thefsb

Shimano's Technical Service Instructions for tubeless rims say (e.g. here): "We do not recommend that you use general-purpose alkaline puncture repair agents, as they may cause the rims to corrode and allow air leaks to occur."

How bad is the corrosion caused by sealants like Stan's, Tufo or Slime?

Duce97

I use stans for my GT sanction 1.0 and havent had any problems. Im sure there are some who have had a problem otherwise they wouldnt advise against it. Has long as you maintain them i doubt you will have a problem.

scrublover

it's basically them covering their ass. if someone using sealant in their rims has a problem from said sealent, they can then say: hey, see, we said not too... not out fault. unless shimano rims are made from some alloy that has issues with alkaline solutions, i can't see it causing problems any more than any other companies rims. may cause corrosion, may not. go be a guinea pig and find out for us, eh?

sorta' like people griping about kenda tires not playing well with sealants. kenda says not to, and that no warranty applies if you use sealant. then people do, and have problems, and proceed to ***** about it. meh.

thefsb

i understand your point, scrublover, but forum members' actual experience of corrosion caused by sealants, if any, interests me more than interpretation of shimano's intent.

dminor 

I don't have any anecdotal evidence of my own but I will say that alkalines ARE corrosive to aluminum. Every double-wall rim that I've seen has raw-edged holes bored through the walls for the spokes -- likely places for an alkaline to attack.

This is a severe example but I did a bit of a double-take at this (had no idea Simple Green had alkalines):
https://www.mechanicsupport.com/aircraft_cleaning.html

scrublover

i guess my point didn't come across. i didn't mean you shouldn't do it.

go for it, but if it causes problems, then you've got nothing to go on. if we assume shimano isn't making their rims out of alloys much different than all the other rim companies (most of which seem to be working fine with sealants) then you ought to be fine.

you may not get a lot of feedback - shimano has been putting out their own rims for only a short while. may not have as much data from other sealant/shimano rim users to compile as of yet.

-_RebelRidin'_-

I was in Alaska... Right next to Fort Richardson, (I was at Elmendorf AFB) during that time in the article. I'll have to see if my dad responded to that incident or not.

thefsb

@dminor: you convince me that alkalines should be avoided. now i just need to discover the composition or properties of the available sealant brands...