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I've had a couple of punctures recently and roughened up the tube with sandpaper, applied the vulcanising fluid, waited for it to dry with no tackiness, removed the silver backing from the patch and applied firmly, peeled the clear backing on the patch back and pulled the patch right back of the tube. It's as if the patch had bonded to the clear backing. Do patches age and is it time for a new kit or am I being a numpty?
Do the recent crop of pre-glued patches work (and no I don't want to go tubeless).
The vulcanising fluid should last quite a while in it's little metal tube providing you keep the top on. I've never known it to 'go off' when kept properly.
The clear backing can sometimes be very strongly attached to the patch so either give the vulcanising fluid a chance to work before removing the backing or just leave it on.
i just leave the plastic on, doesnt do any harm and i havent died yet...
I agree with all of the above comments.
The self-adhesive patches are probably fine if the tube is properly cleaned with an organic solvent (read petrol or similar) which is not viable on the trail, so I swap the first punctured tube and use glued patches for subsequent needs. The early self-adhesives were a bit poor, but recent ones based on Tear-Aid patches seem very good if the tube is clean. I use talc on my tubes, so prefer to use glue when the need arises.
PaulD
it evaporates over time
I bought a big box of Tip-Top patches and they have a 'best before' date on the box.
I've always pulled the clear backing off, but according to the Park site you're not meant to, so I appear to have been being a numpty. I suppose it makes sense and it's certainly not going to do any harm.