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Advice and Thoughts on Repair or Custom Insert for Oakley Travel Rep Vault

Oaks4me06

Oakley Beginner
12
53
Hey Oakley Forum,

I have several Oakley Travel Rep Vault's that are in need of fixing and I am looking to get any thoughts or feedback. Also, what are these cases actually called?

Has anyone had experience with repairing or replacing the interior foam inside these cases? Half are in decent shape with just needing the outer edges re-glued and others are in need of major repair with the outer edges torn in 3-4 places and starting to deteriorate into the sticky black tar.

Is there any resale value in keeping OEM/as-is or attempting to repair repair existing foam? Or should I just rip it out the inserts and replace with commercial custom foam inserts? I move a lot and want to carry my collection safely when moving.

Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks

IMG_6088.jpg
 
my 2 cents: they're useless and not very pratical for travelling etc. I keep mine in display case for the novelty sake, but even when closed up that is taking up valuable space and will be booted out when i need more room. Some people value original look and feel, some people value original 'trashed' status, and some people just value praticality.
 
Hey Oakley Forum,

I have several Oakley Travel Rep Vault's that are in need of fixing and I am looking to get any thoughts or feedback. Also, what are these cases actually called?

Has anyone had experience with repairing or replacing the interior foam inside these cases? Half are in decent shape with just needing the outer edges re-glued and others are in need of major repair with the outer edges torn in 3-4 places and starting to deteriorate into the sticky black tar.

Is there any resale value in keeping OEM/as-is or attempting to repair repair existing foam? Or should I just rip it out the inserts and replace with commercial custom foam inserts? I move a lot and want to carry my collection safely when moving.

Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks

View attachment 629048
I don't know the official name for them, but they came in various sizes/configurations/styles over the years, an seem to always be referred to as 'Oakley Rep Case'. The older style cases like the one shown with cutout for M-Frame are often the ones that turn into a tar mess, the later models which have the fleece on top like yours seem to hold together better but still will degrade over time and not be as firm as they were new.

If all your cases are in need of repair I don't see them retaining more value if you restore them to factory spec vs customizing them to your needs. An by the looks of the shown case I don't see much value in trying to re-glue what's left in it, looks to be in rough shape regarding the rigidity of the foam. As far as I know they weren't tailored to specific models (aside from the M-Frame one) but rather a general one size fits most for different size models. So even restored to factory spec they still aren't a solid protective case for travel, but rather a "convenient" way to carry 6-10 pair from your trunk into the store to show.

I've re-glued foam from the standard soft vaults as well as Pro M boxes, it works best when the glue fails (meaning the foam isn't stuck to bottom of the case) rather than the foam tearing off like yours shows.

I'd personally opt for replacing all of them with pluck n' pull foam. The benefit of pluck n' pull over the factory spec is customizing the fit just right for each particular pair. An as your collection changes over the years, you can simply tear out a rectangle of pluck n' pull and replace it with a new pluck n' pull section that you'll customize to w/e new pair is going in there. You can buy the stuff in bulk sheets in various thickness as well as the grid size of the piece you pull out.


Screen Shot 2019-06-26 at 2.25.11 PM.png
 
If you're looking for a solid travel case, that can take some serious abuse and be ready for world travel you'd be better off ditching the rep cases and picking up a hard pelican style case. I've picked up a few myself, for keeping various photo gear in. Most of the large cases have metal reinforced holes for a master lock or two, they're air tight, with just oakley's in them they'll surely float if you ever had the need for them to. An they're built to width stand some serious abuse, such as being run over by a car or thrown out the back of a plane by the kind baggage carriers.

A rifle case would be similar in design to the rep cases in the sense they're long and shallow, you can buy one with pluck n pull foam already inside or do it yourself to some used/gutted cases for cheaper.

IMG_4532.jpg maxresdefault.jpg
 
my 2 cents: they're useless and not very pratical for travelling etc. I keep mine in display case for the novelty sake, but even when closed up that is taking up valuable space and will be booted out when i need more room. Some people value original look and feel, some people value original 'trashed' status, and some people just value praticality.
Thank you for your thoughts. I usually lean towards original, but with the border line condition of not being practical to use, I'll most likely gut them and install new custom inserts. The only reason I was hesitant is because I haven't seen too many sales rep travel suitcases these days. I have six of the sales rep cases/vaults and the accompanying sales rep travel suit case with the five dividers that they slide into seamlessly. So it's a little more practical with them fitting perfectly in the hard suitcase.
 
I don't know the official name for them, but they came in various sizes/configurations/styles over the years, an seem to always be referred to as 'Oakley Rep Case'. The older style cases like the one shown with cutout for M-Frame are often the ones that turn into a tar mess, the later models which have the fleece on top like yours seem to hold together better but still will degrade over time and not be as firm as they were new.

If all your cases are in need of repair I don't see them retaining more value if you restore them to factory spec vs customizing them to your needs. An by the looks of the shown case I don't see much value in trying to re-glue what's left in it, looks to be in rough shape regarding the rigidity of the foam. As far as I know they weren't tailored to specific models (aside from the M-Frame one) but rather a general one size fits most for different size models. So even restored to factory spec they still aren't a solid protective case for travel, but rather a "convenient" way to carry 6-10 pair from your trunk into the store to show.

I've re-glued foam from the standard soft vaults as well as Pro M boxes, it works best when the glue fails (meaning the foam isn't stuck to bottom of the case) rather than the foam tearing off like yours shows.

I'd personally opt for replacing all of them with pluck n' pull foam. The benefit of pluck n' pull over the factory spec is customizing the fit just right for each particular pair. An as your collection changes over the years, you can simply tear out a rectangle of pluck n' pull and replace it with a new pluck n' pull section that you'll customize to w/e new pair is going in there. You can buy the stuff in bulk sheets in various thickness as well as the grid size of the piece you pull out.


View attachment 629665
Thank you for all the info, it was very helpful! I will mostly likely gut them and put new foam; either pluck n' pull foam or have custom made for certain frames depending on the price point. I'll check out online for the pluck n' pull and the local businesses for custom. The pelican case is a very cool idea! If I didn't already own the Oakley sales rep suitcase for these sales rep cases, I would go that route.
 
Thank you for all the info, it was very helpful! I will mostly likely gut them and put new foam; either pluck n' pull foam or have custom made for certain frames depending on the price point. I'll check out online for the pluck n' pull and the local businesses for custom. The pelican case is a very cool idea! If I didn't already own the Oakley sales rep suitcase for these sales rep cases, I would go that route.
Didn't know they made a suitcase specifically for carrying around the vaults - got a photo of said sale rep suitcase? If you're in a 4 season climate you could probably snag a hard travel snowboard case for travel for cheaper than a rifle case and have perk of having wheels to tote around..

For custom made slots you could mock something up in Polyethylene foam; its plastic base and pretty easy to cut with a box cutter or hot wire. Then move on to Ester foam (type OEM foam + pluck foam comes in) which you could do yourself with pluck n pull, or have someone else do it for you - the mock ups would help you convey what you're looking for w/o requiring the case maker from physically having the pairs on hand. An upolstery shop could probably do that for pretty cheap if you provided them the materials.

Or you can check out these guys for customized case work - https://mycasebuilder.com/customfoam

I've always gone the DIY route and used this place as the prices are good and plenty of options- foambymail.com/PNPCR/pick-and-pull
Screen Shot 2019-06-27 at 2.22.30 PM.png
 
Didn't know they made a suitcase specifically for carrying around the vaults - got a photo of said sale rep suitcase? If you're in a 4 season climate you could probably snag a hard travel snowboard case for travel for cheaper than a rifle case and have perk of having wheels to tote around..

For custom made slots you could mock something up in Polyethylene foam; its plastic base and pretty easy to cut with a box cutter or hot wire. Then move on to Ester foam (type OEM foam + pluck foam comes in) which you could do yourself with pluck n pull, or have someone else do it for you - the mock ups would help you convey what you're looking for w/o requiring the case maker from physically having the pairs on hand. An upolstery shop could probably do that for pretty cheap if you provided them the materials.

Or you can check out these guys for customized case work - https://mycasebuilder.com/customfoam

I've always gone the DIY route and used this place as the prices are good and plenty of options- foambymail.com/PNPCR/pick-and-pull
View attachment 629889
Oakley Sales Rep Case (6 Photos).jpg

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out. Enjoy the photos of the sale rep suitcase.
 
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