When the Air Jordan 4 was first released, many Air Jordan fans, including me, had not yet had much knowledge about sneakers. Therefore, we can only rely on Nike’s making retro versions in order to encounter those excellent works. Among those retro versions, this Air Jordan 4 Retro-Mars is one of my favorites and also preferred by many people. With the white-black-red colorway and the Spike Lee pattern that was added in the retro, I just can’t resist the charm it radiates. Therefore, to help those interested in the shoes get some more knowledge of it, here is its performance review.
When I put on the shoes, the upper can cover about half of my ankles. The filling inside the part is not so much but is very solid, and with the TPU on the side, I can clearly feel my feet being fixed when I tie the shoelace to the top hole.
After numerous tests of Jordan 4 Mars, its performance can be said to be above the average. When I was wearing it on courts, I could feel its excellent wrapping, yet I still felt kind of slipping inside the shoes when making lateral movements. Despite that, its performance has surpassed many of the low-top shoes, and I am therefore assured to wear it to play basketball.
The outsole is mainly patterned with fishbone, with quite deep grooves in the front and without concentric circles in the toe part. As for its grip, it is actually super nice when it meets indoor wooden floors that are kept clean. However, its grip performance slumps when there are dusts either on the soles or on the courts, causing the wearer to react relatively slowly. Nonetheless, the outsole performs astonishingly well on outdoor PU floors, which may be credited to their rough surfaces.
Jordan 4 adopts the front and rear Air-Sole, which was one of the top setups at that time. But when it comes to this Jordan 4 Mars that is equipped with the same setups, whether its cushioning can still live up to our expectations? Actually, when I first wore the shoes, the front Air-Sole did provide me with good cushioning. However, after wearing Jordan 4 Mars for a long time, it seemed to be gradually flattened and therefore its performance has gone from bad to worse. But different from the front cushion, the rear Air-Sole is much more commendable. After several months of testing the shoes, I think the rear cushions are comfortable as always despite that it is relatively hard.
Being very comfortable is definitely a selling point for the Jordan 4 Retro. It is made of terry cloth which even allows me not to wear socks. But it is a pity that my little toe can be easily oppressed by the TPU on the outside of the forefoot, which may bring on discomfort. But objectively speaking, Jordan 4 Mars is, as a whole, pretty comfortable.
As mentioned earlier, the Jordan 4 Retro forefoot is a bit hard, which makes it more responsive than the Jordan 3 that quite fits Jordan’s style of playing at that time. But compared to what the Zoom Air can offer today, the Air-Sole in the front is still a little inferior.
The shoes are not without shortcomings and the biggest one is the poor durability that is commonplace of the recent Air Jordan retro shoes. In terms of my shoes, the midsole has born the brunt.
Notwithstanding that, what impresses me most is the durability of the outsole which is amazingly good. Different from the midsole that is on the verge of wearing out, the outsole remains almost intact.
Overall:
To sum up, this Jordan 4 Retro-Mars offers super nice comfort, above-average ankle protection and brilliant outsole durability, except the relatively poor cushioning and unsatisfactory grip. By today’s standards, it is a pair of incompetent sneaker; but if you want it for everyday wear, the Air Jordan 4 Retro is your go-to shoes that are not only comfortable, but also eye-catching and compelling.