Homemade sealant – current recipes?

Whats your current recipe?

I found one on MTBR that was favoured but it was US product based i.e. Mold Builder/automotive slime.

So for UK products- something like:
1 part liquid latex – from ebay
1 part ammonia – from Robert Dyas
2 parts water
A dash of glitter/cornmeal/beard shavings

That about right?

And I’ve seen antifreeze instead of ammonia. Anyone tested the difference?

I looked into this a year or 2 ago and came to the conclusion that it was not worth the hassle for the amount saved. Stans or tyre yoghurt and use the time saved to go and ride your bike.

5 bikes in our family house – all tubeless – most plus. And there is a certain amount of tyre swapping going on – summer to winter treds + playing with inserts etc..

Stans is approx £20/litre
The brew above (assuming ratios are correct and it actually works) comes to £20 for 4 litres.

I’ve used 2L since lockdown began.

And of course there is a certain amount of satisfaction with just making stuff.

I just use liquid latex watered down. There used to be a thing with putting feathers from a down pillow in as well to help seal large holes, but I never tried that, stuff like that sounds silly to me.

I’ve heard of glitter being used successfully but currants?

Bit big no?

You’ll need:

1)https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/hobby-world-pva-glue-1l-328440

2)https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/rac-ready-mixed-antifreeze-coolant-1l-333079

3)https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/jumbo-eraser-355325

4)https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/betty-winters-grater-with-lid-grey-3417421

Get a sealable bottle (old/unused water bottle), and mix a solution of 50% of (1) and 50% of (2). Leave about a 1/4 of the bottle’s volume empty.

Then take (4), and grate 50% of (3). Add (3) to the bottle and shake well.

Finally, adjust for consistency by adding (1) or (2) as needed. You want it to be the thickness of regular tyre sealant.

Works a treat.

The mixture I used I found on here many years ago, fifteen, twenty or so? Anyway, it worked very well, even a fairly large cut, about 3mm long, probably caused by a piece of glass, and which left a puddle of green goo on the floor of John’s Bikes in Bath sealed itself after a few minutes.
It consists of;
Tablespoon of casting latex
Tablespoon of Slime*
Tablespoon of concentrated car windscreen wash liquid
1/4 cup of water
The only component that I had to buy several times was the Slime, because the bottles are fairly small, and I was running tubeless tyres on three bikes, the other stuff is cheap and comes in large containers that last for ages.
Slime is the critical part, it’s a tyre sealant after all, and it has a high fibre content, which lets the latex coagulate and seal punctures.
I used to check my tyres every so often, and there were always loads of little white dots around them, blackthorn thorns that had gone into the tyres, broken off and worn down to the rubber, and none had leaked; I found one large thorn that I pulled out, it was over a millimetre in diameter and an inch long, the tyre hissed a bit after I pulled it out, then sealed itself.

Quite a few reports of folks using oko sealant watered down 2:1 so a 1250ml bottle for around a tenner gives you almost 2l

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tractor-sealant-tubeless/

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/oko-off-road-sealant-in-bike-tyres/

I just use liquid latex watered down

Same here, been using it for years. Mixed as ~60% liquid latex, bought on ebay for £10 or so per litre. Adding the eraser shavings seems logical but instead I’ve used worms or strips of inner tube applied with the same fork tool, plus those tiny 1g tubes of Superglue Powerflex if needed for bigger cuts. A lot of flint where I ride so I’ve had enough to practice on and it’s a good system.

I have tried the antifreeze but it makes no difference. Maybe it would in Scotland in winter. Just more nasty chemicals spilling out when you get a flat.

Whats your current recipe?

I found one on MTBR that was favoured but it was US product based i.e. Mold Builder/automotive slime.

So for UK products- something like:
1 part liquid latex – from ebay
1 part ammonia – from Robert Dyas
2 parts water
A dash of glitter/cornmeal/beard shavings

That about right?

And I’ve seen antifreeze instead of ammonia. Anyone tested the difference?

The ammonia is to keep the latex in solution, antifreeze is to stop it freezing (also reduces evaporation in warm weather). So they’re not an instead of – you need ammonia, you don’t need antifreeze in normal UK conditions. That looks like a heck of a lot of ammonia, I use 1:4 craft latex:[water:polyethylene glycol at 2:1] and 3:1 latex:household ammonia. I also add a pinch of xanthan gum to make it a little thick and some medium cornmeal as a hole blocker. And some turmeric to make it a disgusting colour.

6oz of liquid latex

14oz of water

12oz of Propylene Glycol

1/2oz of corn meal (I use fine but I think a mix of fine and medium would be effective)

This apparently is the stans recipe, I’ve used it for years and it works well. Latex already has ammonia so I would not add any, the Propylene Glycol is used to add a bit of thickness to the mix and to stop it freezing. Some people add fine glitter for when you get a bigger puncture but to be honest I would just have a tubeless repair kit on hand. You can find everything you need on eBay

OKO Magic milk is £12 / l at Planet X; for the amount I use (maybe 2-4 tyres worth a year) It’s not really worth the DIY stuff imo.

Plus it’s (allegedly) CO2 safe; which came in handy when I couldn’t get my last tyre to seat with a track pump.

Cats piss is the secret as ya know ammonia