self sealing innertubes any good?

solosuperia

Title says it all really.... Do they work?
Is it worth paying that extra for them.
Was in Halfords today and saw them for £9.
Good or bad experience.

super_davo

To a point, but you're miles better off getting tyres with a decent puncture protection layer. I swear by Rubino 3s, Pro race 4 endurance are also good, anything other than Gatorskins really. Slime tubes will help seal some punctures, but decent tyres will stop you getting the puncture in the first place.

cycleclinic

pointless and expensive as they will still puncture. If you want to use sealant go tubeless or slum it with heavier more uncomfortable puncture resistant clinchers like the rubino, gatorskin hardhell or Schwable durano double defence.

ZMC888

I've used them on several occasions, and also just put sealant in a tube. I've seen videos where this does work, but in my experience they don't work. It's something to do with the fact that a tube isn't in direct contact with the outside air and that the tyre is. That's why it's much better just to have tubeless or thicker tires.

Also I think that as you get 90% of flat on the rear it's better to have nice fast race tyre on the front and a tough tyre on the back for commuting and training rides.

redvision

Don't bother. Waste of money.
Just get better tyres, gatorskins or similar.

akh

Someone on Slowtwitch.com did a test about 3 years ago.

Some sealants were utterly useless in a tube, but others worked quite well (if you believe the results).

Generally, latex tubes sealed better, and Bontrager TLR was one of the best sealants.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Thin ... _4147.html

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/Thin ... _4155.html

Schwalbe butyl tubes have removable cores and are readily available in the UK if you want to try. I tried it in my tubes, but as I haven't had a puncture in the 6 months or so I've had the sealant in, I can't comment on it's effectiveness.

borisface

A friend uses them and whist riding along he got a puncture. There was a bit of hissing and then the hole was sealed and he was able to continue without stopping. I was quite impressed and thankful as he is useless at repairing punctures and takes about half an hour.

My concern, however, would be if the puncture wasn't sealed and you had to replace the tube anyway and also get rid of all the sealant gunk that had been deposited in the tyre and round the rim.

A better option in my opinion is to practice repairing punctures. I can change an inner tube in well under five mins, so what's the hassle?

cookeeemonster

I was under the impression that they work pretty well on mtb's thanks to the low tyre pressures used there but not on high pressure road bike tyres.

I have tried them on a road bike and wasn't inpressed tbh

pinno

Go latex. End of. Roll better, give better puncture resistance and are similarly priced.

priory

I used slime for years and it was great until marathon plus etc arrived, which took over from it. with any system you will get the occasional problem and flat.tubeless gets less flats than empty tubed tyres because it has slime in it, but what a faff compared to normal tyres and tubes; and slimed tubes achieve the same thing. same with tubs.
with slime in I would often find the tyre flat in the morning then pump it up, go to work, and at the end of the day take it off to find 3 or 4 punctures to mend. This was in the days of plain race tyres all year round.

meanredspider

I tried Slime tubes once. Got a puncture which they didn't solve. Worse still, the gunge dissolved the adhesive of the Leech patch I used so I flatted again a few days later. Useless and were binned.

Anonymous

How about you get a self sealing tube, put it in, pump it up, and ride over a drawing pin?

Asking advice on here is nowhere near as good as personal experience.

The Zafal stuff you spray in to seal/inflate tube/tyre worked very well for me.
It was a huge metal spike thing that I had to pull out of the tyre!

I have self sealing tubes now as assumed it would be the same kind of thing.

Have not had a puncture since using them in 3 different bikes. 2 used for commuting (as 5 min is hassle :roll: ) and wife's winter road bike as it would be nice if she did not have to deal with a puncture whennout on her own.

I guess they may lose effectiveness over time.
Especially with all the extra air you are adding and possible small loss of fluid.

I will ride over a tack when I get to work and report back

Rodrego Hernandez

Slime filled inner tubes are awesome. Use with decent winter tyres and you'll minimise the time you might spend at the side of the road with freezing fingers trying to change a tube. Can not recommend highly enough. Obviously they will still puncture if the object puncturing is big enough but it'll prevent most small pricks from ruining your ride ;-)

Anonymous

Well I fired two staples (so four holes) straight into my Four Seasons and pulled out confirming they had gone in straight.
Staples are about 6mm

No hiss, no leak, no flat.
Home as usual tonight I guess

Anonymous

....... not so happy with a 2.5mm drill bit though ☹️

You don't come across many of them on the road thankfully.

Anonymous

Not daunted by the drill bit fail (it would have made an actual hole rather than just a split) I have now put a 15mm x1mm pin fully into tyre.

It hissed a bit and lost air, but sealed and seems fine for ride home.

Don't forget you would normally be riding when you got a puncture, so wheel would be rotating more than it has been when I have punctured it.

So my experiments seem to show that they work.
I don't see how two staples and a massive pin in your tyre can be denied really.

Not too much of a weight penalty on a 700x23/25 tyre either.

cycleclinic

the problem is sealant will seal an inner tube hole 50% of the time. then when it does not you have a sealant filled inner tube to put in your back pocket or saddle bag, nice. that will be a mess. this is why you should not bother.

when I am appointed ruler I will ban inner tubes anyway. Utterly pointless technology and the fact people think putting sealant inside is a good idea just shows how pointless tubes are.

Anonymous

Agreed tubeless is better and have those on two bikes, but that was not the question.

Butyl tubes are for the history books IMO but self sealing ones at least give them some credibility.

cookeeemonster

My 2 experiments with slime tubes found them to be utterly useless...at double the price

cougie

Mess seems to be a poor reason not to use them. Its easy enough to take a spare sandwich bag with you. I always pop my spare tubes in them anyway. Easier to get them into the saddle bag.

Anonymous

AKH wrote:

I tried it in my tubes, but as I haven't had a puncture in the 6 months or so I've had the sealant in, I can't comment on it's effectiveness.

How do you know you have not had a puncture?

Anonymous

CookeeeMonster wrote:

My 2 experiments with slime tubes found them to be utterly useless...at double the price

What were the details of these experiments?
Tyre size, cause of punctures etc.

I stuck a massive pin in my tyre and it sealed.
Guessing a thorn would be similar but difficult to replicate.

The stuff clearly seals holes so it's better to have in than not have in for the situations where it's handy.

cookeeemonster

Carbonator wrote:

CookeeeMonster wrote:

My 2 experiments with slime tubes found them to be utterly useless...at double the price

What were the details of these experiments?
Tyre size, cause of punctures etc.

I stuck a massive pin in my tyre and it sealed.
Guessing a thorn would be similar but difficult to replicate.

The stuff clearly seals holes so it's better to have in than not have in for the situations where it's handy.

I rode using them and got a puncture that didn't seal a total of 5 times (that is, 5 tubes over two periods I used them) - zero evidence of them sealing anything whatsoever.

Anonymous

CookeeeMonster wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

CookeeeMonster wrote:

My 2 experiments with slime tubes found them to be utterly useless...at double the price

What were the details of these experiments?
Tyre size, cause of punctures etc.

I stuck a massive pin in my tyre and it sealed.
Guessing a thorn would be similar but difficult to replicate.

The stuff clearly seals holes so it's better to have in than not have in for the situations where it's handy.

I rode using them and got a puncture that didn't seal a total of 5 times (that is, 5 tubes over two periods I used them) - zero evidence of them sealing anything whatsoever.

Thats not really much information but hey ho, what do you expect from BR forum advice.
Its a slagging off, hater, listen to me as I am the daddy kind of place after all lol.
Would be nice to know what caused the punctures etc. as I asked in the text you quoted :roll:

I put a nail in my tyre yesterday, it sealed and is still inflated 24 hours later. Thats 100% proof that they work to a degree.
Have them in two of my bikes and two of wife's with zero punctures.
We never had many punctures before, but read into that what you will.

Not sure how big a period your 5 punctures were over or what tyres/riding were involved, but that sounds a lot to me and how do you know that you did not actually have more than 5 and the others sealed?

I think butyl tubes are poo, and am in no way a major fan of self sealing ones in the grand scheme of things, but IME sealing tech works and for the sake of a fiver per tube the OP really needs to just try them for himself rather than ask on here, if he has any incling that he may benefit from them.

pinno

I filled my inner tube up with a whole bucket of Slime and then chainsawed the tyre in half right around the middle. I stuck it back together with some super glue and then it self inflated and sealed. I've cycled 8000 miles on it since then and it hasn't leaked one little bit...

cont. p94

cookeeemonster

Carbonator wrote:

CookeeeMonster wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

CookeeeMonster wrote:

My 2 experiments with slime tubes found them to be utterly useless...at double the price

What were the details of these experiments?
Tyre size, cause of punctures etc.

I stuck a massive pin in my tyre and it sealed.
Guessing a thorn would be similar but difficult to replicate.

The stuff clearly seals holes so it's better to have in than not have in for the situations where it's handy.

I rode using them and got a puncture that didn't seal a total of 5 times (that is, 5 tubes over two periods I used them) - zero evidence of them sealing anything whatsoever.

Thats not really much information but hey ho, what do you expect from BR forum advice.
Its a slagging off, hater, listen to me as I am the daddy kind of place after all lol.
Would be nice to know what caused the punctures etc. as I asked in the text you quoted :roll:

I put a nail in my tyre yesterday, it sealed and is still inflated 24 hours later. Thats 100% proof that they work to a degree.
Have them in two of my bikes and two of wife's with zero punctures.
We never had many punctures before, but read into that what you will.

Not sure how big a period your 5 punctures were over or what tyres/riding were involved, but that sounds a lot to me and how do you know that you did not actually have more than 5 and the others sealed?

I think butyl tubes are poo, and am in no way a major fan of self sealing ones in the grand scheme of things, but IME sealing tech works and for the sake of a fiver per tube the OP really needs to just try them for himself rather than ask on here, if he has any incling that he may benefit from them.

Normal riding, not 'experiments'. Bits of flint/stone caused it from memory. First period (2 tubes) were 25mm GP4season tyres of pressure around 100/110 psi (I was around 90kg+ at the time).

2nd period (3 tubes), 32mm tyres of around 60/70psi vittoria randonneur pro, again flint type punctures.

Neither set lasted more than a month or two, around 400-800 miles of riding...bout the same as normal tubes at the time (was a period on my commute when there was a lot of crap on the road/cycle path, and combined with wet weather a lot of punctures seemed to happen.

priory

the problems i have had over many years with slime were

once it got in the valve which leaked so had to get the core out and clean it out with cotton wool buds.

a 1cm cut resulted in a farty noise and a little bright green turd under the back wheel , but still sealed and got me home.

I also learned to clean the tube carefully before glue and patch after one failed.

when you have accumulated several punctures you have to keep pumping up , and often that is first thing in the morning.

otherwise I think they are good.

I have had probs with the modern puncture proofs too, usually finding them awfully hard to get on and off which is not good if you only have plastic levers far from home, and the slime has less effect on the rolling resistance and shock absorbency of the tyre I feel.

andyrac

I never use anything else in my winter bike, with GP 4 season tyres, or now the Pro All Road.....certainly no complaints from me.....and now they do them in size 19-25mm, I might get some for my summer bike.

cycleclinic

Cougie mess in a sandwich bag. It is still mess your carrying. Do you carry dog poo you might as well i see dog poo and inner tube filled with sealant as the same thing, shit in a bag.

vimfuego

Use them on my MTB & it's worked well enough. Was doing the S Downs Way Lemming Trail ride a few years back & heard the dreaded hiss after about the first 5 or 10 miles, but kept the wheel spinning & it sealed up the puncture pretty quickly. Completed the ride without further issue. Been using them ever since on the MTB.

No experience of using them in a road tyre mind.

Man Of Lard

If the puncture you get is sealable by the gunge, they're great - if you get a larger puncture or rip that it can't cope with, everything gets covered in 'brand specific coloured snot' (green, white, orange,...) and it's all really quite unpleasant to deal with roadside.

I tried them for 6 (spring/summer) months and actively removed them for autumn. The 3 minutes to replace a tube once in a blue moon (or Hedge-cutting-farmery-bastards season as it's known) is not worth the chew on. If you're getting more than a puncture every 3 months I'd be reviewing my tyres (what tyres, what pressure, how worn) and where I ride (glass strewn gutters?)