Tubeless Sealant

[lane]

Quite a bit of previous discussion on this topic. My Stans Race Sealant has run out and so in due course will need to purchase more sealant. I can't really comment on the effectiveness of the race stuff because as far as I can tell I have no punctures. Does anyone have experience of sealant that seals punctures at 60psi? The race sealant is reputed to be very good but is costly and also has to be poured in the tyre. Many reviews are MTB and so may not be relevant to road.

 

[Mark pallister]

I gave up with the stans race as you say have to take tyre off a bit
changed to orange and has been good so far but seems to dry up after about 3 monthis

 

[HLaB]

I like Stans for my road bike tyres; but avoid Finish Line. With the stans stuff I have at the moment I remove the valve core and use a Giant branded syringe which has a long pipe that bypasses the valve en route to the directly inside the tyre.

 

[wonderloaf]

Not used Stans but have been using Orange Seal Endurance with success for the last year or so. I've had a handful of punctures in that time and it only failed to seal once, that was when a flint about 4mm long got stuck in the hole and the sealant never got to do it's job, everytime the wheel rotated and the flint hit the road it opened up the hole again and the air escaped. I also managed to lose most of the sealant so this is why I still carry a spare tube! I took the tyres off the other day for their regular inspection and found a couple of punctures that I didn't even know about so guess it must be doing it's job.
I check the sealant about every 4 months, even after this time the sealant is still liquid but normally just needs a top up.

 

[boydj]

When I bought tubeless wheels, I asked for some sealant to be provided - so they came with a bottle of Schwalbe sealant. I don't have any way of comparing it to anything else, but if the wheelbuilders use it, then that's probably a good enough recommendation.

 

[Ridgeway]

I just use the standard Stans, not the Race. Picking some more up this week. Happy so far although it still isn't fully clear to me if either are Co2 compatible ?, i believe Orange is through.

 

[CXRAndy]

Orange endurance sealant

 

[confusedcyclist]

Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex Sealant gets my vote, have had no other brands to compare it with. Never experienced any ride ending punctures though so that's a good sign.

 

[lane]

Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex Sealant gets my vote.

I was wondering about that, because the guy at the cycle clinic seems to recommend it, although he does sell it. For some reason he does not explain he claims that synthetic latex works better for road tyres. However there aren't many reviews on line and one I saw said it wouldn't seal above 30psi which rather put me off. Sound as if your experience is different.

 

[RMFrance]

I rode Eroica Gaiole on tubulars with no punctures, using Vittoria sealer fluid - I also found some Zefal anti-puncture bands for clinchers, with which I'll experiment. Just 3€ a pair in a Decathlon bargain bin was irresistible!

 

[Sea of vapours]

I was wondering about that, because the guy at the cycle clinic seems to recommend it, although he does sell it. For some reason he does not explain he claims that synthetic latex works better for road tyres. However there aren't many reviews on line and one I saw said it wouldn't seal above 30psi which rather put me off. Sound as if your experience is different.

I've been using the Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex sealant for about 10,000km now. it certainly seals for me above 30psi since I run my tyres at 60psi front, 75psi rear and have had at least six thorn punctures that I know of (as in I stopped and pulled them out at the time). Most of these have been in the rear tyre and all have sealed very rapidly (10 seconds or less) with minimal pressure loss.

This sealant also has the advantage that, since it forms a foam within the tyre when in motion, a quick spin of the tyre and press of the valve top will produce a tiny amount of spray from the valve, which is rather handy for checking that sealant levels are good, with a fair degree of confidence.

 

[confusedcyclist]

I was wondering about that, because the guy at the cycle clinic seems to recommend it, although he does sell it. For some reason he does not explain he claims that synthetic latex works better for road tyres. However there aren't many reviews on line and one I saw said it wouldn't seal above 30psi which rather put me off. Sound as if your experience is different.

I also ran 75 PSI on rear, 60 front, no problems. I never had a flat with the stuff whilst running my tyres tubeless. A while back I got lazy and stopped checking the sealant, sure enough it eventually dried up, maybe 6 months later? Anyway, I put tubes in at some point and never bothered to reapply the sealant. Recently I got a flat, a pretty big hole on the contact patch. Yesterday I actually decided to see if I could patch it up with sealant. Popped them back on the rims with sealant, straight to 60 PSI with compressed air and almost immediately sealed. The stuff has been on my shelf for a year and half and still as good as new. I'm not sure if this is unique to this brand, but the marketing bluster claims this sealant has a unique microscopic molecule which impedes the sealant as it passes through a puncture, much like clotting component of blood, allowing more time for a seal to form before liquid sealant is ejected in a fine mist.

 

[confusedcyclist]

I'm not sure if this is unique to this brand, but the marketing bluster claims this sealant has a unique microscopic molecule which impedes the sealant as it passes through a puncture, much like clotting component of blood, allowing more time for a seal to form before liquid sealant is ejected in a fine mist.

I googled it, they all do this, definitely not unique, although I imagine the formulation of some are better than others. Doh.

As long as you steer away from any brand that caters only to MTB tyres, you should be fine. Considering it's actually the force of being pressurised out of a tiny hole that causes the puncture to gunk up with sealant, I would imagine that sealing is even more efficient at higher pressures of a road tyre.

 

[lane]

I have been researching the Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex sealant a bit more. Certainly the replies from @confusedcyclist and @Sea of vapours have been helpful in this respect as both have found it performs well.

Malcolm from the cycle clinic says that after testing various brands Caffelatex seems to work very well. i know that he sells the stuff but he sells others sealants as well. I know he is high mileage so should get lots of opportunity to test.

Caffelatex themselves say that it will seal 3mm in road tyres and 5mm in MTB tyres. That doesn't seem all that impressive compared to what some others claim but could just be more honest! The only testing I can find online relates to MTB tests and one test found that at 30psi it would seal a 6mm puncture but not an 8mm puncture which is actually consistent with what Caffelatex themselves claim. However another test said it sealed a 2.75mm puncture but not 6mm again on MTB - which I suppose is again (just about) is in line with the claims Caffelatex make.

The test that said it would seal a 6mm puncture but not 8mm actually rated it second behind Stans Race Sealant for effectiveness.

So assuming it will seal a 3mm puncture in a road tyre I guess that it will be sufficient to cover most punctures made by thorns which is what I normally get and what @Sea of vapours has found as well.

It appears to be thinner and less likely to clog up valves than say Orange, and certainly less than Stans Race Sealant.

My reading on the subject, what little I can find, suggests that for road use Orange is a good choice and I would also consider Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex mainly based on experience of people on here and the cycle clinic recommendation.

Could really do with some road tyre specific tests of the various sealant options.

 

[Pale Rider]

I doubt it matters much what's written on the bottle.

The sealant doesn't know if it's in a road or MTB tyre, a tyre is just a tyre, and a hole is just a hole.

My experience tends to confirm this.

I run tubeless on a 650b 2.4" balloon tyre set up at about 60psi in the back and 50 psi in the front - it's a heavy ebike.

I've no idea what sealant the bike shop used, and I've since topped up with two or three brands, the names of which I cannot remember.

Thus I have something of a sealant shandy in the tyres, but it seems to work well enough.