I understand exactly what you are saying but i cannot afford to buy new boots and none of the companies i wrote too got back to me (except Red Chili but they could not provide any samples).
I am not going to tell any company that their rubber is crap. I am simply going to use my results to compare the boots.
The whole report is really on boots in general, the history, current market, future research, future ideas and progression. The friction testing will just add to the project and hopefully results will not be too far off. All the boots actually look to have had similar wear.
The rock type will just give me more results to look into and i think it will be interesting to see if sterotypical thoughts are true.
I wish i could have had new boots from a wide range of companies as this would make the whole thing more valid and reliable but ah well. Also this gives me a good way in critiquing my own work which you always get marks for! Haha! And can say for future research this perhaps should be done!!
I am also using a proper expensive machine used in earth sciences when calculating friction and the machine that is used for many of Trail magazines friction test reviews!
But as i say completely understand what your saying!