Silca Ultimate Tubeless Sealant

[bobones]

Orange Seal has been my preferred sealant for a few years now, and I have always found it to be more reliable than anything else I have tried (Stan's, OKO Milk, Muc-Off, Hutchinson, MilkIt, Decathlon to name a few); however, it is not perfect and I have often had to use Dynaplugs on small cuts and seemingly innocuous looking holes. I don't know if I have ever had a round hole > 3 mm, so perhaps Orange Seal just isn't as good with these big holes as Silca Ultimate or Muc-Off as the test shows. Anyway, I am using Silca Ultimate in a couple of wheelsets, so I will pop them to have a look at the state of the liquid when I've got a chance.

[blaugrana]

Got this off the Silca website: "CO2, condensation from compressors, and talc powder can lead to hardening of the sealant. These should be avoided when installing the sealant."

I think you should expect the sealant to dry up if you use CO2.

It's funny because on their own Youtube video on pouring sealant and installing the tyres, they mention both compressors and CO2 cannisters as valid options for seating the tyre:

[dzl]

I've also had Silca sealant in two bikes for 3 weeks now. Both are set up with 28mm PZero Race TLRs. The sealant is still liquid in all four tires.

That being said, does anyone have any hints on how to add air/check tire pressure without having a bit of sealant come shooting out when you crack open the valve? I've tried orienting the valve stem at 4 o'clock and letting the bike sit a couple minutes, same at 12 o'clock and 9 o'clock. No matter what the orientation of the valve stem is, as soon as I push on my pump chuck or pressure gauge, a bit of sealant comes spraying out. It's annoying.

Is this something that everyone just deals with when using sealant at road tubeless pressures? I'm running 66/68 PSI.

[MikeD]

Does the Silca sealant require shaking before pouring it in the tire? Maybe not because it's a foaming sealant, but I don't like that the carbon fiber comes out in chunks when being poured from the bottle and dries up in clumps in the tire. I would think, to be effective, it should be uniformly distributed in the tire.

[FlatlandClimber]

Does the Silca sealant require shaking before pouring it in the tire? Maybe not because it's a foaming sealant, but I don't like that the carbon fiber comes out in chunks when being poured from the bottle and dries up in clumps in the tire. I would think, to be effective, it should be uniformly distributed in the tire.

It does. Not because of the latex, but because of the carbon fibre strings in the sealant. This usually amalgamate at the bottom of the bottle and at the bottle neck. Shaking works welll as a means of distributing these fibers throughout the liquid.
I forgot to shake up the bottle the first time I used it and there were hardly any fibers that ended up in my tire.

[aeroisnteverything]

I've also had Silca sealant in two bikes for 3 weeks now. Both are set up with 28mm PZero Race TLRs. The sealant is still liquid in all four tires.

That being said, does anyone have any hints on how to add air/check tire pressure without having a bit of sealant come shooting out when you crack open the valve? I've tried orienting the valve stem at 4 o'clock and letting the bike sit a couple minutes, same at 12 o'clock and 9 o'clock. No matter what the orientation of the valve stem is, as soon as I push on my pump chuck or pressure gauge, a bit of sealant comes spraying out. It's annoying.

Is this something that everyone just deals with when using sealant at road tubeless pressures? I'm running 66/68 PSI.

This really should not be the case in a 9 or 12 o'clock positions. Maybe wait 30 sec for the sealant to drip down to the bottom of the tyre before pressing the pump onto the valve.

[tleo]

On my mtn bike with regular sealant I park the bike after a ride with the valve stems between 5-7 o'clock to allow the sealant run out. Then the next day when I check the pressures before the ride I "burp" the valves once or twice before checking the pressure in case all of the sealant hasn't drained out.

[AJS914]

Does anyone here ever add anything to Orange Seal to make it work even better? I'd give Silca sealeant a try but I have a ton of Orange Seal on hand.

[ms6073]

I recall several years back reading a thread on another site's forum about home brew tubeless sealants. Mixing various brands was tried, but don't recall all the results, save I do think someone reported that after mixing brand A with brand B, that a week later, the sealant was nothing more than a solid bead inside the tire but do not recall which brands were tried.

[MikeD]

That being said, does anyone have any hints on how to add air/check tire pressure without having a bit of sealant come shooting out when you crack open the valve? I've tried orienting the valve stem at 4 o'clock and letting the bike sit a couple minutes, same at 12 o'clock and 9 o'clock. No matter what the orientation of the valve stem is, as soon as I push on my pump chuck or pressure gauge, a bit of sealant comes spraying out. It's annoying.

This usually happens to me right after topping up the sealant, then after a few days it stops doing that. Are you using too much sealant in your tire(s)?

[bobinski]

Anyone running the Silca sealant with Veloflex Corsa's? I have 2 if the tyres on order and was going to order some joe's. Veloflex say they have not tested the combination.
I have run tubeless for 4y and it holds no fears for me but want to get the sealant right.
Cheers

[bobones]

This morning I got my first puncture on a tyre I'd used Silca sealant in, and sadly it was a major fail: no sealant came out at all and the tyre went completely flat within a minute or so. When I stopped, it was difficult to locate the puncture until I added CO2 as there was no telltale sealant leak, but it turned out to be quite a small hole and a single Dynaplug was enough to plug it and make it airtight. When I got home, I popped the tyre to reveal a fairly thick paste of sealant around the centre of the tyre circumference, but nothing that you would call liquid. I'd filled these tyres with 60 ml of sealant no more than 5 weeks ago so it's a very disappointing outcome on its first test. I am prepared to give it another chance before I go back to Orange Seal, but I'm not sure now whether to add the replenisher to make this paste more liquid or just to add more sealant.

[whataboutEee]

This morning I got my first puncture on a tyre I'd used Silca sealant in, and sadly it was a major fail: no sealant came out at all and the tyre went completely flat within a minute or so. When I stopped, it was difficult to locate the puncture until I added CO2 as there was no telltale sealant leak, but it turned out to be quite a small hole and a single Dynaplug was enough to plug it and make it airtight. When I got home, I popped the tyre to reveal a fairly thick paste of sealant around the centre of the tyre circumference, but nothing that you would call liquid. I'd filled these tyres with 60 ml of sealant no more than 5 weeks ago so it's a very disappointing outcome on its first test. I am prepared to give it another chance before I go back to Orange Seal, but I'm not sure now whether to add the replenisher to make this paste more liquid or just to add more sealant.

These stories of really fast drying times do seem to show up with some regularity. What tires were you running?

[scottydonald]

hmmmm would the CO2 not have soemthing to do with the drying out?

[bobones]

These stories of really fast drying times do seem to show up with some regularity. What tires were you running?

Those are 30 mm Pirelli P-Zero Race.