This wouldn’t be a particularly meaninful post were I to review the Slime sealant that has been marketed these many past years. But that’s not the case; this is a new formulation of Slime Tubeless Bicycle Tire Sealant that eliminates the ammonia in the sealant. The problem previously was that the folks at Slime added ammonia to their sealant to keep the latex from hardening, thus giving the sealant a longer lifespan.
Just one problem.
The ammonia attacked the rubber in the tires, shortening the lifespan of the tire. Considering the cost of tires and the cost of sealant, I’ll take a sealant without ammonia, thanks.
The new formulation is reported to seal puntures up to a 1/4 inch, and doesn’t freeze until -16°C (3° F); it’s heat limit is 50°C (122° F). I’ve not encountered any temperatures that extreme, though some of the rocks last weekend were pretty hot, I found out by accident.
I put this sealant in some tires I’m reviewing by Delium. It’s a situation where I’m incented to run headlong toward rocks, pounding my front wheel into the sharpest available edges and points. The upside is that the Delium tires are performing better than a tire at that price point should be able. Of course, there’s a downside and that downside is that I’ve yet to puncture the tire, so I can’t say if the 1/4-inch claim is accurate.
When I set tires up, it’s not uncommon to have one spot on the rim fizz sealant for a second or two. I consider this mostly a tire fit issue, but there have been times when the sealant didn’t seem up to the task of sealing the leak. The initial fit of the Delium tires wasn’t terrific; I needed more than my JoeBloe Booster, so I enlisted the help of my local shop and they got the tires seated with a compressor. That’s not the amazing part; this is: There was no fizzing of sealant, just a couple of spots that gave up small tears of neon green.
I’ve always liked the neon green color, partly because I like neon green, and partly because if the sealant is leaking from anywhere, the look is unmistakable, and impossible not to notice. Feature, not bug.
An 8 oz. bottle goes for $8.99, putting it in the mid-range of sealant pricing; often, I don’t see pricing get down to ~$1/oz. until it’s packaged in 20 or 32 oz. bottles.
I’ve been riding with this sealant just less than a month, which is too short a time to see if there remains enough ammonia left in the formulation to damage the tires, but so far, they are looking good.
Final thought: It looks like a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake, but I’m not gonna drink it.