How To Clean Basketball Shoes For Better Grip, 7 Quick Ways To Improve Traction
The basketball shoe’s outsole needs to make full contact with the ground. Any dust or grime on the outside hinders the optimum contact between the basketball shoes’ outsole and the ground.
Hence you need to know how to clean basketball shoes for better grip. Good traction is my number 1 priority when I review any basketball shoes. Without best traction basketball shoes, you are at great risk of
- Losing the best shot in the game
- Not being able to stop, pivot, and go
- Getting injured on a hard basketball court floor
- Being out of the game for a season or two/ may cause you long-term injuries
Read on because, in this article, I will tell you all the possible ways to keep your baseball outsole clean from dust. All necessary equipment will include long-term and temporary cleaning tips to keep you going with good traction during the game.
How To Clean Basketball Shoes For Better Grip
There are several ways to clean the rubber or translucent outsoles. You can make your basketball shoes free from all the dust by using a wet towel, water, toothbrush, grip gel, sticky cleaning mat, vaseline, or hair spray. All the above methods are great for making traction like before. But make sure to get a grippy outsole. The ones that have narrow spacing between rubber grooves tend to accumulate more dust and grimes.
Moreover, the thin rubber melt sooner than later in the hot weather and fuses. It results in a flat outsole surface. So please choose the best gear first and take good care of the basketball shoes because it’s the major thing you want for your basketball game.
7 Proven Ways To Clean The Basketball Shoes For Best Traction
If you are facing frequent problems with the slippery outsole, try these methods. Read how to clean the shoes and repeat the one that works best for you.
1. Mop The Floor
It’s the old and easiest way to maintain the basketball shoes’ traction. It’s a tried and tested method that includes moping hardwood or Acrylic surfaces of an indoor basketball court.
Applying the regular mop on the floor will remove all the dust particles from the floor that sticks to the shoes.
For the most part, indoor basketball courts are cleaner than outdoor ones. But when you start playing on a court which is not cleaned daily, you will experience the slippery outsole problem after some time.
Dust can be invisible, but it is there. So make sure to maintain a tidy court, or you can slide on the dirty floor.
Check Out: Do You Need To Buy Basketball Shoes For Basketball?
2. Clean With Detergent, Water and Soft Bristle Brush
If the outsole of your shoe is dirty with dust stuck deep in between the grooves. Then you have to do a thorough cleaning.
To clean it, you will need a simple detergent and water solution. Take a brush with soft bristles and rub it between the grooves. The grimes and dust will come out stuck between the grooves.
Moreover, you can add baking soda to the solution to give the white outsole a brighter and whiter finish. This solution to clean the upper material will easily remove any stains from the shoe upper.
Related: Can You Put Basketball Shoes in the Washing Machine/Dryer?
3. Use Sticky Mat
Another simple trick to clean the basketball shoes is through the anti-slip sticky mat. Just keep your shoes on the mat and rub them against its surface.
It will pick up most of the dust stuck to the shoe outsole in the short basketball game, where it is hard to have a break for detailed outsole cleaning. The sticky mat will take away all the dust.
Check Out: How To Plan A Good Basketball Practice
4. Apply Traction Gel
Sports shoe gel is common in the market. They effectively increase the traction when you apply them on the outsole.
It’s a two-step process where you apply the gel in the first step, and second, wait for it to dry and voila! Your slip-free shoes are ready to rock the court again.
However, applying traction gel can be a temporary solution. The gel will only work for a few minutes if you are running on a dirty court. But it is surely a quick way to improve traction.
5. Use Water/ Saliva/ Sweat
You may have noticed players rub their palms on the shoe outsole in many games. That right.
When they experience their shoes sliding, they apply their sweaty palm on the shoe’s outer surface, removing most of the dust stuck there.
Alternatively, apply the wet towel on the outsole to quickly wipe the dust from the surface.
The same can be done using a few drops of water. Many players apply saliva on their hands and rub it on the outsole. It may sound unhygienic, but it does the job very well.
So if you are in a rush and want to quickly clean the dust, you can apply these tricks on your shoes.
6. Use Hair Spray
Hair spray is a coarse-textured spray that tends to stick on the surface. Just like grip gel, apply it first and wait for it to dry. The spray will improve the grip on the floor effectively.
But before applying, ensure your hair spray is sticky enough to do the job.
Spray a little amount on your fingers and rub it between the fingers. You can judge the stickiness this way.
7. Apply Vaseline
Vaseline is as effective as the gel that makes the shoes slide-free. Thoroughly clean the outer surface of the shoe and apply vaseline. It will repel the dust for a longer t
What Type Of Basketball Shoes Outsole Patterns Are Easier To Clean
Cleaning the shoe over and over again is a challenging thing. Sometimes you get a shoe that does not have good traction; these tricks will only do wonders if the outsole is grippy enough.
We want you to remember the two things to get good, reliable, consistent traction on outdoor and indoor courts.
- Get hard rubber compound outsole basketball shoes. They won’t melt and fuse when you play all day long on a summer day on an outdoor court. If you have a shoe with soft rubber grooves, then wear them on the indoor basketball courts only. Its the only way you can preserve their traction for a longer time
- The traction pattern of the outsole matters a lot. The narrow spacing between the patterns will accumulate dust quickly and be hard to wipe off. So get a shoe with thick grooves with wide spacing in between. That will make it easy to wipe and maintain the grip.
Conclusion
You should check our reviews of the latest basketball shoes to get the one that does not require frequent cleaning of the outsole.
You cannot buy many basketball sneakers in a season. Every new sneaker takes a break in time. So to avoid wasting time and money, get a basketball shoe that does not act as a magnet towards dust and is easy to clean with a quick wipe.
