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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2023 16:08
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Lots of flat tires lately, partly because I drove through thorn bushes.. but also a push cart, dolly, bicycle..
So I tried Slime, the green liquid sealant you squirt in. Working wonders so far. How long does it last, any dos and don’ts?
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2023 16:32
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Quoting: paulz any dos and don’ts?
Never use Slime in high speed tires, only ATV and slower.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2023 18:14 - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
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I dont slime anything. I patch it on site with a plug kit. Find leak, ram a rasp throught, it add a plug with glue on an insert tool, punch it in, pull out, snip flush, done. Takes about 5 minutes after leak is located.
Tire plug Kit
Once you have the tool, you can buy plugs cheaply.
100 plugs for 10 bucks
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2023 19:09 - Edited by: ICC
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I have used Slime on things like wheelbarrows, hand trucks and the like. I have Schwalbe tires on my bicycle and they are superbly puncture-resistant.
I love those tire repair "plugs" that toyota_mdt_tech linked to. I have carried those for decades in the ranch trucks; especially my serious 4x4's.
No Slime in any real vehicle tires ever as that makes a real repair much more labor intensive.
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An aside: to anyone who has used these, or other brand, tire plugs.... what's the most number of plugs you have ever used to repair a flat?
Multiple plugs in one hole is not recommended, but sometimes plugging a hole is enough to get you back to a place where a tire/wheel is more easily removed and replaced.
I think the greatest number I ever used was 9 or 10 in a sidewall rock cut. Definitly not recommended to do this and then run on the highway, but it was quick and lasted the afternoon over some average backcountry 4WD UT trail. We pulled the tire off the rim that night and did a patch inside the tire.
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Irrigation Guy
Member
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# Posted: 17 Sep 2023 22:43
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I have never used slime but I have some equipment with foam filled tires and it is great, never goes flat. But Toyota mdt said a plug kit is worth every penny.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2023 08:45
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I have used slime but find it loose its effects after a few years. Plugs generaly dont. I have a few ATV tires that have more than one plug in a hole but they also loose air about every 4 months.
Prety much every thing I own that dosnt have a license plate on it has a tire with a slow leak.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2023 09:45 - Edited by: gcrank1
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My air compressor and portable bottle get used regularly.....
I cant bring myself to use a slime like product in any good tire I want to keep unless an emergency, I've used a tube patch over a puncture inside a carcass to good effect for years, a good friend has used a glob of 'silicone sealer' (must clean the surface and rough up well. He found out about that when he went to Alaska).
Then there is install a tube, but it seems they all come form China now made of a stinky 'rubber like substance'. Same with wheelbarrow and lawn tractor tires 
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Aklogcabin
Member
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2023 10:51
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I've used it a lot. For tires with a direct hole like a nail plugs are great. But I've extended the life of tires that are rotting out using slime. I think all my atv tires have it. Wouldn't use on highway vehicles.
Also it's been sidewall or bead leaks where tires meet wheels. I have been using bead seal with better results. It's a liquid that you brush on the tires bead before mounting. But I've fixed tires by letting the air out and putting the bead seal on .
Then there is inner tubes. For 16 bucks I don't have to spend 50 on a new tire.
I have had to repair a lots of tires through the years. And I have not found that putting in a product like slime has been much of an issue. Surprisingly it seems to help in the atv wheels. Moisture comes in with compressed air and can rust the wheel. The slime stuff coats it
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2023 16:46
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I use plugs too, provided the puncture is large enough to get the rasp through. But the Slime is holding so far on my home made, off road, tube tired hand truck!
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2023 19:37
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I have used this style of umbrella style plugs for onroad tires.
You do need to remove half of the bead and have vulcanizing cement on hand and a patch stitcher.
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darz5150
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2023 23:09 - Edited by: darz5150
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I have used all the above plugs, patches etc. I still have a couple of the old old old school patches that you clamped on and lit on fire. I have even used pan head wood screws with a dab of silicone, slime or fix a flat to get back to civilization. Still have fix a flat in all vehicles. I used to get it for about a buck a can. Now it's about 9 bucks even at Dollar General. 😫
I hate using it, but you do what ya gotta do in a pinch.
Question for everyone. What's your preferred method of bead busting and getting it reset?
I have used bead breaker slide hammers, putting the tire on the ground, then driving up on a board,and my pop used to put the tire under the flat pad of an old bumper jack, then click click click.
I recently had to change out the tires on my 4 wheeler. It has aluminum rims. Didn't really wanna .... Them up. I put the tires on a log splitter. Put a 4 x 4 sideways on the wedge. Bingo. Popped the bead off..no problem. Have used this method on wheel barrow tires, hand truck tires, go kart tires etc. Even did it it with big ass 4 wheel drive tires, just used different size wood blocks.
When repopping the bead on. I put a ratchet strap around the tire. Then crank it tight, till the sidewalls puff out closer to the rim. My compressor pops out 185 psi.
I am sure most of you remember the starting fluid and flame method. Lol🔥
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jhp
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2023 09:59
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Do yourselves a favor, head on over to Harbor Freight or Menards or whatever and buy a plug kit and a cheapie 12v air pump and put one in every vehicle you have.
Never know when you need it and nobody plugs tires anymore.
The first time you use it you won't miss the $10 you spent on it.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2023 20:00
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Quoting: darz5150 I am sure most of you remember the starting fluid and flame method. Lol🔥
Ha, funny you mention that! One of my projects today was getting my old log splitter going. This tire was dead flat, evidence by the dirt at bottom, and the bead was off the rim half an inch. I hadn’t done the starter fluid trick in many years and was plenty worried about starting an inferno but I’ll tell ya, worked first try.
And a shout out to the Harbor Freight battery powered inflator, been getting a lot of use lately.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2023 21:16
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Quoting: darz5150 Question for everyone. What's your preferred method of bead busting and getting it reset?
Depends whether at home or in the boonies with my FJ.
Home: way back in the late 60s The oldie 2 bay service station in town expanded into a new bigger building. Pretty much everything was new and the old stuff sold off. Dad bought the tire changing machine and installed it in the old machine shed. Electric motor for rotating the removal tool and pneumatics for breaking the bead. It has a tire compression band for resetting.
I have a set of tire spoons I bought in Mexico 40-some years ago. They work well with some muscle. Long enough to make it easier. Hi-lift jack for breaking bead and ratchet strap for reseating.
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darz5150
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2023 21:42 - Edited by: darz5150
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Quoting: ICC Dad bought the tire changing machine
Quoting: ICC I have a set of tire spoons
Great tools. I still have the spoons. Would love to have the tire machine now.
Remember the bubble balancer?
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 22 Oct 2023 11:56
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I still have a manual machine and bubble balancer, still get occasional use for tractors and stuff. But for good wheels I use the modern hi tech equipment at my local college where I still take auto classes.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 28 Oct 2023 11:52
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Paulz, that old manual tire machine, I knew an old timer who had one and he let us use it all the time. That new one is the exact unit we have at work. I mean identical.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 28 Oct 2023 22:13
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Been around tire stuff all my life. In the ‘70s I worked at a two man tire shop while in college. I don’t remember the tire machine but I sure remember the spin balancer. It mounted to the wheel while on the car. My boss would operate the gas pedal while I adjusted the wheels on the balancer with one hand on the fender to check vibration. When it got smooth it told you how much weight and where. When it was shaking it just about knocked the car off the floor jack at 65mph!
We also dismounted truck split rims with an axe, and inflated them with no cage.
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