Ultraseal, does it really work?

[Albion]

I know there's a parallel post about tyre sealants, but this one is a bit specific.

 

Anyone had experience specifically of Ultraseal? Reason I ask is that on the precautionary principle, I've always put it into new tyres on my RTs when they've been fitted.

 

Their claims for the product are near miraculous, and it all reads pretty well, and I'm a sucker for a good sales pitch.

 

But then again, I've experienced no obvious punctures, so would not know if it had worked or no.

 

BUT I've just had a problem with a car tyre, which was had suffered about 5 micro punctures, very slow air loss, but not pluggable. All holes seemed to be in tread rather than sidewall.

 

Thought I might be able fix these slow punctures using some spare Ultraseal, and I had the correct amount for the sized tyre.

 

Put it in, inflated the tyre, but after a few days running, I found that while the air loss was slowed down a bit, that it was not holding pressure.

 

When I replaced the tyre and looked inside to old one, I found that there was band of Ultraseal coating the middle 50% of the tyre, but the sides of the tread were not coated at all. I am talking about the section of the tread that was in contact with the road, not the sidewalls. Centrifugal force had pushed the sealant to the centre, as there is a very slight radius inside the car tyre.

 

So I'll never bother to use it for a CAR tyre ever again.

 

But while a car tyre is basically flat where it is in contact with the road, bike tyres are more or less semicircular. So on my experience, it would suggest that only the middle inch of a bike tyre would be coated with Ultraseal, the rest left untouched.

 

Maybe that's all it needs, but the stuff may only work when the very centre of the tyre gets a puncture.

 

Your experiences will be appreciated: Ultraseal is not cheap, and if it is of limited merit, I won't bother next time.

[George]

Ultraseal...Nah, never used it!

 

Plugged the rear tyre a in 05 when we got the RT,(middle of Scotland) the plugged repair lasted the life of the tyre.

[Roamer]

I've always been intrigued by this as the proposition is quite compelling ie "puncture proof tyres" but could never quite believe there wouldn't be some downside.

 

Often stopped and watched their demo's at the shows but always eventually walked on.

 

Using it in Earth-moving equipment used on a building site is one thing but putting it into motorcycle tyres is quite another.

 

I can't convince myself there isn't the potential for balance problems and that there won't be some complication come the time to change the tyres.

 

I would be very interested to see what others have to say and I believe there was some discussion within the BMW club about this so perhaps one of their members could comment?

[gilx]

Not sure about your particular product, but over here in the colonies we have something called "Slime." It's a viscous green goo. I've always put it in my MC tires as a preventative. I'm convinced it saved my life at least once, and brought me home from a several hundred mile ride safely on another occasion. I have never experienced any wheel balance problems (had the bike well over 100+ mph, solid as a rock!). In fact, when I changed out my last set of tires, I could see how the "Slime" had fully and evenly coated the inside of the tire.

[BMKrider]

I've used Ultrseal in my bike for the last 5-6 years. 2 years ago in Spain I started developing a flat in my rear tyre. Close examination revealed a cut in the tread. Purple Ultraseal was spead over the rear fender but had not stopped the puncture completely. I eventually plugged the 1/4 inch cut and eventually replaced the tyre. So did Ultraseal work? Well if you believe the marketing stuff - no. However the bike was fully laiden and two up and we were travelling "briskly". It's my belief that the Ultraseal slowed down the rate of deflation enough for me to realise that something was wrong and stop safely and mend the CUT in the tyre as best I could. I further believe that had the cut been smaller or just the normal nail/screw type hole I wouldn't even have known about it until I inspected the tyre at the end of the ride.

 

Regarding the use in a car tyre. Did you put the recommended amount of Ultraseal in the tyre to allow for complete coverage. I suspect not otherwise I'm sure it would have fully coated the tyre and sealed the air loss (always assuming it was the tyre that was loosing air and not a porous alloy rim).

 

Finally I've never experienced any problems with wheel balance with Ultraseal and still will always use it when fitting new tyres.

[Albion]

Yes, I followed the recommendations for the amount of Ultraseal required for the tyre. And since fitting a new tyre, no pressure loss.

 

Maybe the deal is that if you hit a puncturing object on a bike while it is upright, the goo will work but if you hit a nail leaned over, it won't. Just a thought.