Finish line sealant, anybody used it
02gf74
Posts: 1,171
Is any body here using Finish line sealant.
It non latex based and contains tiny strands of kevlar that get forced through the hole to seal it.
... But the distinguishing feature is that it is not supposed to dry out so lasts as long as the tyre.
Looking to hear of your experience before buying some as it is pricier than other brands.
It non latex based and contains tiny strands of kevlar that get forced through the hole to seal it.
... But the distinguishing feature is that it is not supposed to dry out so lasts as long as the tyre.
Looking to hear of your experience before buying some as it is pricier than other brands.
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Just bought some! Is in the post.0
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I like the sound of it.0
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I also like the sound of it, especially iif it never drys out
I am using orange endurance at the momentwhich works very well
You will have to keep us informed on how good it actually is.0 -
i'm still using stans as got a large bottle to use up but a friend is using uberbike tyre matrix and rates this.
One thing would be good if it really does seal up large holes as one time on a ride to work on the mtb got a screw in my back tyre and stans wouldn't seal it at all, ended up with a tube in the tyre. It was annoyed day for sure when that happens and didnt have any tyre plugs to hand.
Is there Muc off sealant now that has been released recently?0 -
02GF74 wrote:Is any body here using Finish line sealant.
It non latex based and contains tiny strands of kevlar that get forced through the hole to seal it.
... But the distinguishing feature is that it is not supposed to dry out so lasts as long as the tyre.
Looking to hear of your experience before buying some as it is pricier than other brands.
Yep, I sell it in my shop and it is definitely good stuff. It is pricier but as it doesn't dry out you will be saving money within 6 months. Also it will seal a slightly bigger hole than Stans or other latex sealants.
Graham0 -
Sorry, forgot to mention that you will need to clean out all traces of your old sealant before putting the new stuff in as it doesn't like being mixed with latex based stuff.
Graham0 -
Sorry, forgot to mention that you will need to clean out all traces of your old sealant before putting the new stuff in as it doesn't like being mixed with latex based stuff.
Graham0 -
For the sealant to be rated excellent rather than just "good", it must do more than just seal holes in your tyre.
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It must quickly seal the rim/bead interface on first inflation and not take multiple rides, re-inflating, laying flat on alternate sides, and so forth.
Not go "off" after a short period of say less than one year. In fact "never" is preferable! (Being consumed over time by the act of sealing punctures is perfectly acceptable, as that is the sealant doing its job).
Preferably a bright colour, so that punctures, leaks, and rim burps can all be easily seen.
I would pay a premium for a sealant like that.
I thought I had found it with Slime Pro tubeless sealant, but it fails on quickly sealing the rim/tyre bead. It did seal in the end, but what a faff spread over 50 trail miles. It is holding air very well now. No complaints (now!) Not recommended for tubeless newbies.0 -
fixedgeartester wrote:...........
Yep, I sell it in my shop and it is definitely good stuff. It is pricier but as it doesn't dry out you will be saving money within 6 months. Also it will seal a slightly bigger hole than Stans or other latex sealants.
Graham
But does it seal the rim/tyre bead interface at first inflation or very soon after?0 -
the rim tyre interface should seal with soapy water with a proper tubeless setup.
There is contratictory reviews out there on it sealing prowess. never tried it myself though
http://reviews.mtbr.com/finish-line-sealant-reviewhttp://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0 -
thecycleclinic wrote:the rim tyre interface should seal with soapy water with a proper tubeless setup.
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I failed to make myself clear, my apologies.
My concern is not inflating the tyre and getting pressure. I have an Airshot reservoir/blaster so inflating is no problem. The problem is that the interface at the bead/rim slowly, and I mean slowly, lets out the air. It might take 24 hours just sitting there, but the tyre will go from 24psi to 10-12psi. When I put soapy water on the interface, I can see tiny bubbles oozing out. I thought I knew all the tricks to get sealant to seal, but the Slime Pro just took its own time.0 -
thecycleclinic wrote:............
There is contratictory reviews out there on it sealing prowess. never tried it myself though
http://reviews.mtbr.com/finish-line-sealant-review
Awwww! I was so looking forward to that being a great product.
The best one I came across bar none, was the Rapid Racer Products (RRP) product, "PunctureGuard" It came in XC and DH varieties, I used the XC version for my trails duties in the woods. It was bright green, the tyres went straight up and stayed up. The product indicated by a colour flash when there was a puncture or a burp. The sealant never went off, never blocked my Presta valves, but sadly it did run out eventually! Which is when I slowly started to need to top up the air pressure by increasing amounts before each ride. (Lots of punctures you see). Plenty of warning when it was time to replenish. No need to clear out the old stuff. But they stopped making it! 0 -
OK, so it has arrived and been installed! So a preliminary review.
It's pretty runny! Almost seems to separate a little if been stood, but still leaves a good coating on the inside of the tyre. And how do I know that? Well I had to do the install twice...
Basically I had a set of Giant Tubeless Ready rims and some Nobby Nic 'Tubeless Easy'. Stupidly I thought the preinstalled rim tape was tubeless compatible and ready to go. Wrong. Incredibly though, in one tyre it actually did seal, though the other was flat the next day, and both understandably took a lot of shaking and waiting.
Once I had removed and used some proper tape, both sealed very quick, but obviously the inner was ready coated and I could see it had stayed put.
Just needs to be ridden and reported back ;-)0 -
Installed some on a new Specialized Butcher control casing last week. Sealed easy for me with soapy water, bit of initial sidewall seepage but has stopped now; probably more a function of the tyre. Rode it for 25 miles without any pressure drop, but after a week of sitting it felt a bit squishier today. Will get the gauge out and test if any leakage around the bead at some point this w/e. Acid test will be the first puncture; my gut feel is this stuff is just too runny to seal anything bigger than a smallish thorn, but we shall see.Getting better slowly, one crash at a time!
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Marin Hawk Hill 2 2018
Kinesis Tripster AT, SRAM Apex
Specialized Crossroads 20000 -
From the description, and experience with other sealants, I'd say that the sealant bottle needs a vigorous shake before dosing the tyre. The fibres block the hole and support the sealant while it dries on contact with the air. Although why the sealant doesn't dry whilst in contact with the air in the tyre, I don't know! :?:
But it doesn't.
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Yes, the instructions do tell you to shake well before use which I did. Still seemed runny though compared to a latex based sealant. We shall see...steve_sordy wrote:From the description, and experience with other sealants, I'd say that the sealant bottle needs a vigorous shake before dosing the tyre. The fibres block the hole and support the sealant while it dries on contact with the air. Although why the sealant doesn't dry whilst in contact with the air in the tyre, I don't know! :?:
But it doesn't.
Ps - As an ex chemist I suspect the problem here is that the two main characteristics we want (rapid sealing during initial inflation/punctures and long life in the tyre) are essentially diametrically opposite. If we really want a sealant that lasts the lifetime of a tyre in liquid form it is hard to see how that can be as effective at sealing beads and minor gashes.Getting better slowly, one crash at a time!
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Marin Hawk Hill 2 2018
Kinesis Tripster AT, SRAM Apex
Specialized Crossroads 20000 -
^^^ yes, those are conflicting requirements. FL seals holes but various reviews online indicates it struggles sealing the tyre bead/rim interface, and isn't particularly good with leaking sidewalls as there are no holes to plug
Some one should come up with a product, a thick gel applied to inside side of rim that will seal the bead, followed tyre influence to seat the tyre, then FL would be more effective.0 -
Quick update... My tyre went from 24 to 15psi in a week between rides. No more sidewall seepage though, and no obvious bubbling at the bead when a bit of spit was applied! I pumped it back up to 25psi for a 15 mile XC blast at the w/e; no obvious pressure loss on the trail but no puncture to test the sealing properties either.
The jury is still out for me at the moment, time will tell I guess...Getting better slowly, one crash at a time!
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Marin Hawk Hill 2 2018
Kinesis Tripster AT, SRAM Apex
Specialized Crossroads 20000 -
Matty2B wrote:Quick update... My tyre went from 24 to 15psi in a week between rides. No more sidewall seepage though, and no obvious bubbling at the bead when a bit of spit was applied! I pumped it back up to 25psi for a 15 mile XC blast at the w/e; no obvious pressure loss and the trail but no puncture to test the sealing properties either.
The jury is still out for me at the moment, time will tell I guess...
I believe that 24 to 15 in a week is a bit excessive, but as long as the pressure loss is constrained to less than 1 psi during a ride, I could live with it.
The thing about a decent sealant is that you shouldn't notice when you get a puncture. I ride in the woods a lot. So there are loads of brambles and shattered wood to ride over, broken tree stumps etc (best avoided TBH). I have had over two dozen punctures in each tyre, but I never noticed a single one of them at the time they happened. I could see them a day later when I got the bike out of the garage and I could count the green dots (or more recently now my favourite sealant is no more, the damp patches). But then again I have never had anything really big pierce my tyres, that I know about.
The only sealant activity I ever noticed when it happened was when I was experimenting with how low I could go with tyre pressure. When I went too low, the tyre bead burped on a tight corner. I not only heard it, I could see a small splash of sealant on the rim. Apart from that, the tyre was unaffected. Although I did restore the pressure to the previous level asap.0 -
Still riding it, still no punctures, still a bit of pressure drop over time (though getting less as the rides go by and not an issue on the trail), still a tiny bit of sidewall leakage after a ride, still not completely convinced!
EDIT - Seems like the sidewall seepage is more likely to be because of the light casings on my Specialized Butcher...Getting better slowly, one crash at a time!
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Marin Hawk Hill 2 2018
Kinesis Tripster AT, SRAM Apex
Specialized Crossroads 20000 -
The tyre I used the Slime Tubeless sealant on on that took ages for the bead/rim interface to seal is still holding well once it "took". I didn't spend a long tine cleaning the old latex carp from the tyre bead, so maybe it was my fault after all!
Last week I fitted a brand new tyre to my grandson's bike, so with this learning in mind I made certain that the rim was clean. It went from 24 to 13 psi overnight and was once again oozing at the bead/rim interface! But once pumped up again and used for real rather than a quick trip up and down the street it has held pressure without any loss at all.
The inside of the old tyre that had had latex sealant in looks like something from an Alien movie! :shock:0 -
Sealant life span and its sealing abilities are linked, inversely sadly. I am inherently suspious, it looks like oreo milkshake.http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0
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thecycleclinic wrote:Sealant life span and its sealing abilities are linked, inversely sadly. I am inherently suspious, it looks like oreo milkshake.
The PunctureGuard sealant from RRP never went off like latex sealants do, it just ran out (because I had so many holes in the tyre). Also, and this is a big plus, it never left any "Alien goo" residue in the tyre!
The Slime Tubeless Premium sealant that I have used recently, does a good job of sealing, as long as you remove the old latex sealant from the bead/rim interface before use. Time will tell whether it lasts longer than latex sealant does. Also whether it also leaves a clean tyre; I suspect it will. 0 -
Uberbike has also changed there sealant looks a little like stans and no blue colour it was previously.
anyone got some to try out?0 -
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Yep, already seen it. Seems to confirm our scepticism on this sealant. I will do my second tyre with the remainder in the bottle but will probably change to something else next time around.MrB123 wrote:Getting better slowly, one crash at a time!
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Marin Hawk Hill 2 2018
Kinesis Tripster AT, SRAM Apex
Specialized Crossroads 20000 -
I have a longer term update. Have done a fat bike and a road bike with Finish Line, both tubeless 'ready'. Used Nutrak tape to seal the rim bed, and in the case of the fat bike, used some gorilla tape over the top.
Now, as from my previous post, you'll remember I buggered up the initial taping, and thought the subsequent stuff had done the trick. But both had dropped to less than 10 psi overnight. I added more sealant, but it took 3-4 days for them to stop loosing air. I was finding it difficult to seal the valve stem, despite doing all the right things.
The same sort of thing happened with the road tyres. Went flat within a day, and took (again) 3-4 days of reinflating and spinning until it stopped going down. But no problems reported after.
So to sum up, I think it is an option for those who don't want to be topping up every few months but the trade off is more initial sealing problems and seemingly poorer puncture resistance to larger holes.0 -
the bike radar article has missed some important points. Caffe latex is not like other latex sealants, it is like the OKO sealant (made in the u.k) in that is an artificial latex sealant with no ammonia. this means it does not ball up like stans. orange seal is a natural latex sealant like stans and stan race sealant so it does ball up. not sure on the formulation of orange seal endurance.
schwalbe doc blue is stans original as is the IRC sealant which I will not buy because its useless at high pressures. that is what the review missed out road tubeless sealing. many sealants simply fail at higher pressures, caffe latex is one of those that does the job so ill stick to it for now. OKO sealant has similar formulation to caffe latex so thats worth a look too.http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0 -
Finally got round to doing the back tyre nearly a week ago. It seems to have sealed a bit quicker this time - only 2 re-inflates and ~15 miles of riding and all is good. Still no punctures to test it's sealing ability as yet, but I am taking the bike on holiday for 2 weeks in Dorset now so may get a chance to test that whilst there!Getting better slowly, one crash at a time!
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Marin Hawk Hill 2 2018
Kinesis Tripster AT, SRAM Apex
Specialized Crossroads 20000 -
supersonic, leaking around the valve? When I do tubeless setups there is no leak around the valve with no sealant. There is something amiss there.http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0
