Laces eating through the leather of my boots

[Chellybeans]

Hey all, happy new year! Question for you!

Been skating for three or so years, singles (more of a spinner), recently upgraded from a Risport Royal Pro to an Ice Fly.

Background info - Should probably preface this by saying I've had a horrendous time with finding boots that fit. I've traveled across the country a couple of times, both were professional fittings, finally settled on the ice fly (B width). Everything feels good except for the slightest bit of heel slip, but due to the unfortunate shape of my foot, it's happened in everything I've tried on or skated in and Ice Flies were the best fitting option I had available to me (Australia, so options are very limited as is, let alone for narrow feet). To get my heels to stay put, I have a small heel insert inside both my boots which helps a lot, and when I tie my skates super tight at the ankle, I can skate as normal.

Trouble is, I had an issue with my Royal Pros where the laces eventually wore through the top eyelet so much that they were quite literally on the verge of snapping, due to how tightly I had to tie at the ankles (these were also a B width). I'm now worried my Ice Flies will do the same due to the amount of pressure the laces put on the boots in that area. My Ice Flies are fine for the moment, as they are still new, but I want to try and avoid the same issue.

My question is, would it be daft to consider getting a metal grommet put in on the top eyelet holes in each boot?
Otherwise, what should I do? Has anyone else had this issue?

(my old royal pros, for reference, with the laces in the early stages of wearing through the leather. It got right to the stitching to the point skating was unsafe, in the end)
https://imgur.com/gallery/skate-EShbqC0

Thanks so much for reading! (and sorry for the essay! )

 

[tstop4me]

* In terms of mitigating damage to the top eyelets, installing metal grommets is reasonable. I have Jackson Supremes. Their top row of eyelets (recessed because of positioning of ankle flex notches) come standard with metal grommets.

* You could also try to reduce the need for such extremely tight lacing at that spot. Try inserting a sponge foam tongue liner in between the tongue and the foot in the region of the ankle joint to help seat your heel more firmly. Width ~1/2" less than width of tongue. Extending from ~1.5" below top eyelet to ~1.5" above top eyelet. Thickness ~1/4" to ~3/8" (uncompressed) soft squishy sponge foam. For initial trial, you can use suitable packing foam you might have on hand. If that works, get soft Poron and cover all sides with moleskin for durability..

 

[IceM]

Higher end boots have reinforced eyelets at the top (Royal Primes for example). Also, the way Edeas are laced doesn't put the same kind of pressure on the eyelets, so you shouldn't have much to worry about, even if they don't have reinforcements.

As a general tip for the future, when you tighten the laces, especially when they're laced from inside/out like people usually do for brands like Risport (although it doesn't really matter which way you do it for those; I mix both), you want to pull the laces outwards, not up. When you pull them straight up hard, you're creating a lot of friction on the top of the eyelet, which is the primary reason why the laces start eating through the material. For your Edea's, same thing, don't just pull them up, pull them out instead. And the good thing about the "Edea" lacing is that the laces lock themselves better, so you don't even need to pull them up at all that much, like you might have to with your Risports (because the laces can loosen as you let go of the tension; with your Ice Flys, much less so).