Self sealing inner tubes

taxidriver50005

Active member
Jun 17, 2020
211
137
Skelmersdale
Anyone tryed these out, same principle as going tubeless but leaving the tube in.
Had a problem trying to convert my smart sams to tubeless, leaking sidewalls wouldnt seal properly so was thinking of going this route until it's time for a tyre change.....thoughts please
 

SquireRides

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Sep 4, 2018
540
556
UK
I used both Slime and Bontrager sealing inner tubes on my Cube hardtail eMTB. Fine, if you're not worried about weight. They seemed to work for a long time too, past when you'd expect tubeless sealant to have dried up.

Havent found any that would do past a 2.25" tyre out of the box. I did buy some fatter inner tubes and I was going to manually fill with Slime, but never got around to it.
 

Waynemarlow

E*POWAH Master
Dec 6, 2019
1,108
889
Bucks
Ran for years on tubes with slime in and with great results and then Slime must have changed its formulae and sadly was simply not as good as before ( I think also I was dropping pressures and Slime works best at higher pressures ). Then came the Fat tyres running at low pressures ( I run at 18PSI ) and all the joys of grip and more grip on every wet root and rock and mud you can throw at the wheel, but with tubes the low pressures means you get snake bite flats, so the choice is higher pressures and less grip, or tubeless and loads of comfy soft grippy tyres.

Incidentally I have found that use a latex based sealant such as Stans first fill and that seems to seal all the small rim and tyre pin holes and then at about the 3 months ( or when I can no longer hear the fluid sloshing about in the tyre ) I use alternatives such as OKO Tyre sealant with a tiny bit of added water to make it more fluid in the tyre. Lasts for 9 months or so which is way better than the latex based sealants.
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
8,993
9,400
Lincolnshire, UK
Try Slime. Also Slime Tubeless. Also Slime tubes (ready filled).

Slime never goes off, like latex base sealants do. I first came across Slime, oh I'm not sure the mid 90's I believe.
Somewhere on top of the wheelbarrow in the garage where I keep all the tyres I'm not using, I think still have a tube that I put Slime into, it was a 26x2.1 The last time I looked, the Slime was still liquid after more than 20 years. I went from a flat tyre every ride to not having one for years and years.

When used for tubeless tyres, Slime is great for punctures, but it is not at all good for sealing porous sidewalls the way that latex is. So if you are using proper UST or LUST tubeless tyres, Slime is great; it works and it never goes off. However, if you are ordinary tyres then latex it has to be. I have had variable success with tubeless ready tyres, sometimes the Slime worked sometimes it didn't (seal the sidewalls). But latex always worked! (But then it goes off!)
I never managed to get Slime down a Presta valve (with the core removed). Well why should you, it seals holes doesn't it?

But, if you get it on your hands, dried Slime is even stickier than dried latex!

There was a product by RRP called PunctureGuard, it came in XC and DH versions. It had the best aspects of Slime and latex, in that it didn't dry up and it also sealed the sidewalls well. But all of a sudden it disappeared from the market several years ago. I wonder if someone thought it was too much competition, bought it and shut it down?

PS: I haven't used Slime for years, so I was a but dismayed to see @Waynemarlow 's post that he believes the formula changed so it wasn't as good. I had not heard or seen that reported anywhere, hence the surprise/dismay.
 

taxidriver50005

Active member
Jun 17, 2020
211
137
Skelmersdale
Try Slime. Also Slime Tubeless. Also Slime tubes (ready filled).

Slime never goes off, like latex base sealants do. I first came across Slime, oh I'm not sure the mid 90's I believe.
Somewhere on top of the wheelbarrow in the garage where I keep all the tyres I'm not using, I think still have a tube that I put Slime into, it was a 26x2.1 The last time I looked, the Slime was still liquid after more than 20 years. I went from a flat tyre every ride to not having one for years and years.

When used for tubeless tyres, Slime is great for punctures, but it is not at all good for sealing porous sidewalls the way that latex is. So if you are using proper UST or LUST tubeless tyres, Slime is great; it works and it never goes off. However, if you are ordinary tyres then latex it has to be. I have had variable success with tubeless ready tyres, sometimes the Slime worked sometimes it didn't (seal the sidewalls). But latex always worked! (But then it goes off!)
I never managed to get Slime down a Presta valve (with the core removed). Well why should you, it seals holes doesn't it?

But, if you get it on your hands, dried Slime is even stickier than dried latex!

There was a product by RRP called PunctureGuard, it came in XC and DH versions. It had the best aspects of Slime and latex, in that it didn't dry up and it also sealed the sidewalls well. But all of a sudden it disappeared from the market several years ago. I wonder if someone thought it was too much competition, bought it and shut it down?

PS: I haven't used Slime for years, so I was a but dismayed to see @Waynemarlow 's post that he believes the formula changed so it wasn't as good. I had not heard or seen that reported anywhere, hence the surprise/dismay.
Interesting vid I found
 

Waynemarlow

E*POWAH Master
Dec 6, 2019
1,108
889
Bucks
You can put Slime through a Presta valve, take out the inner valve, put the filler tube over the top and then very very very slowly squeeze the bottle and fill the tube, squeeze too hard ( the speed through the tube becomes too high ) and it will simply block the valve.

Great stuff Slime but and its a big but, its dependent on higher pressures to work, I found you had to be over 30PSI before it was reliable to seal a puncture ( its a thixotropic fluid after all ). Lower pressures it seemed to no longer work ( it used to ) where as the OKO sealant seems to be better at lower pressures.


The OKO magic milk is latex based like Stans.
 

EMTB Forums

Since 2018

The World's largest electric mountain bike community.

554K
Messages
28,025
Members
Join Our Community

Latest articles


Top