Silca Ultimate Tubeless Sealant

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

by whataboutEee

Brand new conti 5k tr. Bone dry after 2wks/~500 miles. thankfully I was only 1/2 mile from home when I found this out. I'm done with silca until they figure this out

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

by cat4forlife

I unmounted the front tire again, less than two weeks after the second installation of the Silca sealant. This time, the bottle of sealant was purchased on Amazon in the middle of May. That bottle of sealant appeared to have the proper amount of carbon fiber. A combination of too much of the carbon fiber and the inevitable thickening of the sealant is the reason given by Silca for the forming of carbon fiber pellets. It was no surprise to me in finding little carbon balls, as Silca calls them, in the tire as i had been hearing them rattling in the rim barely a few days after the sealant was installed. The fact that i was still getting little carbon balls using a sealant that seemed to have the right amount of carbon fiber and the sealant shouldn't even have enough time to begin thickening appears to puncture a big hole in Silca's explanation.

If you want to read Silca's explanation for all sorts of issues with its sealant, you can find it here:
https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/sealant-update

I'm done with the Silca sealant and i went back to the trusty Orange Seal for the front tire/rim.
IMG_5568.jpg

by Weenie


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manystyles
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 11:23 pm

by manystyles

cat4forlife wrote:I unmounted the front tire again, less than two weeks after the second installation of the Silca sealant. This time, the bottle of sealant was purchased on Amazon in the middle of May. That bottle of sealant appeared to have the proper amount of carbon fiber. A combination of too much of the carbon fiber and the inevitable thickening of the sealant is the reason given by Silca for the forming of carbon fiber pellets. It was no surprise to me in finding little carbon balls, as Silca calls them, in the tire as i had been hearing them rattling in the rim barely a few days after the sealant was installed. The fact that i was still getting little carbon balls using a sealant that seemed to have the right amount of carbon fiber and the sealant shouldn't even have enough time to begin thickening appears to puncture a big hole in Silca's explanation.

If you want to read Silca's explanation for all sorts of issues with its sealant, you can find it here:
https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/sealant-update

I'm done with the Silca sealant and i went back to the trusty Orange Seal for the front tire/rim.
IMG_5568.jpg
Thank you posting the blog from Silca! That clarifies everything! I was enthusiastic about trying their sealant out, but like with a lot of V1 products, I’ll probably wait out until they refine it.


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FlatlandClimber
Posts: 2491
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:37 pm

by FlatlandClimber

cat4forlife wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:51 pm
FlatlandClimber wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:01 pm
ccie6872 wrote:
Tue Jun 28, 2022 2:53 pm
Received this morning from Silca:

We've definitely seen some unexpected reactions from some wheels since launching this sealant! Factors like latex content in tires and the mold release used at the factory where the tires are made cause the issue that you've had with your Conti 5000 s. What we have found is that for new tires that have mold release or high levels of latex, there is an initial reaction with the sealant that clears out the reactive material. Sealant poured in after this will not result in the same reaction. We've also tweaked our bottling process to make it more consistent. Because of these tweaks, if you would like to try out a new bottle, I would be happy to send you one through our warranty program - please let me know if you would like that.
Huh, interesting.
I have 3 sets of GP5000S TR set up with this sealant, and 1 set of Challenge Getaway.
I only had problems in the latest set of GP5000, and it did not occur the second time round.
Problems as in the carbon fiber forming pellets, or the sealant drying out, or the sealant turning bluish, or a combination of them?
Pellet forming, all documented in this thread.
I have used the sealant from the day it was released on all my bikes and nothing has dried out for me. I have used the recommended amount, which is quite a lot for a road tire.
Used in 0C gravel race in the Netherlands and in 40C heat in Andalusia. So far, so good.
Cervelo P5 Disc (2021) 9.1kg
Factor Ostro Gravel (2023) 8.0kg
S-Works SL8 (2023) 6.3kg

*weights are race ready, size 58/L.
Sold: Venge, S5 Disc, Roubaix Team, Open WI.DE, Émonda, Shiv TT, Crux, Aethos, SL7

Aeo
Posts: 668
Joined: Wed May 25, 2016 2:06 am

by Aeo

Image
Giant TCR Adv Pro Disc '17 · BH Lynx Race Evo '19 · Seraph GR029 '21 · Canyon Inflite AL '14

FlatlandClimber
Posts: 2491
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:37 pm

by FlatlandClimber

Being bad at pouring a sealant is not the sealants fault 😂
Cervelo P5 Disc (2021) 9.1kg
Factor Ostro Gravel (2023) 8.0kg
S-Works SL8 (2023) 6.3kg

*weights are race ready, size 58/L.
Sold: Venge, S5 Disc, Roubaix Team, Open WI.DE, Émonda, Shiv TT, Crux, Aethos, SL7

MikeD
Posts: 1000
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:55 pm

by MikeD

FlatlandClimber wrote:Being bad at pouring a sealant is not the sealants fault Image
Reminds me of blowing chunks! :-)

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

by whataboutEee

just to add to the saga. I cleaned up the conti that had the dried up silca in it, mounted it and added in some orange seal regular. It wouldn't seal the bead, even after riding it for awhile. I still had a slowish leak. Took it off, cleaned the tire again, put it back on and added some silca and it sealed immediately and is holding fine. It really does seem like silca is a better sealant. I really hope the longevity can get fixed.

FlatlandClimber
Posts: 2491
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:37 pm

by FlatlandClimber

Statement by Silca:
https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/sealant-update

Definitely good to start communicating this openly.
I am hopeful the product will continue to improve.
I have reported the two faulty bottles of sealant I've had. One had the mixing issue of too much carbon, the other had the clumping issue, with hard carbon balls forming.
I have received 2 bottle of sealant and a free bottle of replenisher. So far all of that has been without issues of drying up, clumping of anything like that.
Last edited by FlatlandClimber on Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cervelo P5 Disc (2021) 9.1kg
Factor Ostro Gravel (2023) 8.0kg
S-Works SL8 (2023) 6.3kg

*weights are race ready, size 58/L.
Sold: Venge, S5 Disc, Roubaix Team, Open WI.DE, Émonda, Shiv TT, Crux, Aethos, SL7

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

by cat4forlife

whataboutEee wrote:
Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:10 pm
just to add to the saga. I cleaned up the conti that had the dried up silca in it, mounted it and added in some orange seal regular. It wouldn't seal the bead, even after riding it for awhile. I still had a slowish leak. Took it off, cleaned the tire again, put it back on and added some silca and it sealed immediately and is holding fine. It really does seem like silca is a better sealant. I really hope the longevity can get fixed.
Slow leak can be caused by a number of things unrelated to sealant. Almost all of my slow leak - this usually happens after i have unmounted the tire and removed the valve stem to clean both the wheel and tire - happened at the interface between bottom of the valve stem and the rim. This had happened with Orange Seal. This had also happened with Silca.

TobinHatesYou
Posts: 12457
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm

by TobinHatesYou

whataboutEee wrote:
Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:10 pm
just to add to the saga. I cleaned up the conti that had the dried up silca in it, mounted it and added in some orange seal regular. It wouldn't seal the bead, even after riding it for awhile. I still had a slowish leak. Took it off, cleaned the tire again, put it back on and added some silca and it sealed immediately and is holding fine. It really does seem like silca is a better sealant. I really hope the longevity can get fixed.

Sealing bead is completely trivial, so something else was messed up in the process of mounting the tire.

manystyles
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 11:23 pm

by manystyles

FlatlandClimber wrote:Statement by Silca:
https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/sealant-update

Definitely good to start communicating this openly.
I am hopeful the product will continue to improve.
I have reported the two faulty bottles of sealant I've had. One had the mixing issue of too much carbon, the other had the clumping issue, with hard carbon balls forming.
I have received 2 bottle of sealant and a free bottle of replenisher. So far all of that has been without issues of drying up, clumping of anything like that.
That’s great to hear! I might go ahead and switch now! I’ll probably have to buy straight from Silca so there isn’t any mix up of different formulas that other vendors might still have in stock


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

by cat4forlife

manystyles wrote:
Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:00 pm
FlatlandClimber wrote:Statement by Silca:
https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/sealant-update

Definitely good to start communicating this openly.
I am hopeful the product will continue to improve.
I have reported the two faulty bottles of sealant I've had. One had the mixing issue of too much carbon, the other had the clumping issue, with hard carbon balls forming.
I have received 2 bottle of sealant and a free bottle of replenisher. So far all of that has been without issues of drying up, clumping of anything like that.
That’s great to hear! I might go ahead and switch now! I’ll probably have to buy straight from Silca so there isn’t any mix up of different formulas that other vendors might still have in stock


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If i were you, i would wait until Silca has figured out all the issues with its sealant. I don't believe they are anywhere near where they should be now. Also, they really need to start putting production date or batch number on the label of their sealant.

rides4beer
Posts: 690
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:27 am
Location: VA

by rides4beer

Installed a set of Conti Terra Speeds with Ultimate Sealant, no issues. Set the bead about 3/4 of the way around, rotated the opening to 9 o’clock and poured the sealant down into the tire, none of it touched the rim. Granted, this is a 40mm tire, so there’s a lil more room, but a careful pour with a road tire could work, or maybe a small funnel would help.

Terra Speeds mount by hand and inflate with a floor pump, so no problems with any mess. Now we just have to see how it works with punctures and how long it lasts.

Image

scottydonald
Posts: 256
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2021 5:06 pm
Location: Scotland now.

by scottydonald

well I just took off my front tyre; 8 weeks in and living in the Scotland so no extremes of weather!

New SL7 with GP 5000 S TR tyre, I found half of the sealant dried up but massive clumps of carbon fibre exactly as everyone here has said. Took pics if anyone really wants to see.

It took me 30 minutes to clean the dried sealant on the inside of the tyre! going back to Orange Seal!

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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