Silca Ultimate Tubeless Sealant

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TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

So everything in my paper cup test has dried out except Boyd and Stan's, which are still going strong.

What's interesting to me is the dry weight of all the sealants. I started out with 40g of each sealant. Most ended up in the 18-23g range. Orange Seal was down to 10g. If you are a tubeless user who doesn't do a bunch of annual mileage, Orange Seal is almost certainly your best bet. Boyd and Stan's are probably next. Muc-Off is OK initially, but it becomes too thick to spread inside the tire within a couple weeks. It forces you to compensate with larger volumes of sealant. The same applies to Peaty's.

I would not recommend Specialized RapidAir or Bontrager TLR. I had to choose between either, I would definitely choose the Bontrager stuff. Both are flawed products. Bontrager has a limited shelf life, so don't buy a 32oz bottle unless you plan on using it all within a year. Specialized has a shelf life as well, and is very gluey and forms a cap/film over time.

TL;DR: Orange Seal wins. Boyd probably second place, followed by Stan's for road tubeless.

MikeD
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by MikeD

TobinHatesYou wrote:So everything in my paper cup test has dried out except Boyd and Stan's, which are still going strong.

What's interesting to me is the dry weight of all the sealants. I started out with 40g of each sealant. Most ended up in the 18-23g range. Orange Seal was down to 10g. If you are a tubeless user who doesn't do a bunch of annual mileage, Orange Seal is almost certainly your best bet. Boyd and Stan's are probably next. Muc-Off is OK initially, but it becomes too thick to spread inside the tire within a couple weeks. It forces you to compensate with larger volumes of sealant. The same applies to Peaty's.

I would not recommend Specialized RapidAir or Bontrager TLR. I had to choose between either, I would definitely choose the Bontrager stuff. Both are flawed products. Bontrager has a limited shelf life, so don't buy a 32oz bottle unless you plan on using it all within a year. Specialized has a shelf life as well, and is very gluey and forms a cap/film over time.

TL;DR: Orange Seal wins. Boyd probably second place, followed by Stan's for road tubeless.
Wins what? I'd think the sealants that didn't dry up would be the winners. Oh yes, forgot this is Weight Weenies :-)

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Mocs123
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by Mocs123

MikeD wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:07 pm
Wins what? I'd think the sealants that didn't dry up would be the winners. Oh yes, forgot this is Weight Weenies :-)
I think it's a double edged sword here - if it doesn't dry up it seems like it wouldn't seal very well, if it does dry up it seems like it wouldn't last long in the tire without refreshing.
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TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

MikeD wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:07 pm
Wins what? I'd think the sealants that didn't dry up would be the winners. Oh yes, forgot this is Weight Weenies :-)

Orange Seal lasts long enough in an airtight environment and actually seals at road pressures, unlike Stan’s. It also creates a thin membrane inside the tire to further reduce air permeation/diffusion through the tire casing.

Sealants like Muc-Off and Silca do great in screwdriver stab tests with fresh pours, but they fare much worse after only a short time.

MikeD
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by MikeD

TobinHatesYou wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:46 pm
MikeD wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:07 pm
Wins what? I'd think the sealants that didn't dry up would be the winners. Oh yes, forgot this is Weight Weenies :-)

Orange Seal lasts long enough in an airtight environment and actually seals at road pressures, unlike Stan’s. It also creates a thin membrane inside the tire to further reduce air permeation/diffusion through the tire casing.

Sealants like Muc-Off and Silca do great in screwdriver stab tests with fresh pours, but they fare much worse after only a short time.
I don't see the correlation between the grams of dried sealant left in the cup with sealant's sealing ability.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

MikeD wrote:
Sat Oct 29, 2022 1:45 am

I don't see the correlation between the grams of dried sealant left in the cup with sealant's sealing ability.

You made that correlation, not me. I mentioned the weight because this is weight weenies and it seemed like a funny joke at the time.

Anyway it's clear that Orange Seal follows a different formula than all the other sealants. It manages to use less latex, but it distributes it better. It evaporates quickly in an open environment, but the liquid latex gets where it needs to go even at lower volumes.

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ipaul
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by ipaul

Think I missed it but in your test, was it original Orange Seal or Endurance? My real life is matching your paper cup well and wplan to go back to OS. Thanks for doing this.
:P

MikeD
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by MikeD

I'm not sure what the paper cup test proves.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

MikeD wrote:
Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:10 pm
I'm not sure what the paper cup test proves.
It merely exaggerates all bad qualities of each sealant because I don’t have the patience to fill dozens of individual tires with sealant and then inspect them with a fiber optic camera.

I think it’s a pretty safe bet that the order in which they dried out in open air is also the order in which they would dry out in a tire. I think it’s also a good bet that the sealant which seeped the most through the wax+paper will also deep through thin tire casings and even under well adhered poly rim tapes.

EvilEuro
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by EvilEuro

In going through this thread I keep reading about issues that people are having issues with the sealant eating through rim tape. Is anyone using this sealant on a sealed rim where rim tape is not required? If so, what are your experiences with it? I'm curious as to how these experiences compare overall.

CyclingGiraffe
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by CyclingGiraffe

EvilEuro wrote:
Sun Oct 30, 2022 7:45 pm
In going through this thread I keep reading about issues that people are having issues with the sealant eating through rim tape. Is anyone using this sealant on a sealed rim where rim tape is not required? If so, what are your experiences with it? I'm curious as to how these experiences compare overall.
I really don't know, but if it is eating through rim tape (and other things) I don't think I would necessarily want it directly on my expensive carbon or even aluminum rims.

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

CyclingGiraffe wrote:
Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:39 pm

I really don't know, but if it is eating through rim tape (and other things) I don't think I would necessarily want it directly on my expensive carbon or even aluminum rims.

Buddy's been using Silca. Green powder coat tape is tearing in random places and the green dyed adhesive is dissolving / coming off the transparent backing. He also had red ENVE tape fail at a spoke hole.
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BigBoyND
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by BigBoyND

Did your friend install the red tape or was that from the factory? Was it in two layers?

Failure at the spokes is usually due to insufficient layering or overpressure.

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robbosmans
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by robbosmans

Failure at the spoke is normal after a couple of seasons, rim tape needs to be replaced every now and then

TobinHatesYou
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by TobinHatesYou

ENVE advises to use one layer of their red tape. The tape was pretty new. Spoke hole failures with Silca Ultimate are a known issue.

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