Silca Ultimate Tubeless Sealant

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ghdana
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:43 pm

by ghdana

Very love/hate relationship with this stuff. I'm in Arizona and the summer meant it would dry very fast, but I tried using replenisher did a ride and then didn't ride that bike for a week and came back from vacation to find it "solid" at the bottom of my tire, like a wad of gum. So I just pour in more regular sealant and that works great $$$.

I had a first batch and that ruined 2 sets of rim tape. 2nd bottle I have not had any issues.

However I have seen it save my road bike from a huge flat once, and my gravel bike constantly. I have not had to use any plugs since I switched to Silica despite riding on more singletrack on my gravel bike and encountering more goatheads and cactus bits. It works better than anything else I have used.
7.7kg Allez Sprint
9kg Exploro Ultra

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

I've never had a problem with goatheads or cactus splines with ANY sealant. Those are totally trivial punctures to seal.

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whataboutEee
Posts: 117
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:55 pm

by whataboutEee

ghdana wrote:
Tue Nov 22, 2022 4:26 pm
Very love/hate relationship with this stuff. I'm in Arizona and the summer meant it would dry very fast, but I tried using replenisher did a ride and then didn't ride that bike for a week and came back from vacation to find it "solid" at the bottom of my tire, like a wad of gum. So I just pour in more regular sealant and that works great $$$.

I had a first batch and that ruined 2 sets of rim tape. 2nd bottle I have not had any issues.
It would be nice to know if other people are not having the rim tape destruction with newer batches. I got a free replacement bottle since my first batch had the extra carbon issue,but I am very reluctant to use it in any of my wheels after the first batch put a hole in my rim tape.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

Anyone stick with Silca's sealant long term and have any anecdata? Positive? Negative?

How much are you using? How long does it last? How is the tape holding up? How's the clean-up? Are the carbon fibers doing their job or balling up still?

naavt
Posts: 529
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:58 pm

by naavt

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 11:49 pm
Anyone stick with Silca's sealant long term and have any anecdata? Positive? Negative?

How much are you using? How long does it last? How is the tape holding up? How's the clean-up? Are the carbon fibers doing their job or balling up still?
Trying it out for the first time for a week now.

I'm surprised on how good it retains air. Every TL setup I've tried before loses about 10 psi daily. I now have Silca with PZeros SL with no pressure lost in 3 days.

Sealed my Mariposa injector seringe when measuring 40ml of sealant before throwing it into the tire, so I assume it will easily seal any small punctures.

For now it seems the real deal. Let's see how it behaves on the long run, and also if it doesn't stain classic tan sidewalls like Orange Seal does.

cat4forlife
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:42 pm

by cat4forlife

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 11:49 pm
Anyone stick with Silca's sealant long term and have any anecdata? Positive? Negative?

How much are you using? How long does it last? How is the tape holding up? How's the clean-up? Are the carbon fibers doing their job or balling up still?
Carbon fiber turned into balls from first two bottles of Silca's sealant purchased soon after the product announcement. First bottle was purchased direct from Silca, second bottle from Amazon. I suspect they were from the same initial batch when Silca had bottling issue with adding too much carbon fiber.

Most recent bottle was a warranty replacement from Silca and was installed August last year. 2 oz for a 700-28c tire. 1 oz of Silca replenisher added in November. Unmounted the tire today and it still had a lot of liquid. No carbon fiber balls.

Muc Off rim tape still in good shape (installed same day as the Silca sealant last August).

By my count, i had at least half a dozen punctures since August. All of them successfully sealed, most with negligible tire pressure loss.

The clean-up of rim is no more difficult than Orange Seal. However, carbon fiber pieces attached to the tire bead can be a challenge to remove.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

cat4forlife wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:12 am
TobinHatesYou wrote:
Tue Jan 24, 2023 11:49 pm
Anyone stick with Silca's sealant long term and have any anecdata? Positive? Negative?

How much are you using? How long does it last? How is the tape holding up? How's the clean-up? Are the carbon fibers doing their job or balling up still?
Carbon fiber turned into balls from first two bottles of Silca's sealant purchased soon after the product announcement. First bottle was purchased direct from Silca, second bottle from Amazon. I suspect they were from the same initial batch when Silca had bottling issue with adding too much carbon fiber.

Most recent bottle was a warranty replacement from Silca and was installed August last year. 2 oz for a 700-28c tire. 1 oz of Silca replenisher added in November. Unmounted the tire today and it still had a lot of liquid. No carbon fiber balls.

Muc Off rim tape still in good shape (installed same day as the Silca sealant last August).

By my count, i had at least half a dozen punctures since August. All of them successfully sealed, most with negligible tire pressure loss.

The clean-up of rim is no more difficult than Orange Seal. However, carbon fiber pieces attached to the tire bead can be a challenge to remove.

I still think your volume:endurance in a 28mm Pro One isn't great. You also said 60-70mL initially and not 2oz. 3-3.3oz, aka 90-100mL of Orange Seal would last me probably 8+ months in a typical vulcanized tubeless tire. Longer in a Goodyear...less in an open tubular with cotton casing. In a NorCal / Mediterranean environment of course.

cat4forlife
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:42 pm

by cat4forlife

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:36 am
I still think your volume:endurance in a 28mm Pro One is really bad. You also said 60-70mL initially and not 2oz. 3-3.3oz, aka 90-100mL of Orange Seal would last me probably 8+ months in a typical vulcanized tubeless tire. Longer in a Goodyear...less in an open tubular with cotton casing. In a NorCal / Mediterranean environment of course.
60 - 70 ml is 2 - 2.3 fl oz and that was the initial amount of Silca sealant with Fiberfoam added. I added 1 oz of the Silca sealant replenisher after about 2.5 months prior to my 1-month trip. If you consider the fact that i had at least half a dozen punctures in that tire since August and that i still had a decent amount sealant in liquid when i unmounted the tire today, i think that's quite acceptable. That's 2+ fl oz + 1 fl oz + at least 6 punctures (all sealed), from late summer to early fall PNW weather, to hot and humid tropical weather for 1 month, and then back indoor temperature (low humidity) the last couple of months for a total of five months.

I'm not sure what volume in a 700-28c Pro One TLE is "really bad" but 2 oz is the Silca recommended amount for tires 23 - 30 mm. In comparison, Orange Seal recommends 1 - 2 oz (i assume in fl oz) for "road" application.

I'm not saying OS would not last you 8+ months but my 2-oz installation of Orange Seal Regular in the exact same setup went bone dry in less than 75 days (late spring to early summer in the PNW).

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

This is why I want more people to weigh in. 60-70mL of Orange Seal only lasting 75 days inside a Pro One in PNW weather is unlike anything I've heard. I did have 45mL of OS dry up in a Challenge Strada Pro over 5 weeks, but that is a particularly porous open tubular.

warthog101
Posts: 872
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:05 am

by warthog101

I am about to start using Orange Seal regular.
Have a ~1ltr bottle.
This replaces the same size Stans regular bottle and Hutchinson protect air before that.
We get warm summers here and my bikes are stored in the garage with a double car width black roller door that faces the western sun.
It gets warm in there, so that is probably part of the problem.
If Orange seal stays liquid longer than 3 months in the warm part of the year I will be very happy.
I have used a small bottle of it previously but dont recall how well it lasted.

whataboutEee
Posts: 117
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:55 pm

by whataboutEee

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:25 am
This is why I want more people to weigh in. 60-70mL of Orange Seal only lasting 75 days inside a Pro One in PNW weather is unlike anything I've heard. I did have 45mL of OS dry up in a Challenge Strada Pro over 5 weeks, but that is a particularly porous open tubular.
I know you are all about the orange seal Tobin, but this is a pretty common experience for people. orange seal themselves say that there is a good chance the regular isn't going to last more than 30-45 days, which is pretty much inline with my experience with it, which is one of the reasons I really was hoping silca was for real. But until it's clear what's going on with the rimtape destruction, it's just not useable in my opinion.

naavt
Posts: 529
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:58 pm

by naavt

whataboutEee wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:19 pm
(...) But until it's clear what's going on with the rimtape destruction, it's just not useable in my opinion.
What? Really? Never heard of that before! :shock: I'm using it with Schwalbe rim tape. Let's wait and see :roll:

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

whataboutEee wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:19 pm

I know you are all about the orange seal Tobin, but this is a pretty common experience for people. orange seal themselves say that there is a good chance the regular isn't going to last more than 30-45 days, which is pretty much inline with my experience with it, which is one of the reasons I really was hoping silca was for real. But until it's clear what's going on with the rimtape destruction, it's just not useable in my opinion.

Pointed out earlier, I've had 45ml of Orange Seal dry up in 35 days, but that was a near worst case tire scenario. It would have been even worse if during the height of summer. It depends on the tire construction and climate more than anything, but the poster above was using 70mL in a 28mm Pro One TLE and lives in the PNW.

Tire choice and climate affect all sealants.

cat4forlife
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:42 pm

by cat4forlife

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Wed Jan 25, 2023 10:07 pm

Pointed out earlier, I've had 45ml of Orange Seal dry up in 35 days, but that was a near worst case tire scenario. It would have been even worse if during the height of summer. It depends on the tire construction and climate more than anything, but the poster above was using 70mL in a 28mm Pro One TLE and lives in the PNW.

Tire choice and climate affect all sealants.
Fortunately i started keeping track of my maintenance record a couple of years ago using the ProBikeGarage app on iOS so i have the exact dates:

5/12/2021: Schwalbe Pro One TLE 700-28c (rear tire) scrubbed of old sealant and added 2-oz of OS Regular sealant.
7/28/2021 (and a little over 800 miles later): Flatted somewhere in Bellevue (TyreWiz indicated tire pressure went down to 20 PSI and dropping fast). Attempted to inflate the tire using the Lezynne Trigger Drive Co2 inflator but trigger part of the inflator broke. Called ex-teammate who lived nearby for help and he came over with a floor pump. Upon unmounting one side of tire to insert a spare tube, found out the Orange Seal regular sealant was completely dry. One part of the tire had a large piece of amble color dried-out sealant. I suspect had i flatted even two or three weeks earlier, there would not have been enough OS sealant in liquid form to seal the puncture.

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wheelsONfire
Posts: 6283
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 8:15 am
Location: NorthEU

by wheelsONfire

I ordered the Silca just to try. But i must say, Tufo tubeless sealant is also a great sealant.
Bikes:

Ax Lightness Vial EVO Race (2019.01.03)
Open *UP* (2016.04.14)
Paduano Racing Fidia (kind of shelved)


Ex bike; Vial EVO D, Vial EVO Ultra, Scott Foil, Paduano ti bike.

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