When to retire tennis shoes and/or re-string?

[jasoneclow]

I play an average of 1.5 hours every day. I am a 4.0/4.5 tweener all court "chase everything down" singles player. Contrary to most of my peers, I don't seem to wear out shoes or break strings often. I wear pro-level shoes (Barricade, Propulse, V-Pro, 3.3 Ballistics, etc.). And I string with nat gut 17 mains w/Banger rough crosses in the low 50s and can go 3-6 months on a set of strings.

Questions:

1. Aside from the obvious (wearing out tread, holes, etc) how often should I be changing out shoes based on foot cushioning compression/degradation. If you take care of your shoes, is there a point where you could be damaging your feet, joints, etc. by continuing to play on worn out shoes? What designates worn out?

2. Aside from the obvious broken string, how often should I be restringing my racquet?

 

[jasoneclow]

Forgot to mention, I play indoor hard courts from Nov - March and clay courts outside from March - Oct.

 

[lim]

Other things I would consider are arch support and condition of uppers/lateral support. For me, aside from worn out treads, if they aren't snug anymore and are feeling floppy and the sides give too much when transitioning on the court, I'd think about replacing them.

 

[WildVolley]

You'll find a wide divergence of opinion on these questions.

I'm of the opinion that shoes don't really need much cushioning, so I don't replace them on that basis. I replace them if they don't give support, which would mean that the shoe has worn unevenly or something has actually broken under the foot bed. Otherwise, I wear them until they develop a hole in the sole or the upper rips out.

In an ideal world, you'd replace strings based on how they play. Simply put, if the string bed is still giving you a feel and performance that you're happy with, there's no reason to replace the string. I play with poly, and as the string bed drops tension, they eventually play "mushy" and I normally restring before they break.