auto slime in bike inner tube tire

palmer.alexj · Jul 19, 2012

wondering if anyone has used auto slime in a bike inner tube tire. They make one for inner tubes specifically but I can imagine a company calling the same product by two names just to make them seem more purpose specific and charge more for the same stuff. Googled a few queues and no luck finding much info.

thanks guys.

alex

itchynackers · Jul 19, 2012

I do it. Don't run too much though, or you may feel an out of balance wobble at high speeds.

Drunkskunk · Jul 19, 2012

The Bike specific versions seem to use thinner material. while the 4X4 use a thick chunky medium.

DAND214 · Jul 19, 2012

I think the tire stuff seals better.

they have tube, tire and truck/suv at one store.

I agree in the too much causing a shimmy.

Dan

palmer.alexj · Jul 19, 2012

i guess the worst that happens is a tube is lost right?

i will try it out tomorrow, thanks guys

Chalo · Jul 19, 2012

palmer.alexj said:
i guess the worst that happens is a tube is lost right?

The worst that could happen is that the crap clogs (or sticks open) your tire's valve at a very inconvenient time and sets you up for a long, uncomfortable walk pushing a heavy bike.

If you use that junk, bring a valve core tool with you at all times. To Slime, a valve is just another puncture to clog up, or fail to clog up.

Outside of goathead country, I think that particular cure is worse than the illness. In goathead country, it's a good idea to use every possible precaution. If I lived in Albuquerque, I'd even consider foam tires.

Chalo

Sacman · Jul 20, 2012

I used to run Slime in my inner tubes and I've never had it clog a valve. But it does settle and clumps at the bottom of the tire and on cold mornings (even tho it doesn't get that cold here in SoCal) I can feel the unbalance in the wheels. But after rolling for a few minutes and the tire and inner tube has a chance to warm up it spreads out more evenly and I don't feel the inbalance in the wheels anymore.

These days I don't run Slime anymore. I've switched to using Stan's latex sealant. Stays more liquid so I don't have that unbalanced feel on cold mornings.

Chalo · Jul 20, 2012

Sacman said:
These days I don't run Slime anymore. I've switched to using Stan's latex sealant. Stays more liquid so I don't have that unbalanced feel on cold mornings.

Stan's turns into cottage cheese on a regular basis.

amberwolf · Jul 20, 2012

Chunky auto slime does work in bike tubes, and has saved me a few times but so far in most cases these days, my valve stem explodes from overpressure on bumps/potholes with the heavy bike, or the tube was shredded on contact with pavement when the tire wore thru, and neither case can be helped with any sealants.

"Kevlar" lined tires, or protective tire liners and/or really thick tubes (or using an old thick tube slit to fit over the active tube) seem to do a lot more for me than slime itself.

Regarding actual puncture sources, it's not just goatheads and similar thorns to worry about--in cities like Phoenix and surrounding areas, there is always so much de-/con- struction going on and materials for such stuff being transported around, as well as debris from traffic collisions, that the roads often have roofing nails and other sharp pointy stuff just waiting to let the air out of your wheels. The only time anyting ever made it thru my slime tire liners was one of a whole slew of roofing nails out of the back of some truck, and I avoided most but not all of them, and one hit straight up under DGA's rear tire all the way to the rim inside.

Chalo · Jul 20, 2012

amberwolf said:
but so far in most cases these days, my valve stem explodes from overpressure on bumps/potholes with the heavy bike,

The cause is not overpressure. The tire would blow off long before the valve stem was damaged. The same valves are used for applications involving hundreds of psi.

Just to double the pressure in your tire, you'd have to compress it enough to reduce its total volume by half. No bump can do that, regardless how heavy the bike.

Chalo

dogman dan · Jul 20, 2012

Chunky slime for the win. The main problem is that some tubes have too narrow a valve neck to get the crap into the tire.

Wish it was just goatheads. Always a 16 ft trailer with the box of nails right on the tailgate, salting the roads. On the dirtbike, the thorns from mesquite are up to 2" long. But I ride all day with a few hundred thorns in the tire. Remove em all about every six months, replace the tube, and recylce the slime by cutting open the old tube to recover it.

amberwolf · Jul 20, 2012

Chalo said:
amberwolf said:

but so far in most cases these days, my valve stem explodes from overpressure on bumps/potholes with the heavy bike,

Click to expand...

The cause is not overpressure. The tire would blow off long before the valve stem was damaged. The same valves are used for applications involving hundreds of psi.

Just to double the pressure in your tire, you'd have to compress it enough to reduce its total volume by half. No bump can do that, regardless how heavy the bike.

Chalo

Ok, makes sense. I just wonder why it's such a problme with the valve stems, of varying types and "brands" of tubes, even with smoothed valve holes, even with protection like plastic tubes, strips, tape, etc. between the valve stem and the rim hole. Sometimes they just blow while sitting there (happened at least once in the living room overnight, scared the dog who woke me up).

Sometimes the rubber rips perpendicular to the stem, sometimes the brass core completely separates from the rubber of teh stem (this is what happened on the one that blew overnight). Sometimes the core partially separates, and air just leaks out between rubber and brass.

Mostly it happens on the rear wheel of my heavy bikes, but it has happened on either wheel of regular pedal bikes.

Happens with new tubes or old salvaged ones.

I really dunno what causes it--overpressure was only a guess (a bad one, apparently).

Sacman · Jul 20, 2012

amberwolf said:
Sometimes the rubber rips perpendicular to the stem, sometimes the brass core completely separates from the rubber of teh stem (this is what happened on the one that blew overnight). Sometimes the core partially separates, and air just leaks out between rubber and brass.

Some guys on the mountain biker forum use a bit of heat shrink tubing around their valve stem before putting it thru the rim. They claim it gives the stem added protection.

Sacman · Jul 20, 2012

dogman said:
Wish it was just goatheads. Always a 16 ft trailer with the box of nails right on the tailgate,

Hehe... very true. Last one that got me were 2 drywall screws out in the street in front of a construction site. I actually saw a little bit of sealant squirt out onto the pavement before it sealed the punctures.

Drunkskunk · Jul 20, 2012

I have been using tire slime for many many years in bikes, motorcycles, cars, trucks, wheel barrels, riding lawn mowers, ect...
If it has a tube, I've Slimed it. ... Wait, that didn't sound right...

In all that time, I've had No slime problems, valve stem or otherwise. But I have pulled hundreds of nails, thorns, wires, and other crap out of my tires that would have left me stranded.

Slime isn't a perfect solution. There is always a compromise. It takes 10-20 revolutions to balance out, it adds weight, and there is a one in a bazillion chance it might clog a valve stem if you don't keep them clean. I can live with that. The Hundreds of times I haven't had to walk home make that easy.

Chalo · Jul 20, 2012

Drunkskunk said:
I have been using tire slime for many many years in bikes, motorcycles, cars, trucks, wheel barrels, riding lawn mowers, ect...
If it has a tube, I've Slimed it. ... Wait, that didn't sound right...

In all that time, I've had No slime problems, valve stem or otherwise. But I have pulled hundreds of nails, thorns, wires, and other crap out of my tires that would have left me stranded.

Patching a tube on the road is a piece of cake-- unless it's unpatchable because it's got Slime all over it.

Last time I got a puncture, I fixed it right there beside the road Amsterdam style, without taking the wheel out of the bike. It was the middle of the night, and a mockingbird was going through its whole repertory nearby. If I hadn't had a patch kit and a light, that might have been inconvenient. But I did. They are lighter and cleaner than Slime, and they work better.

All preventives have compromises, but using a more puncture resistant tire beats the heck out of add-ons like goo or liners. Would you rather take an ocean voyage on a ship with a good strong tight hull, or a breached leaking hull with good pumps?

Chalo

Drunkskunk · Jul 20, 2012

Chalo said:
All preventives have compromises, but using a more puncture resistant tire beats the heck out of add-ons like goo or liners. Would you rather take an ocean voyage on a ship with a good strong tight hull, or a breached leaking hull with good pumps?

Chalo

I'd rather take an ocean voyage on a boat with a good strong hull AND good pumps. Very little gets past my Hookworms extra thick casing. What does make it past has a hard time with the extra thick DH tubes I run. What makes it past that has to deal with the Slime.

Nothing wrong with patches. Those aren't in the line of defense, though. They are in the line of repair.
You can patch a slimed tube. Its more difficult, but not actually hard. But if a tube is punctured so badly that slime can't stop the leak, you aren't likely to be able to fix it with a patch.

All this being said about Slime, though, I should point out that the Slime brand of tubes are total crap. If I just had to walk 20 miles to the store for a tube and it's all they had, I'd keep walking.

velias · Jul 20, 2012

yeah i had trouble with a "thornproof" pre slimed tube that had a defect in it. One day it exploded while the bike was just sitting there and blew the wire bead off the tire.
Also Slime has a active life, they claim of 2 years but I bet its even less especially with the high speeds of e-bikes i'm sure it degrades faster.

Its amazing how much the prices of tubes have gone up in the past 2 or 3 years it makes patching worthwhile now a days. Those super thick slimed tubes used to be 8 dollars 4 years ago now they are pushing 15.

Chalo · Jul 20, 2012

velias said:
yeah i had trouble with a "thornproof" pre slimed tube that had a defect in it. One day it exploded while the bike was just sitting there and blew the wire bead off the tire.
Also Slime has a active life, they claim of 2 years but I bet its even less especially with the high speeds of e-bikes i'm sure it degrades faster.

Its amazing how much the prices of tubes have gone up in the past 2 or 3 years it makes patching worthwhile now a days. Those super thick slimed tubes used to be 8 dollars 4 years ago now they are pushing 15.

Yeah, the weak dollar and high cost of fuel for overseas transportation have significantly increased the cost on just about everything bike-related lately. But up until very recently, I was surprised at how steady the prices of tubes had remained for the last 25 years. When I started buying my own tubes in the '80s, a tube was usually $4, maybe $3 at an inexpensive shop. Last month, my shop finally raised its prices a dollar from $4 to $5 for normal Schrader valve tubes. During the same time, most other consumer goods have doubled or tripled in price. To me. that means the tubes have been getting cheaper (crappier) all that time, and their increasing failure rate due to defects seems to bear out that explanation.

As for your blowoff, it could be that the glycerin oozing out from punctures in your Slimed tube got far enough to lubricate the bead of the tire where it sits on the rim. There's nothing quite like a blowout on a Slimed tube, especially one that has been zealously overfilled with fluid. When that happens in the shop, the aftermath can be like a scene from Ghostbusters.

Chalo

Chalo · Jul 20, 2012

Drunkskunk said:
You can patch a slimed tube. Its more difficult, but not actually hard.

It's hard if you are out on the road and don't have a source of running water (and ideally, detergent) handy. What are you going to do, lick it off?

dogman dan · Jul 20, 2012

You can clean a 2" spot of a tube good enough with a pretty small rag. Apply cement, then clean that off. Then do your repair with more cement. No rag? Well you aren't naked. I think.

But for a lot of holes, if you got good slime you can find a green twig and stuff it in the hole. Remount the tire, and pump it up. Only large rips and stem tear offs defeat slime.

I found that running my tire hard eliminated stems tearing off. A squishy tire lets it get to squirming around till it cuts it. But a velveeta cheeze tube, such a slime brand pre filled tube is just too cheap to last.

Don't get me wrong, if my city actually used their street cleaners, and the desert wasn't so full of huge thorns, I'd go slimeless.

Chalo · Jul 20, 2012

dogman said:
Apply cement, then clean that off. Then do your repair with more cement.

That's a good tip.

I use evaporating solvent to deglaze tubes all the time, but it never occurred to me to use tube glue as a cleaner. I guess I've been too busy trying not to get it on me.

Chalo

Drunkskunk · Jul 20, 2012

I used to carry a couple alcohol wipes with my patch kit. doubled as a first aid kit, as those pads used quickly on road rash save a lot of pain later (and cause a lot of screaming now). Getting the gravel and dirt out of the wound quickly saved a lot of trouble later, after the blood had congealed and infection had started.

But they were also great for cleaning up a tube to patch it. I never thought of using the patch glue for that. Makes great sense. I remember it took the grease off my fingers pretty well.

The Mighty Volt · Jul 20, 2012

"And On The Sixth Day, God Created Hookworms In 26", And He Saw What He Hath Created, And Was Well Pleased With It, And In Celebration, Declared The 7th Day A Day Of E-Biking And Fun"

cal3thousand · Jul 20, 2012

+1 for patches. So easy, I'd never leave without one.

+1 for tire liners too. Even though patching is easy, let's keep it to a minimum.

So far this year, I've only had 1 flat (pinched slice - 1cm) and it was easily handled by a patch. The tube is still in use now, 2 months later.

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