Slime tire sealant?

[elkroeger]

You guys ever use Slime brand tire sealant?  How did it go?  Have you pulled the tire off and seen what the goo does?

 

I was always told that (maybe it was a different brand) you gotta drive the car for a while, so the goo spreads out.  Otherwise it will just pool up at the bottom and basically do nothing.

 

Anyway, I got a rototiller that needs a tube.  Slime has pre-gooped tubes available.  It only gets used twice a year.

[realshelby]

I have used Slime in mowers and wheel barrows. In hopes it would make the tire seal better in tubeless applications and in tubes and tubeless hoping it would slow pressure loss. 

 

It may help. But it does make a mess inside for sure. Probably would not use it again. 

 

I did find a worthwhile improvement in my tube type tires by looking for the "heavy duty" or extra thick tubes. Cost a LOT more, but make a huge difference in how long they hold air before needing pumped up again. 

[LBump]

I've used it with good success on a pedal road bike. Yes, it's best if you 'spread' it out through wheel rotation.  It also dries out over time and you need to remove the dried residue, then reseal.  As Terry mentioned, a good tube would probably be a better choice.

[Rougarou]

Tube it, put the stuff in my JD 318 once (just once) and when I replaced the tires, yuck, nastay!!!

[elkroeger]

Well, the tire is tubeless.  I'll put a tube in tho, instead of the goo, but it was interesting that they sell slime brand tubes with the goo pre-installed.  Shoot, Slime brand was all they had on the shelf at home depot.

 

I hate the stuff.  My dad always kept cans of fix-a-flat in the car, and he would use them to avoid deploying the spare.  But it never seemed to work out all that well, if indeed it had any effect at all.  He'd be out there on his third can, and it seemed to me we could've been back on the road already if he'd just commit to the spare.

 

Mostly I was curious about whether slime brand just builds up at the bottom while parked - since it's hard to put a lot of miles on the rototiller....

[Rougarou]

Oh, slime does work, just messy when you take the tire off the rim.  A tubless tire can have tubes in them, no harm there.  A slime tube is actually a good thing to have as it doesn't make the mess when you change the tire,....all the goop is in the tube (unless you split it open)

[Skywagon]

So if you put a slime tube in, get a puncture, and the slime stops it....how will you know you actually punctured your tire until you inspect it?  Just curious as seems like it would be possible to be riding on a punctured tire and not know it if slime does it's job....just asking..

 

[szurszewski]

47 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

So if you put a slime tube in, get a puncture, and the slime stops it....how will you know you actually punctured your tire until you inspect it?  Just curious as seems like it would be possible to be riding on a punctured tire and not know it if slime does it's job....just asking..

 

It's totally possible - I've used Slime on pedal bike tires and had that experience (realized later - maybe much later - that I'd picked up a wire or small nail). No harm, but I see what you're thinking about having such an issue on high speed, high load moto tire. Probably our OP will be ok - I'm guessing he's not a high speed tiller.

[Bill_Walker]

I don't know about the Slime brand, but what absolutely does work is Ride-On Tire Sealant.  I once demounted a tire for a tire change that had Ride-On installed, and discovered a screw poking into the inside of the tire.  The tire had never lost air, and I'd never noticed the very worn down screw from the outside (note to self: inspect your tires better).

 

I ran it in all my bikes up until the '15 RT.  Ride-On claims the product is compatible with tire pressure sensors, but I'm reluctant to test the claim, and I figure with the TPMS it's less of an issue anyway.

[elkroeger]

I always wondered why tire manufacturers didn't put some kind of self-healing goop layer inside the tire at the factory.  I'm thinking sort of a roofing tar strip down the middle.

 

But anyway, isn't that the point to slime:  To be riding along, unaware of your a puncture?  It's kindof a Schrodinger's kitten thing.  If you're riding along wondering if you've had a puncture or not with slime, you can assume that the tire is both punctured, and not punctured at the same time.  Only when you stop and inspect it, do you find whether the kitten is dead.  

 

Or do you mean that perhaps the sealant is not meant to be a permanent fix for a puncture?  Ok, I could see being interested in a puncture that didn't lose air, in that case.  Perhaps a slime-sealed puncture could eventually suffer a catastrophic failure....  Sort of a double edged sword, isn't it?