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Stans and the heat

5K views 31 replies 20 participants last post by  idaz 
#1 ·
I added about 3oz of Stans to my new 29er tire about a month ago. It was holding up fine even after a goat head filled adventure. I ended that ride with lots of wet spots on the tire but they were sealed and not leaking. Fast forward to this week and the tire would go flat after a couple of hours. I added a couple more oz of Stans and all is good.

This is my first tubeless setup and was wondering if the sealant just had a shorter lifespan in the heat? The prior tire held up well for about 90 days in the cooler weather.

Should I be proactive at this point and add some to my other tire before it fails to seal out on a ride?
 
#2 ·
Yeah, the heat is brutal on sealant. And the lack of humidity if I remember correctly. I'll take off my front wheel once a month or so and give it a shake. If I don't hear anything I know it's time to add. I think it would probably be pretty rare to have one tire drained and the other fine so if I have to fill the front I assume the rear needs some and I'll take it off and give 'er a shake.
 
#10 ·
This is a good approach from Mike. Alternate method if you are using removable valve cores: remove the valve core and poke a spoke, piece of thick wire, etc through the hole, look for a little bit of sealant on the dip stick, maybe 2 mm or so. If it comes out dry, add Stans. I usually add once every six weeks or so in the summer, maybe half that frequent in cooler weather.
 
#4 ·
DITTO about Orange Seal. I keep my bikes inside the house and only add about 4-5 months. About 4 oz per tire. I like it more than Stans as it does NOT clump after drying out. It also has sealed a 3/4 inch gash in my tires.
 
#5 ·
It seems like I go through about 2 bottles of Stan's per year....One bottle the 3 months of summer, and one bottle for the 9 months of not-summer, syringing up and re-using as much as I can salvage each time I break the seal to swap tires, or true a wheel.

@Big0mike, I know you've been an active contributor to the homebrew sealant thread. Does it stand up to the heat better than Stan's? Or since it's more or less reverse-engineered Stan's, is it the same?

As much as I fool around with my wheels, I really should sack up and figure out how to make the junk...
 
#12 ·
@Big0mike, I know you've been an active contributor to the homebrew sealant thread. Does it stand up to the heat better than Stan's? Or since it's more or less reverse-engineered Stan's, is it the same?
Since I've never used Stan's I PERSONALLY don't have any comparison but a lot of the guys on that thread say it is. We've went to a more "pure" mix than the original Home Brew and most of us use more ammonia which we believe helps with the evaporation. And, I add a sh!tton (6 to 8 oz in a 26" wheel) to my wheel so I don't have to worry about it.

It really is so easy when you make it you'll kick yourself in the ass for not doing it sooner.

From TapaTalk on my Note 3
 
#6 ·
I don't remember seeing a product called Orange Seal, only Stans and Slime. Is the Orange Seal readily available locally or is this the name of the home brew your talking about?

Not that it matters for me just yet. I have about 24 oz of Stans to use up.
 
#18 ·
big0's OSS said:
OSS v1h

16 oz PG
40 oz RO
4 oz ammonia
Mix well while stirring in:
½ cup corn meal
Mix well while stirring in:
½ tbsp XG
Mix well while stirring in:
Handful of "lint"

Let cool.

16oz Mold Builder

Mix well.
I like mine a little thicker than most of the guys. But, again, I've never used Stan's so I don't know what they are shooting for. I think their water content would be closer to 48oz or 54oz. The xantham gum thickens the mix up some as well.
 
#16 ·
I am always intrigued when someone posts up a twist on a commercial design or formula. :thumbsup: In fact it drives my family crazy when I cut up and modify something brand new and often expensive to "make it better"! :eekster: So I may have to look into the homebrew down the road.
 
#20 ·
Just curious, how anal (if at all) does one have to be when cleaning the tires when remounting tires? I had to fix a rim and am still just keeping orange seal. Should I just clean the mating surfaces? Or do you have to remove all signs of sealant from inside the tire? I have a feeling I'll be doing this a lot, as my rear wheel is tired (no pun intended).
 
#24 ·
Good info here for those wanting to know.

Here's my scenario, i know it'll shock some of you, but I don't add sealant on any set timetable. I just ride it until it doesn't seal, then add a bottle trailside. Removable cores are the key. I always carry two bottles of my home brew, one for each tire if needed. Only takes a couple of minutes, but I do add fresh sealant before heading out on any extended bikepacking/backcountry type rides. I store my bike in the hot garage and I'm 100% positive my sealant dried out during my 2 month hiatus due to injury earlier this year. I didn't even bother to unseat the tire knowing full well I probably have a lopsided latex coat on each tire. But that's me.

If I were to remove my tire, I'd clear out that extra layer of dried sealant, lopsided or not. I've found on a couple of occasions where this has occurred, added fresh sealant and the small puncture still wouldn't seal. Stan's or homebrew. I believe this was caused by that layer of sealant slightly pulling away from the inner wall of the tire, creating a small air channel to the puncture. However, the sealant couldn't find it's way to where it needed to be. All I know is after the extra latex layer was removed, the sealant worked as advertised. With that said, I don't fret about it too much as this has only happened twice in 3 years over a boatload of riding. Just something of note.

As for my home brew, here's what I've been using successfully for about 3 years:

16oz of Slime
16oz of latex mold builder (Get it at Michaels & use their weekly 40% off one item coupon!)
32oz of 50/50 anti-freeze (Buy a gallon of the cheap stuff from AutoZone or similar)

That's it. Simple & effective. Mix it up, store it inside all for about 1/3 the cost of Stan's. Use a 64oz or larger container with a large lid for easy access. I keep an old 16oz bottle of Stan's filled with the stuff for ease of use & a few on the smaller Stan's bottles for my pack. Yes, I still get the occasional Stanimal in my tire, but I really don't care. The only time I'm popping the tire off is to change it out.

Fun fact: on my last set of tires, just before changing them out, I had fresh sealant loaded and the usual pinhole seepage from all the puncture 'fixes' displayed. I counted up the 'holes' - 85 in the rear tire & 67 in the front!! Held solid for weeks on end. These tires were well past their expected life span, but still worthy of local rides.

Viva sealant!! or something like that.
 
#26 ·
Here's my scenario, i know it'll shock some of you, but I don't add sealant on any set timetable. I just ride it until it doesn't seal, then add a bottle trailside. Removable cores are the key. I always carry two bottles of my home brew, one for each tire if needed. Only takes a couple of minutes,
The problem with this is that when a tire fails trailside it will often flatten completely before you recognize it. Then you wind up riding with the tire flat, even for a short distance, the seal between tire & rim will break and it'll slide on and off the bead of the rim. Then you'll be stuck trailside with all kinds of sh|t on the bead of the tire and in the bead of the rim making it highly unlikely, if not impossible, to seal the bead again. Especially with a hand pump or even a unit of C0[SUP]2[/SUP]. Then you'll have just wasted the sealant you've been lugging around.

Yes, this comes from experience.
 
#25 ·
I take the valve core out and squirt in 4oz of stans whenever I think its been a while, usually like every 2-3mo or so, or before a long race. And I really don't have issues with sealing punctures aside from huge sidewall gashes. Maxxis tires and Stan's crest wheels.

Storing the bike indoors is really huge also, not to mention another layer of prevention against theft. I have an entire room devoted to my and my girlfriends bikes/gear.
 
#29 ·
I take the valve core out and squirt in 4oz of stans whenever I think its been a while, usually like every 2-3mo
I used to do that too until I noticed my bike seemed heavier. I took off both tires, turned them inside out and removed/scraped away all the useless dried stans coating the inside of the tire. I weighed all the dried Stans I removed and it was 1 full pound.
 
#27 ·
Mike you are right kind of- it really depends on the tire-wheel combo. I have had it happen both ways.

As far as sealant-I had been making my own since 2009 but recently got turned on to Orange Seal. It lasts a lot longer (maybe due to refresh every 3 months) and I have had zero issues. Well one small one and that is valve cores. They get stopped up and hardly let any air in after about 6 months. Solution? 10 pack of valve cores for $10 on amazon. This never happened with homebrew, but I am still sold on Orange Seal and even tossed the old pickle jar that I mixed and stored my sealant in last weekend.
 
#28 ·
Mike you are right kind of- it really depends on the tire-wheel combo. I have had it happen both ways.
I've had it happen both ways, too. Depends a lot on what you are riding as well. The last flat I got was off the Chutes drop and the runout after. Not likely you'll notice immediately and be able to stop without busting the tire off.

As far as sealant-I had been making my own since 2009 but recently got turned on to Orange Seal. It lasts a lot longer (maybe due to refresh every 3 months) and I have had zero issues. Well one small one and that is valve cores. They get stopped up and hardly let any air in after about 6 months. Solution? 10 pack of valve cores for $10 on amazon. This never happened with homebrew, but I am still sold on Orange Seal and even tossed the old pickle jar that I mixed and stored my sealant in last weekend.
I got a 100 pack of cores (Schrader) off Amazon for the same reason. When I pull and fill the third time they are usually starting to stick.
 
#31 ·
The last 6+ months I have had a mixture of the Bontrager sealant and some Slime. Took it apart a couple days ago and it seems the Bontrager stuff dried very evenly inside the tire (not balling up like stans) and the slime is keeping it moist. Haven't had a flat and thorns/cactus still seem to seal up. I'm going to keep with that combo from here on.
 
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