When should you heat mold your boots?

MalcolmstoddartI know this is a pretty specific question (and it may not matter), but when should you heat mold your boots? I have been told that you shouldn't heat mold them before you ski on them, and that you should do a few days first. Any input?

As a side note, I just bought atomic hawk ultras so both the liner and shell are moldable.

I would suggest molding the liners before you ski them. It will simulate what the boot will feel like after about 10 days on the hill. Once you ski them for 4 or 5 days, if you have any issues, talk to a bootfitter. There are things that can be done that aren’t permanent (footbeds, liner stretches, etc.). If those fail, you can heat the shell. That’s for your boot specifically (Hawx Ultra). Any other boot with a heat moldable liner I would suggest the same order.

@onenerdykid do you want to chime in if my advice is off? Not very experienced with your boots!

The entire purpose of boot-fitting is to get you into a boot that skis well and is comfortable. Do whatever it takes to get there.

That might mean the boot feels great from the start and you don't do anything to it: you love the out-of-the-box fit and that's awesome. In this case, don't touch the boot. You already won.

But, if something needs a little love or you just want to get the most out of the fit of your boot, there is no problem with heat molding a liner before you ski it. It will not degrade or weaken the boot in any way (provide it is done properly). In fact, some liners deserve to be heat molded before you ski them. There is no point in buying an Intuition liner or especially a Mimic liner and not heat molding it before skiing it. Simply skiing these types of liners will not cause them to sufficiently mold to you, they need to be heat molded.

This is especially true if you are feeling pain in the boot before you ski it. In this day & age, there is no need to suffer in order to get your boots to fit well and ski well. If you have a problem, you should address it before skiing it.

If your foot is wider than the shell, then no amount of skiing the boot will make it feel good. You cannot make the shell wider by simply skiing it; you will need to modify the shell in order to be comfortable.

A good boot-fitter will absolutely notice any red flags before you ski the boot. Always take care of a red flag before you go out.

TL/DR:
1. If the boot feels awesome, don't touch it.
2. If the shell is a good shape for your foot, but you want it make it even better, then heat mold the liner.
3. If the shell is too narrow for your foot, then expand it where necessary.

I usually recommend someone ski them 4-5 days before molding, mostly because I feel like I can do a lot more with their formulated opinion of the boot after they've actually skied them as opposed to just what they feel in store. Obviously some people want to dive head in to molding because they know it works for them and I'm happy to oblige. However, most customers usually end up heeding my advice and most of the time they don't even come back after the fact. Keep in mind my shop sells mostly 3-piece boots with intuition liners which, in my experience, tend to need less adjustments than 2-piece boots for the average skier.

It's all case dependent in the end, but just like Matt said above, if it feels great out of the box then run it! If it ain't broke don't fix it. I know myself, I ski the Hawx XTD 130 and all I had to do was throw my custom footbeds in and I was good to go without any molding or punching. I also have a paper thin and tiny/thin foot that's easy to work with though... haha