Slime - Is it worth it?

Tegglington

Good Evening Ladies and Gents,

After changing a 3rd inner tube in a week (2 glass shards, front and back and then a pinched tube), I'm getting slightly hacked off with it all and need a solution.

basically is Slime worth it?

I'm running 700x32 wheels and tyres on a Specialized Sirrus Sport, at around 100psi.

The lad down the local halfords said that Slime doesn't run at that sort of pressure?

Any suggestions welcomed with open arms!

Thanks!

desweller

I've always been put off by the horror stories of the mess it makes when it doesn't work; I'd probably go for heavier duty tyres like Schwalbe Marathon Plus if I had a major chronic puncture problem.

pdw

I tried it briefly on both my commuter (700x23) and my mountain bike.

On the plus side:

* It seals the occasional puncture.

On the downside:

* You usually still need to stop and pump the tyre up even if it does seal it.
* It constantly gums up the valves making them harder to inflate.
* Every time you press the end of a presta value to free it up, it spits green snot at you.
* Eventually you'll get a puncture that it won't seal. You've then got a messy tube change, promptly followed by rediscovering any previous punctures that the slime had sealed as they puncture the new tube.

In my case, I gave up after re-inflating a tyre three times with it failing to re-seal. At this point I decided to give up and change the tyre whereupon it completely sealed the valve with just enough air still in it to make it impossible to get the tyre off until I stabbed it repeatedly with a pin.

How worn are your tyres? I find that worn tyres are much more likely to puncture than new ones. I've got Continental Gatorskins which have done a bit more than 3k miles with just a single puncture, but it wouldn't surprised if the rear starts to pick up punctures soon.

I can recommend carrying CO2 and a pair of disposable gloves - makes a puncture repair much quicker and less messy...

Blue Meanie

+1 disposable gloves - very civilised
+1 worn tyres - replace before they're worn out, or swap front & rear when rears is 1/3 gone

PF normally visits when it's raining (rain lubes the sharp to get through your tyre), so you're wet, late and you've got fingers covered in gunk

tiny_pens

Slime liners perhaps? Worked alright for me and they don't take as much of the comfort out of the ride quality that some of the pun****re proof tyres with thick sidewalls do.

Or find a different route with less broken bottles

BigBlackShed

pdw wrote:

I tried it briefly on both my commuter (700x23) and my mountain bike.

On the plus side:

* It seals the occasional puncture.

On the downside:

* You usually still need to stop and pump the tyre up even if it does seal it.
* It constantly gums up the valves making them harder to inflate.
* Every time you press the end of a presta value to free it up, it spits green snot at you.
* Eventually you'll get a puncture that it won't seal. You've then got a messy tube change, promptly followed by rediscovering any previous punctures that the slime had sealed as they puncture the new tube.

In my case, I gave up after re-inflating a tyre three times with it failing to re-seal. At this point I decided to give up and change the tyre whereupon it completely sealed the valve with just enough air still in it to make it impossible to get the tyre off until I stabbed it repeatedly with a pin.

How worn are your tyres? I find that worn tyres are much more likely to puncture than new ones. I've got Continental Gatorskins which have done a bit more than 3k miles with just a single puncture, but it wouldn't surprised if the rear starts to pick up punctures soon.

I can recommend carrying CO2 and a pair of disposable gloves - makes a puncture repair much quicker and less messy...

Exactly.

BUT, I ran slime tubes for about a year. Only once did the slime not seal the puncture. When I took the tube out (horrible green snot mess) I found 12 holes, all sealed, in the tube. The fact was there was no snot left to seal the last hole. That's 11 times I didn't have to stop and change a tube. Just pumped up with a track pump. (Get 2 track pumps and leave 1 at work)

Heavy as well. Noticed it as soon as I fitted them. You get used to the extra weight pretty quickly.

Tegglington

I have had the bike from new since September, so surely the tyres cannot be worn that much, Maybe its just poor tyres in the first place.

I shall certainly look into a heavier, more puncture resistant tyre, and will consider changing my route. It will probably add another mile if I do but will be solidly road based and no section on a cycle path. Damn the Reading one way system!

I got a bottle of slime on the cheap (£4 on amazon compared to £7.99 in Halfords!) so I might still try it. See how I get on with it.

Thanks all for your input. Ride Safe!

Tegglington

godders1

It's not really an issue of wear but whether or not the tyres have decent puncture protection, doesn't sound as if yours have.

Another vote for Marathon+ here. Only one puncture in about 3 years and there's no tyre that would've stopped that bad boy.

slmracing

I am running shwable marathon comfort + 700/32, very pleased with them a good strong tyre, still picked up a puncture last week though so I have fitted slime inner tubes, I run slime inner tubes in my old trek hybrid and had no problems for over a year

rolf_f

Tegglington wrote:

I have had the bike from new since September, so surely the tyres cannot be worn that much, Maybe its just poor tyres in the first place.

That is quite likely - bikes often do come with horrible tyres. What make and model are they?

Certainly, I wouldn't go down the slime route without trying decent tyres to start with; better to cure the problem than treat the symptoms.

A decent puncture guarded tyre kept up to pressure - ie top up at least once a week which it sounds like slime tubes discourages - will rarely puncture.

Tegglington

So I had another puncture last night. loads of fun that was. I am currently awaiting my marathon city + tyres, but as i'm ordering them through a friend (70% discount ) I am having to wait for them. so have decided to just slime them up anywho. that way I shoudl be protected in teh meantime.

Am currently running the specialized nimbus tyres, (with flak jacket protection apparently), but they really don't like the wet, if it is wet oputside the rubber just seems to invite sharp pointy things into them.

Thnaks for your comments all, I shall post back when the first puncture arrives, whenever that may be