To slime or not to slime.....

[Firstpeke]

To slime or not to slime, that is the question......
Might be a longish story....
I was on my way from the Channel Tunnel to Cardiff on Wednesday afternoon, where I had a hotel booked for a few nights to facilitate an IBA ride in Wales....
My puncture, or where it all started, was in Sevenoaks, probably picked it up on the M26 diversion route…. I called Honda Assistance and the AA arrived just after I took the piece of flint out of the tyre and had a crack at it with a wiggly worm repair…
Wasn’t enough so second worm…. Then half a bottle of slime from Jim from the AA…
Seemed to work… so off I went...
Riding on M25 and bike felt loose so turned off and found that some pressure was gone and repair was leaking slime all over the underside of the bike…
Made to go to petrol station for airline and turned onto the eastbound carriageway by mistake, don't ask... as I was “distracted” and didn’t get far before had to pull off at emergency phone as whatever pressure had been in there when I stopped, decided to leave too… tried to use RAC APP, failed… called Godstone RCC on emergency phone and they called RAC. Kept getting txts from RAC with time of arrival that quickly was in the past…I called their Newcastle number and they said three hour delay…So as over two hours had already gone by I called Honda Assistance who despatched AA recovery who arrived within a half hour… got recovered to Cardiff where I had hotel booked as I had intended to doing a SS1000 IBA ride in Wales…. Got here at 0300…having started the whole thing about 1745…
A friend who lives locally gave me a number for a local mobile tyre fitter who came this afternoon…. and a half hour later a new Michelin Road 5 adorned my rear wheel.... so from start to finish the whole incident was nearly two days.
So.... not my best puncture experience I have to say, a bit of a weird senasation opening the throttle and getting nothing other than a flashing TCS light.....
Still don't like the idea of Slime, despite other folks success with it, I guess a piece of flint and the slit it made was just too much...
It does add a nice coat of green to the underside of the bike though when it doesn't do what it says on the bottle, seal the hole.... it comes spraying out all over the underneath and even on the top of the hugger and chain guard! Messy.
Picture doesn't show the half of it!
Told you, long story…
Oh and don't get me started about the RAC......

 

[Shawn K]

Slime is just the worst. It makes a terrible mess when you have to change the tire.

 

[EricV]

Sorry to read of your unpleasant experience @Firstpeke. Once Slime is used, no other repair will work until the Slime is cleaned out of the tire. I appreciate desperate measures and all, but it's quite the mess as you discovered. I carry a Patch/Plug for extreme punctures, but also the tools to get the tyre off enough to get inside. I wouldn't want to do that on the side of the road, but perhaps faster than your experience. They come in many sizes.

 

[SteveAikens]

I carry a plug kit with mushroom plugs. It's not this name brand - Amazon.com: GRAND PITSTOP Tire Puncture Repair Kit with 15 Mushroom Plugs : Automotive - however, it's identical. I've had the good fortune to used it twice on my bike and once on my buddies. Worked as advertised and though I replaced my plugged rears as soon as it was reasonable to do so, my buddy continued to ride the rear on his BMW GS until it would have normally need changing. He did tell me that there was an occasion that he checked his pressure before heading out and had to add some air, but otherwise, it worked well for him. The pump I carry is a Slime Pump, which works well for me.

 

[EricV]

In regards to @SteveAikens 's type of mushroom plug repair. It's important to understand that it is a temporary repair and does not vulcanize to the tire like sticky strings do. They do claim it is a permanent repair, but it is NOT, (imho), on steel belted tires as the steel wires can and do cut through the plug stem over time in many cases. I know of several first hand accounts where rapid deflation occurred when this happened.

Note that while they claim it is a permanent repair, they also include this disclaimer:

Legal Disclaimer
This is considered as a temporary repair on all street vehicles. No rubber cement or lubricant is necessary. Place open bag of plugs in zip-lock bag to keep them lubricated. Do not attempt to repair punctures greater than 5/16th inch (7mm). "On the wheel" repairs are classified as emergency only. The tire must not be run more than 100 miles at speeds no greater than 50 mph. until the tire is dismounted, inspected, and permanently repaired or replaced


From the link Steve provided:

How to Use?

• Find the puncture and remove any nail/needle from the affected area.
• Use a reamer to clean any burr or wires from the puncture hole. (a lot of riders seem to ignore this part)
• Push the mushroom into plugger with the help of nozzle without touching the head (IMPORTANT)
• Load the Mushroom plug into the Gun tool from the top. Make sure it goes completely inside the Gun tool (IMPORTANT)
• Insert the Nozzle into tire using the Probe tool. Unscrew the probe tool to leave the nozzle in the tire.
• Trigger the gun to fix the puncture until it stops.
• To remove the Gun and nozzle from the tire- push the button at the end of the Gun pull out then gun from the tire
• The puncture hole is now fixed with the Mushroom Plug.
• Inflate the tire and cut out extra stem of Mushroom Plug.

 

[Firstpeke]

Well, I have used wiggly worm repairs when I had my ST..... and they worked fine, well one did.... the other not so much....

I would still use them as I did experiment with the mushroom plugs but just could not get them to insert properly...

I do have a box of PRP at home for more permanent repairs, but so far a new Michelin rear when I had my RT, about 1200 miles on it and picked up a screw stuck in the shoulder which ripped the inner sidewall.... non repairable.. scrap..

With regard to this one, I was hopeful with the two worms..... but air was still coming out, the slime appeared to work, just not for long enough.

The tyre would need replacing before any further rides other than to get where I was going.... or not.

ANY tyre that has run flat for more than a few feet is scrap, the casing gets internal damage, think fuse wire which snaps after a few bends, casing structure does just that.... and if you got water into the casing via the puncture, well that causes corrosion which eats the cords and leaves a weak point, or an accident waiting to happen...
I have seen x-rays of tyres where this has happened and it is scary thinking folk are driving or riding with tyres in that state....

What I particularly don't understand is folk who buy an expensive car or bike then stick cheap tyres on it..... false economy.

 

[SteveAikens]

Eric is spot on. IMO, it's a fool's errand to ride with a damaged tire on a bike, regardless the fact that once plugged/repaired it is holding pressures.

When I consider the cost of replacing a tire with the potential of a sudden loss of pressures, a blowout or delamination of a motorcycle tire at speed, and the almost certain loss of 100% control - added to the possibility of being stranded [as happened to a rider during the IBR] and the potential of being injured in a fall - I think the smart money says replace the tire asap.