ECOproFOAM Helmet Padding Replacement

[Dunsnd]

So currently I have been using the eco pro foam in my Bauer 960xpm for roughly 3 weeks now, I thought i would post to give a basic run down of how I replaced it. To start I’ve had my 960 for nearly 4 years and roughly 4-5 seasons of ice nearly daily, the manufacturing date was in April of 2016 so as you could imagine the padding was pretty worn out by this time and it was honestly starting to almost fall out in some spots on the helmet, I only replaced the foam as hopefully I’ll get a new helmet but didn’t currently have the cash to replace mid season, so I ordered the mask padding replacement from goalieparts (https://goalieparts.com/products/ECOKIT.html) in hope that this will suffice until I can get a new helmet. 
 

So fast forward to installing it I thought it would be super easy as just taking out the old foam and replacing it but it was a little more than just that. so to start I took everything apart of the mask (that I could) as having this for a few years I didn’t even think about there being potential rusting in some spots which there were.

I had to X-acto knife the lower half of the padding as those screws were rusted into my shell, the other thing I didn’t realize at the very start was that the screws had a anchor into the padding and these “anchors” are required to install things such as the cage and what hold your straps on, so I cut those out and used the included instant contact glue to put them back into the mask (pictured below) before I started laying out the padding and installed it. 

Installing the backplate was probably the hardest thing that I had to do while installing it as the shape of the Bauer backplate is a little different than the foams are made for so you can see the lines that I made but I had to cut little slits in them so that the foam would fold properly onto the back plate.

After that I moved onto the main sections and surprisingly to me I didn’t have to cut anything to fit as there are a good amount of options that are pre-cut, I included the pictures of the final and I was happy with how I laid out the foam, I still have some left over and when I first installed it I didn’t use the contact glue as there was an adhesive on the backside of the foams, so far again using this almost daily for three weeks I have had no problems, the foams are super comfortable and you can customize it just how you want it to be on your head, as I did stack some of the thinner pieces in a couple different spots on the helmet (forehead and temples)

Obviously this was not just a little project as this took me roughly 4 hours from start to finish to complete with just planning out how I was going to do this along with working around a few rusted bolts. Hopefully this will come in use for anyone that may be in the same situation and is looking for a similar fix. If you have any questions about anything specifically let me know  and I’ll help as best as I can. 

[Pauly35or00]

Thanks for posting this. My my 960xpm foam is all falling out and I was thinking of going with an alternative foam soon. I don’t know what that different colour foam is Bauer uses on the backplate but that crap never dries out for me. I’ll keep a fan blowing on the inside of my mask for 2 days and it’s still damp.

[RyanR3KC]

From what understand the expiration date on a goalie mask is for the foams and glue holding the foams in correct?

my current mask is technically “expired” but I haven’t noticed stress cracks or the materials Of the mask degrading. 

[benner33]

I thought the rule was every three years or so (according to my LHS repair person). But others here know way more than myself. 

[Teezle]

I recently replaced my mask with an OTNY with the ECOproFOAM padding and it has been excellent. The first time I used it, the other team must have known it was a new mask because I took 6 or 7 shots off it during the game. But I didn't feel anything and it didn't make a noise other than a dull :thunk: on all the shots. The padding is a bit heavier than the traditional rubatex, but once the helmet is on your head you don't notice it. The padding is highly recommended by me.

[benner33]

My OTNY Combo has that foam in it and I love it. It’s like a tank for sure. 

[Dunsnd]

1 hour ago, RyanR3KC said:

From what understand the expiration date on a goalie mask is for the foams and glue holding the foams in correct?

my current mask is technically “expired” but I haven’t noticed stress cracks or the materials Of the mask degrading. 

1 hour ago, benner33 said:

I thought the rule was every three years or so (according to my LHS repair person). But others here know way more than myself. 

From this post on pure hockey it looks like they are made to last roughly 6 years as this is “how long accredited testing has shown hockey helmets provide the expected protection for players.” (https://www.purehockey.com/c/do-hockey-helmets-expire) Which would make sense but it would probably be better to change them by that 5 year time line, give or take. Since I’ve replaced the padding i haven’t gotten really any shots that were causing any problems for me. 

[TDS-MN]

Interesting, I just did this same job over the weekend.  I have an older Eddy GT, and it had what I would imagine was the original foam.  Getting that out of the helmet was slightly challenging, for a couple of the pieces.  But overall, not too difficult of a task.  I actually had ordered the same foam kit from the same source.  I went with the blue color instead of the black.

I had similar issue fitting the backplate piece to my helmet, the configuration of straps was just a little different, not as much as the O.P had to deal with.  I would definitely recommend taking some pictures of the previous foam layout before removing, so you can have some idea of where you might want to place the thicker vs thinner pieces of the new material.  One nice thing about this task, is that you can arrange the new foam pieces to minimize how many of the screw posts are buried behind it.  That should help with access to those in the future if I need to swap cages for any reason, I'm thinking.  Most all of the screw posts were behind the old foam, I found while dis-assembling my helmet.

Test fitting after getting the new foam in place definitely feels like I made an improvement.  I am in process of putting in a new cage also, as I had a straight bar, that due to some impacts the previous owner took, bars were not so straight anymore.  I won't get to try this in a game situation until I get that cage replacement finished up.  But as of now, I would also not hesitate to recommend that foam kit if someone is interested in updating their own mask also.  Feels like very good material.  I have had a couple helmet shots prior to this update, and even with the original foam, I felt very little of the impact.  I can only imagine that this should perform even better after this change.