Tyre Sealants Puncture Proofing

[gleno]

Had to go for a quick trip to the post office yesterday. Sat on the bike and wondered why I had grown an extra couple of inches and the rear shocks were so stiff and unwelcoming.

My new Pirelli was as flat as a tack. The culprit was a thin sliver of metal that looked like an off cut from a grinding wheel. Only about 1mm wide and thin as a blade.

I'm not used to getting punctures because I always run the water based military spec. puncture sealants. The last one I had was in 1981!!!!

I hadn't had the chance to treat the new tyre.

I put 375 mls of sealant into the tyre and pumped it up. Went for a ride and it's still holding 40lbs pressure.

Anybody else use the sealants routinely?

 

[lankeeyankee]

I use Slime in my Scooter tires, but no i dont put anything in my VMAX tires due to I had balancing problems at one time at high speeds of 135+

 

[KJShover]

+1 I'll use the good ol green slime in my truck tires as a temp fix, but as far as my bikes, I'l only use very little due to balancing problems. even then its just for the trip to the shop to get it repaired. not a fix til' I get time to have the tire repaired.

 

[richwrench]

I always use tire slime just as preventive maintenance. No balancing issues noted for me, but there's no high speed roads around here either.

 

[MikeS]

I use a product called Ride-On (http://www.ride-on.com) that unlike Slime actually acts as a balancing agent. I used it in the tires on my Vulcan 750 as well as my Vespa scooter, and after installing it, and riding around 5-10 miles to distribute it in the tire the bikes actually started riding smoother with less vibration than without it. I still have enough left over from the kit I bought for the Vespa to do the Vmax, I'm just lazy and haven't gotten around to it yet.

-MikeS

 

[gleno]

:hmmm: Thanks for the input guys. It's hard to make comparisons because a lot of the brands on the overseas shelves are not sold here is Australia.

I suspect that the products are similar though and may even come out of the same factory.

Ride-on sounds closest to what I'm using but who knows.

I've not had a balance issue with the sealants but I always pre-balance before treating the tyre and I'm very fussy about the quality of the tyre I fit regardless of the brand.

I know my rims are balanced so if the tyres throw out the balance they come off and are replaced before they leave the dealers. I refuse to stick weights on the rims to balance.

I nearly had a head-on with a big Jap bike years back. At about 80 miles an hour his front tyre went down almost instantly while he had a pillion on board. To this day I admire the rider's skill at bringing that bike to a stop.

That was the day I decided to use a preventative sealant in my tyres (not my underpants). :biglaugh: