I absolutely love my Giro lace up MTB shoes, they’re everything I could ever want: bright orange, stiff, bright orange, light, bright orange, etc.
But after about 6 months of use (on all my bikes, I’m one of those idiots who uses MTB pedals on the road), the soles have kind of compacted where the pedals sit, meaning there’s annoying vertical play between the pedal and shoe. I get that this can never be completely eliminated (otherwise it’d be impossible to clip in), but I’d like to get rid of as much of it as possible.

So, I’m thinking of putting a sheet of something between the cleat and damaged sole. What kind of materials would work for something like this? Is there anything tough enough while being not so thick as to make pedaling feel weird?

Crank brothers shoe shields sound like they may be what your after?

How about a piece of rubber mastic tape (like would be used on a chainstay) under the cleat?

I have the same pair of Giro shoes – rattle certainly more noticeable on an SPD pedal as opposed to 2- bar pedal like Time. You could try glueing some rubber sheet on the touch points on the pedal or build it up with ShooGoo?

SPD shoes that only last 6 months?? I’d get em replaced under warranty (for some Shimaos or Northwave that last YEARS)

Those crank bros things are exactly what I’m after, cheers for that!