apollored

My folks had a slime filled tube installed in my front wheel some years ago and I have had one puncture in it since.

It didnt seal the hole but went down fairly fast but at least the hole was easy to see

Since I go on organised rides and have been advised to bring extre tubes in case of a flat, are these tubes easy to remove and carry/dispose of?

So far I have never changed a tube when I have a flat but just patched it as I dont get them often (touch wood).

Or would it just be a good idea to ditch the slime tube for a regular air one?

cplager

Hi,

I do recommend bringing extra tubes because sometimes you can get a flat where you (1) can't find the puncture (easily enough) or (2) you found it and you can't fix it.

If you can find and fix the flat (and you aren't in a big hurry), then patching is perfectly fine thing to do. If you are on an organized ride, it's probably better to swap in a new tube if they are waiting for you and then patch it at home.

Cheers,
Charles

dsbrantjr

"Or would it just be a good idea to ditch the slime tube for a regular air one?"

Yes.

bud16415

The tubes I have seen that are slim filled are thick and heavy and messy. I don’t care for them for normal type road riding. Maybe for extreme use or something like that. I had some and I got rid of them.

Looigi

Patching a sealant containing tube can be problematic as the sealant tends to keep weeping out of the hole in the tube and interfere with gluing.

FBinNY 

If the slimed tube is holding air now, leave it alone and go on the ride. It'll prevent a flat from small puncture. But carry a spare tube to use in case you do get a flat. The slimed tube will remove as easily as a normal, so there's no reason to worry about that.

apollored

Thanks for your replies, I cant get any new tubes till next week so hope my tyres behave on Saturday

But I will get some new ones and keep an eye on my front tube which has been good for so long.

Seeing as the slime ones are heavy, changing it to an air one might take some weight off my tank of a bike hopefully.

bud16415

I had one slime tube that I couldn’t get the air out of. The valve was gunked up with that stuff and the stem was slimed in there good. I ended up cutting the stem off and had a mess to clean up.

Myosmith

IMHO Slime is the ectoplasmic embodiment of pure evil. It does a poor job of doing what it is supposed to do (prevent flats), adds a lot of unnecessary weight in the worst possible place (the rims), plugs valves, and is a PITA mess to clean up when you do get a puncture or worse, a blowout. Just use decent quality tubes in the appropriate size. If you are worried about flat protection get flat resistant tires or a tire liner. I recently tried a pair of Schwalbe tubes which are supposedly higher quality than the stock Q-Tubes or other store brands. I haven't ridden them long enough to see any difference and I may not because I honestly get very few flats and those that I get are usually from road debris penetration that no tube is going to withstand.

wroomwroomoops

Yeah, I have a similar horror story with a slime-filled tube, except that this mo#########r also gunked up the valve of my floor pump I somehow managed to get the pump working okay, but I decided not to use slimed tubes ever again. Ever.

Besides, I moved almost completely to Schwalbe puncture-resistant tires, and my last flat is now a distant and fading memory.

apollored

Yes I go with that mess with punctures.

The one flat I've had with the slime tyre ended up with green goo all over the pavement, lucky I had some wet wipes with me and could clean it up but it did make finding the hole easier, couldnt miss it with goo bubbling out of it.

And it is a mess with valves, have also had problems using a track pump with it with goo clogging up the valve.

I will look to change it soon.

Bill Kapaun

I'm another one that had Slime ruin a pump.

Andrew R Stewart 

One problem with Slimed tubes that we've seen at the shop is that the rider doesn't know they have a piece of glass, tack, shard in the tire casing. So they continue riding like nothing is wrong (which in the short term is correct if the Slime sealed the puncture). But since the object remains in the casing it recuts the tube, very close to the first hole. It might seal as well but in time the cuts become too close or too large (as the object is driven further into the casing) and the Slime can't seal any more. the rider almost always says "I just got a flat" but when we take the tube out we find a large "wet spot" of Slime and a jagged collection of cuts.

I sometimes explane it as though your tire had leprosy and didn't know when it was hurt. Andy.

LesterOfPuppets

Yes, they're just as easy to remove and dispose of as a regular tube. If you get a really big gash (say one that requires a tire boot) then you'll need to clean the slime off your tire and possible rim and bike frame also, but it cleans easily with water.

As Looigi mentioned they can be tough to patch, so I'd just toss it after you get a hole that the slime won't seal. They aren't impossible to patch, however. You just need to spend approx 3 minutes working all the slime away from the hole (kinda like moving toothpaste up a tube) before you can patch it. In much the same vein, you should always park your bike with the valves up for a half hour or so prior to pumping them up.

calstar 

Never used it and never will, the down side seems much greater than the up. A bad idea; the product is sold based on marketing and not on real world benefits. IMO.

Delmarva

Yes, I think just replacing that gunk filled tube is a good idea. There are only downsides to that sticky stuff.

531phile 

Slime does work. I seen it in person. I pulled a thorn on a tire once and heard/saw the slime work. It sealed the puncture and there was still plenty of air in it. On big volume MTB tires they are useful, but not on high pressure road tires since a puncture will deflate it too fast before the slime works.

apollored

It didnt ruin the pump but kept firing the nozzle off the valve so the mechanic fitted a new valve onto it and it worked after that.

It was when he was fitting a new tyre and needed to pump it up but it proved to be quite a struggle.