking. Accidents also contribute to the heel tip chipping off. Women can save their favorite shoes without visiting a costly shoe repairmen.

  14. Sue Dittmann Avatar
    Sue Dittmann

    Where can you get replacement tips for chunky pumps?  I cannot get on newheels.com to see if they have them, but all the other sites seem to be for stilleto type heels.  Help, I bought a pair of almost Donald J. Pliner pumps at a thrift shop last year for less than $10, but now the tips need replacing!  I do not want to have to throw these shoes out because of this or pay a cobbler to replace them.

  15. Migmadmarine Avatar
    Migmadmarine

    dude,u need to clean up the clutter on that work bench

    1. Travis h Avatar

       haha, yeh

  16. Clarissa Avatar
    Clarissa

    Hoard much? I agree with Migmadmarine.

  17. CatM Avatar
    CatM

    Holy crap that looks like shit and you just spent $50 on wood, tools, tips and files. Taking mine to the shoe repair guy, he’ll do it for $5.

  18. shoeselector Avatar

    A bit of wear on the heel, depending on how fussy the owner is, you can remove any hanging leather and give the heel a nice coat of black paint. Personally, I don’t think it matters as it is quite hidden when worn.

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