Slow pressure loss woes - slime?

[danlightbulb]

Thinking of injecting some slime tyre sealant into my car tyres. It's used on mountain bike tyres routinely.

Reason is that I have continual pressure loss from my tyres. I've had 4 new tyres as part of last MOT, and even after that it is still happening (it was happening before on the old tyres as well). I'm losing around 0.3 bar a week.

I assume there is some corrosion on the rim that means it's not seated properly, and I guess the garage didn't do a good job of fitting the tyres when they replaced them.

Other option is to get the wheels refurbed which would be around £60 a wheel.

Anyone put slime into their car tyres?

 

[danlightbulb]

Thing is though that to take it to a tyre place now and have them remove the tyres, fix the corrosion and refit the tyres will cost me around £15 per wheel. They should have done it properly in the first place but didn't obviously.

If I'm going to spend £60 I may as well spend £200 and get the alloys properly refurbished.

Or spend a tenner on some slime. Those are the options.

 

[danlightbulb]

Why do you assume slime is an option?

Because I use a tubeless tyre sealant on my mountain bike tubeless setup. It's standard practice to help seal the tyre and prevent micro punctures. I considered the same would work here.

 

[danlightbulb]

Is a bike equivalent to a car?

Why mess around with bodges on something so critical.

It's only probably a tiny rim leak, not going to make the tyre fail. Tyre sealant is only a latex liquid product, it finds it's way into the tiny holes and then solidifies.

 

[danlightbulb]

Why start the thread if you've already made your mind up? Literally nobody has said it's a good idea, lol.

I haven't made my mind up, it's a hassle to inject the slime as well because the tyre needs to be deflated and the valve core removed.

I just wondered if anyone has used it. I see a lot of stuff online saying it's not a good idea but it seems to have a bit of stigma really because there isn't a reason why it wouldn't work.

 

[danlightbulb]

Right but it will cost me 60 quid to get the tyres removed, rim cleaned up and tyres refitted, so I may as well go the full alloy refurb route then.

If it was a few quid to get the rims cleaned up then fine, but it isn't.

I wonder why people think a bit of slime in a tyre would cause a blowout?

 

[danlightbulb]

Who has said that??

Post 19

 

[danlightbulb]

He was saying that you should do the job properly and not half arse it.

He was implying a bit of slime in the tyre is a blowout risk.

There's nothing structurally wrong with the wheel or tyre, it's most likely a tiny bit of corrosion stopping it seating fully. All the slime solution will do is find it's way to that spot and clog up.

 

[danlightbulb]

And just a thought, but you said all 4 tyres were losing pressure, so you'd need 4 containers of Slime, which is going to cost more than stripping the tyres off, cleaning the rims and using bead seal.

Yes it's all four, I wasnt planning to put a whole can in each wheel, just a bit in each. I'm not trying to seal a proper size puncture hole here, just need a bit of sealant to find it's way to the tiny rim leak.

 

[danlightbulb]

What about blutack on the outer rim of the wheel? Bubblegum if you can't find blutack.

Why do you consider this stuff not to be a legitimate product? It is standard practice to use a liquid sealant on tubeless mountain bike tyres to help the tyre seat against the rim and to protect against small punctures. Why wouldn't it work exactly the same way in a car tyre?

 

[danlightbulb]

Is a bike wheel/tyre equivalent to a car wheel/tyre?

A car tyre is massively stronger isn't it. What's the worst that could happen, the sealant doesn't work and I still have a very slow leak. I don't really understand the animosity towards trying it.

 

[danlightbulb]

If spending £60 to have it done properly is the same as spending £200 to have them refurbed then spending £20 on slime and messing about deflating removing value cores filling and reinflating is the same as spending £60. Just get it done properly and save you having to spend £60 after messing about anyway.

A tenner for 400ml of sealant is small change, 60 quid isn't small change hence I think it's better to spend 200 and get the alloys fully reconditioned than spend 60 just having tyres removed and refitted. The 60 quid option won't result in a much better job and in a week or so after having it done, I may find I still have a leak if the job wasn't done well.

This isn't the first time I've had this problem as all the cars I own are typically old now. I've always just put up with it. I had the same problem on my previous car a Mondeo, and on the car before that a Honda. I've never had it on all 4 wheels at once though.

 

[danlightbulb]

The reason people say its not great is because if you puncture a tyre and the slime doesn't work the tyre is dead because they cannot remove the slime to repair the puncture properly.

Don't really get this either, the liquid sealant just washes off, I've used it loads in my mountain bike tyres. I think what might be being referred to when people say it's hard to clean off is the foaming material that gets used in the get you home kits that repressurise the tyre as well all in one can. The stuff I'm talking about is not that - it's a watery latex fluid.