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I'm really bad at remembering to change / top up my sealant so my bike reminded me by having a puncture that didn't seal at lunchtime.
I've tried a few different sealants over the last 10 years but keep coming back to Stans. Is there anything better now?
I've been having good success with OKO Magic Milk Hi-Fiber over the last year or so. Can get 2 litres of it for £35. I water it down just a touch as it seals up the syringe when I'm filling...
No
+1
Stans Race on the road bike though, it seals a bit more reliably but needs replacing more often. Which ironically probably makes it better for high milage users who wear out tyres rather than a Sunday best bike.
Sealant is an odd one economically, it feels expensive because it's ~£20 a bottle. But in reality that works out considerably cheaper than the couple of decent lightweight innertubes you'd probably get through in the life of a tyre anyway.
No.
Tried em all, always come back to Stans.
Sealant is an odd one economically, it feels expensive because it’s ~£20 a bottle. But in reality that works out considerably cheaper than the couple of decent lightweight innertubes you’d probably get through in the life of a tyre anyway.
Just to add, avoiding the hassle of changing tubes mid-ride is priceless.
I've only ever had success with Bontrager Juice.
Stan's doesn't work for me.
I’m really bad at remembering to change / top up my sealant
If you use strava then the ProBikeGarage app allows you to set service intervals based on distance, moving time or elapsed time and nags you when something needs doing.
And Stans.
Squirt Tyre Sealant been using it for years without any problems
Orange Seal Endurance. My last few bottles of Stans were as thin as water and couldn't seal a pin hole.
The horrible, slimy thing below is the dried on sealant from 2022. I've not had the tyre off since then. It stinks too! I'll get it all cleaned up and add some fresh Stans - and try to remember to do this at least once a year, the tyre was firmly glued to the rim with old sealant.
I think Stan’s might be OK for MTB tyres but I’ve had at least 2 punctures that keep weeping with Stan’s . One on a GP5000 30mm and one on a 40mm gravel tyre. I’ve switched to Silca in my winter 35mm road tyres and I’m using up some Challenge Smart Sealant on some 38mm gravel tyres. We’ll see if either are any good…. I’ll not be going back to Stan’s though.
I had always used Stan’s for years - 10 or more), might’ve had one or two punctures in that time, lbs had some juice lubes sealant, gave it a go, 3 punctures in a a matter of months, back to Stan’s - no punctures!!
spoke to rep at ard rock, he says he’s heard that story countless times, everyone comes back to stan’s!
That’s a lot of sealant @Murray!
Stans + 1
In my experience it won’t seal a road puncture at full pressure, but if you stop and roll they tyre until the sealant settles over the hole and allow the pressure to drop below 35psi, it’ll seal and you can finish the ride. So long as the hole is less than 5mm.
TBF I finished the rides, it just wouldn’t fully seal permanently. I could have put a mushroom in I suppose so it did do its job in that respect. Never say never I guess!!!
+1 for Oko Hi Fibre, I'm not sure it seals any better or worse than Stans- hard to really know, no two punctures are alike I think- but it's in the same ballpark, not obviously better or worse.
But it lasts better, or rather, you can make it last forever as long as you don't let it dry up completely. It's water based and water soluble so you can top up with water and make it good as new. I keep my bikes in the house and the difference it makes is enormous, stans can dry up in no time at all. (you can also thin it to taste, I think possibly it's a wee bit thick as standard) And it washes off tyres easily, again as long as you don't let it dry out.
Also, it's cheap. Can be REALLY cheap at times. Halo Fibretech and Uberbike Racematrix are the same product.
The only downside is it's a different chemistry from stans and so you shouldn't mix it- which is a bummer if you're away from home and need to top up or something, you'll be able to find stans in any shop pretty much but the oko/rebrands aren't so common.
Northwind +1.
Northwind +2. I normally buy it from their eBay store (Tyresealantsales) as the offers here are often better than directly from their website.
I’ve used Stans for years and it’s been pretty good although it failed this weekend. I destroyed my rear wheel so went to pop my spare on, it needed sealant as it had been sat there for ages, popped some Stans in and it leaked all around the edge of the rim and I just couldn’t get it to seal, Stans was too watery. As the tyre has a Rimpact Pro in there, I was reluctant to go through the painful process of removal, cleaning and reinstalling, so I tried some Muc Off (contrary to above) and it sealed straight away, one big ride later and pressure is still the same. I’ve had a few problems with Stans recently, taking ages to seal then needing a top up, I’m not convinced it’s as good as it used to be!
I bought some WTB sealant for my daughter’s bike (won’t mix with Stans!) and that seems brilliant, only four months in but I suspect it could be the best sealant I’ve tried to date, time will tell 🙂
Squirt with bead blocker and orange seal ime are far better than stans, in fact pretty much anything with fibre/glitter in it works better than stans
Orange seal is good, the problem being that it doesn’t seem all that easy to get big bottles.
Sealant needs to be able to do a number of things it would seem and finding one that does everything is tricky.
First and foremost obviously, sealing punctures, with a side issue of working at pressures above 45psi. Secondary function is sealing tyres with porous sidewalls like tan walls and hand made race tyres.
Orange, OKO, Challenge Smart Seal, Panaracer and Silca all seem to be contenders but whether any of them meet all the requirements I don’t know as I’ve been using Stan’s up to now…