Currently running Joe's Super, but is there anything better available nowadays?
I understand it's the same type of stuff as Stan's (latex with ammonia). I chose it over Stan's a couple of years back as someone here said it sealed better, and it was quite a bit cheaper at the time (not anymore though).
Joe's been ok in all that time, but I only had one puncture for it to deal with which it didn't. 3mm slit down the inboard side of a centre knob, tyre lost all air and came down onto the insert. Sealant just dribbling out. Held the hole at the bottom and pumped up a bit, it sealed, but any more than perhaps 10psi and it would blow out again. Fixed with a bacon strip.
Also I wish it didn't glue my tyres to the rim tape, but maybe it's too much to ask of a sealant to be selective about what it glues together.
The good things - goes through the valve easily, no balls of dried up stuff inside the tyres, plays fine with Rimpact, lasts well adding 1/3rd every 3 months as recommended.
Stan's and Joe's have been around for many years now so I thought innovation might have brought along something better. There's probably a lot of us on those because they work well enough and therefore why change, like with chain lube or tyres, but we might be missing out on better.
The folks at off.road.cc have tested loads of them with a standardised puncture test, the top performers were WTB, Vittoria, Peatys, and Halo Fibre-Tech. Joe's was one of the worst performers.
Huh, did the forum eat my reply?
I'm very happy with OKO Hi-Fibre (which is what Halo Fibre-tech is, and I suspect also Maxalami Maxseal). Hard to really rate sealing ability though but my best guess is that it's about on par with Stans Race when both are fresh. But the reason I recommend it is it's water soluble, and so if it's dryign up you can refresh it just by adding water. As long as you don't let it dry out, it lasts basically forever and still performs as well as it did on day 1, unlike most sealants. It's also easier to clean out.
Downsides... I think probably it's a little too thick, it sticks to the tyre and doesn't leave much "free" in the event of a puncture that won't seal just with the distributed stuff. TBH that's been a nonissue for me since I do the topping up thing anyway so the actual thickness in my tyres is probably pretty random, and probably thinner than it was in the bottle.
And, you're not supposed to mix it with other sealants with different chemistry, which means you have to clean out other stuff before adding it (not surgical or anything, just a rinse or wipe out is fine). But also means if you get a flat that won't seal you can't just throw in stans- and you can get stans everywhere, you can't get oko/halo everywhere. So that's a disadvantage.
Obviously worth shopping to see which "brand" is cheaper, but it's usually £20 a litre which is good. I just bought a 5 litre jug for £67.50 🙂
It's not new, but I reckon OKO Hi-fibre (which is the exact same as Halo Fibre-Tech) is the best I've used. Cheaper than most (£20 a litre atm) seals well- well, it's always hard to compare punctures really but it's definitely in the same ballpark as stans race at least. But it's water soluble, so as it dries out, you can just add a little water to refresh it (don't let it dry though, once dried it doesn't "reactivate" and it's easier to clean up of course for the same reason. I think it's maybe a little too thick as it comes but again, you can dilute it just a little if you want. It's just so easy to live with, and performs really well, I can't see me changing from it.
The only downside I've found is that you shouldn't really mix it with stans because of the different chemistry so you need to clean out your tyres a bit before you swap. Not super clean or anything, just a basic washout or wipe is enough but it still means if you're away somewhere and you have a problem it's potentially a hassle since you can always find stans but you can't always find oko/halo.
Obviously worth shopping around to see which brand is cheaper as they're identical and I don't think Halo sell a 1 litre for some mad reason.
I’m about to try some Orange sealant which is supposed to seal small holes very well. In particular sidewalls that leak air, like on my new Strada tyres. I don’t think it lasts longer than 6 months before needing to be replaced but if it works I’ll be using it to seal my Specialized Mondos that leak air through the sidewalls too. Stan’s normal won’t seal them so I’m hoping the Orange will ( not tried Stan’s Race in them though)…
After giving a few a go, it's Orange for me. Seems to last ages in the tyres, and doesn't go off on the shelf. Conveniently, it also seals punctures well!
Orange Endurance. Doesn't dry out and ball up like Stan's.
I use Orange Endurance on my mountain and road bikes. Lasts forever and seals holes pretty well too.
Great service here, asked Ben about Vittoria that was in FGF a few months ago:
Ben_HaworthFull Member
@bikesandboots Yep. My sealant of choice pretty much. Will probably get some sort of honourable mention in my Editor’s Choice 2023 stuff.
Squirt tyre sealant, I've been using it for years with no issues and more eco friendly than some other brands
I'm on Orange Seal Endurance, and a large part of why is that that's what the closest LBS to me has on the shelf and I always seem to have to pop out and get some when I'm messing with my tyres. It seems to last a good while though and it's pretty consistently highly rated so no compelling reason to seek out something different just for the sake of it.
Bog standard OKO from the farm shop and I water mine down about 30%.
Bog standard OKO from the farm shop and I water mine down about 30%
50:50 for me, but yeah, OKO
Tried stans- good
Orange seal- didn't work for me
On one calf espresso ( or something similar)- didn't work at all
Back on Stan's. Seals reasonable sized punctures reasonably.
Is any sealant going to fix a 3mm slit?
Don't know, maybe it's a more difficult case than the 4-5mm holes sealants can supposedly do?
I'm not asking from a place of dissatisfaction, rather have things moved on and the bar been raised:
Stan’s and Joe’s have been around for many years now so I thought innovation might have brought along something better. There’s probably a lot of us on those because they work well enough and therefore why change, like with chain lube or tyres, but we might be missing out on better.
I bought 1L of Muc Off 1 year ago despite it supposedly being shit and mostly because it was £13. Zero punctures that I know of and zero loss of pressure since then. I might well have been lucky and I'll renew it this winter to count the thorns!
I might well have been lucky and I’ll renew it this winter to count the thorns!
Muc off is OK until this. Have a hosepipe ready - it gets everywhere and its like runny blue glue.
@bear-uk @scaredypants is this what you use?
www.amazon.co.uk/Off-Road-Tyre-Sealant-Puncture/dp/B006THGZZ2/
I normally use Stans but picked up some Joes in the summer as it was £10 a litre on Amazon and I am impressed. I changed a tyre over the weekend and stopped counting after 10 quite hefty thorns, no loss of pressure at all.
I wont go near Muc Off, when I used it years ago it wouldn't even seal thorn holes.
I've used Peatys too, its fine but not worth the extra cost in my opinion.
Muc off is OK until this. Have a hosepipe ready – it gets everywhere and its like runny blue glue.
It also stains clothing! I've been sprayed by a rider in front and it didn't wash out of a gilet...
Muc off is OK until this. Have a hosepipe ready
100% this ^. Muc off does the job most of the time, but deffo have a hosepipe ready. It's sticky, claggy, horrible stuff when changing tyres etc. I do like their valves though.
Currently using the Hutchinson sealant from decathlon. No worse, no better than stans or Joe's. Ive come to the conclusion that all white latex based sealants are the same.
Oko hi-fibre here. It's relatively cheap in a big bottle & seems to work pretty well. Never really tried much else though.
Oko Magic milk here; seems to work fine on both MTB and Road tubeless. Also cheap; I think I paid £10 for a litre last time.
I had to take a tyre full of muc-off recently. I was very surprised at not having any issues with cleaning up the mess. Perhaps they have changed the formula?
I normally use the new version of Peaty's. I've had no issues with that either.
I found MucOff a bit thick to seal holes quickly, but mixed 50-50 with Stan's it was brilliant.
All gone now, so back to Stan's. Tried Joe's a few times and it just didn't seem to seal so well - felt like it wasn't thick enough maybe?
I got some Peaty's stuff recently. Nice bottle applicator and seems to be doing the job well so far. Haven't tried to change a tyre with it but no punctures in 6 months so far (and only a tiny bit of air loss - I've added about 5psi once in that time).
I understand it’s the same type of stuff as Stan’s (latex with ammonia).
IIRC Stans is only a trace of ammonia left over from making the latex. It's not an "ingredent".