Flat fixers, Slime vs Fix-a-Flat vs others.

[Diggin It]

My two older riders have both had tire troubles in recent years. I've thought about replacing them, but I don't really use either enough to justify $70-80 for each tire when a bit of air would do the trick for a two hour mowing job. They would leak down to flat in about 3 days. I tried Slime a few times and it just wasn't holding any better. For kicks I picked up a can of Fix-a-Flat for $12 or so. There was enough in the one can to do two of the rear tires giving me the most trouble. Neither has leaked down significantly since. One dropped a bit after more than a week, but a quick shot of air brought it back up and it's held for over a month now.

I've got one more smaller (front) that won't hold, so I may try another smaller can of FaF and see what happens.


Have you had experiences with other brands?

 

[WinterDeere]

I'm assuming tubeless? From whence is it leaking? Use soapy water to ID source.

1. If at bead, clean tire bead and wheel. Make sure no rust on wheel. If rust found, wire wheel clean and paint. Use bead sealer to help seal over rough patches, but only after cleaned and painted. If wheel is rough, even bead sealer won't be perfect, but it may get you from the present "3 days to flat", out to somewhere in the several "months to flat" territory.

2. If sidewall of tire, or if there is rust clean thru the wheel, then you're hosed. Just tube the thing. Still be sure to clean and paint the wheel, so the rust doesn't get worse, or chafe thru your new tube.

3. If tread, and from a single nail hole, I just use automotive tire plugs. Kits are under $20, you'll be glad you own one next time your car picks up a screw or nail.

 

[Roadworthy]

My lawn mower flats generally result from running over tack weeds, goat heads, puncture vines, or what ever you choose to call them. There are a LOT of them in this area. I used some off brand tire sealant, installing the recommended amount in each tire. I did this before mowing to be sure the liquid could roll around in the tire a bit. That was ten years ago. I may have to add air every year or two but I've had no more flats.

 

[thepumpguysc]

I got tired of the flat mower tires too.. I bought a couple of inner tubes for a couple of bucks each and haven’t had the air hose out in years..

 

[John0829]

I won't use that stuff for anything, tried it once on the rear tires of a John Deere 318. The tires leaked down but the tread was to good to trash them, the tires still leaked down and when I finally got around to putting tubes (a little over a year later) in the rims were so rusted I was not sure I could save them. I did manage to clean them up but had to make a liner to protect the tubes.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

My two older riders have both had tire troubles in recent years. I've thought about replacing them, but I don't really use either enough to justify $70-80 for each tire when a bit of air would do the trick for a two hour mowing job. They would leak down to flat in about 3 days. I tried Slime a few times and it just wasn't holding any better. For kicks I picked up a can of Fix-a-Flat for $12 or so. There was enough in the one can to do two of the rear tires giving me the most trouble. Neither has leaked down significantly since. One dropped a bit after more than a week, but a quick shot of air brought it back up and it's held for over a month now.

I've got one more smaller (front) that won't hold, so I may try another smaller can of FaF and see what happens.


Have you had experiences with other brands?

I put tubes in all mine. Years later, not even one flat or low tire.

 

[setxjeff]

I usually put tubes in. But a another way is this

https://www.amazon.com/Plugger-Repair-Mushroom-Tubeless-Motorcycle/dp/B09YCLW6ZX/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=Mushroom+Tire+Plug+Kit&qid=1665626579&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjY2IiwicXNhIjoiNC40MSIsInFzcCI6IjQuMTYifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-6

I bought it to carry on my motorcycle for trips, but it works great for lawn mower tires it will sometimes even seal a side wall on a mower tire if it’s a round puncture and not a tear.

 

[WinterDeere]

That mushroom plugger is interesting, you got me curious. But as long as nearly every tire shop and mechanic on earth keep using the regular tire plug kits you can buy nearly anywhere for $19.99, I'm not inclined to switch away from what works. Never have had one leak, despite breaking all the rules with regard to proximity to tread shoulder and even plugging thin/bald tread.

 

[setxjeff]

The plugger works without taking tire off the rim, especially useful for liquid filled tires. It’s a quick and sometimes permanent fix. If not permanent it will slow the leak down considerably giving you enough time to get back to the barn.

 

[WinterDeere]

The plugger works without taking tire off the rim, especially useful for liquid filled tires. It’s a quick and sometimes permanent fix. If not permanent it will slow the leak down considerably giving you enough time to get back to the barn.

Interesting. I've not tried regular automotive tire plugs in liquid-filled tires. Do they not hold up well in that application?

I have beat juice in the rears of my 3033R, and haven't needed to plug one yet, but that could always change.

 

[Vigo327]

So this has sort of been addressed indirectly but one big difference between 'slime' and fix-a-flat is it's very hard to get slime to seal bead leaks because you hardly ever use so much slime, or spin a tractor tire fast enough, that slime ever gets spread all over the bead area to find the spots that are leaking. Fix a flat just goes where the air goes (at least, for the first little bit when you shoot it in) and will find a bead leak a lot better. Should still spin the wheel as soon as possible after inflating. Also, you can use a whole can of fix a flat on a small tire, it's just tedious. You air it up until it's full, remove the can, preferably spin the wheel a bit, slowly let air out so it doesn't blow any of the good stuff out with it, and then keep 'reinflating' it with the fix a flat until it's all in there.

One big downside of fix a flat vs slime is its more of a one-time thing. It eventually settles/hardens. Slime type products generally stay liquid and are constantly sloshing around in the tire waiting for new leaks to plug.

And im surprised people are saying they used tubes and haven't added air in years. If you get an actual puncture (not just a leak due to poor surfaces in the bead area, etc), a tubed tire will go flat just as easy as a tubeless one. A couple of times when i replaced tires on small riders, i cut up the old tire with a carpet knife and put the old tread inside the new tire as a 'liner' to protect to tube. They actually sell ready-made liners like that for some larger tires. But when you get into big ag tires on big tractors, it takes a lot more to have an actual puncture in the first place. I have mesquite thorns out here that'll go right through my shoe and give me a strong urge to kill, but same thorns wouldn't make it all the way through the thick rubber on a big tractor tire.

 

[Oaktree]

One big downside of fix a flat vs slime is its more of a one-time thing. It eventually settles/hardens. Slime type products generally stay liquid and are constantly sloshing around in the tire waiting for new leaks to plug.

And im surprised people are saying they used tubes and haven't added air in years. If you get an actual puncture (not just a leak due to poor surfaces in the bead area, etc), a tubed tire will go flat just as easy as a tubeless one. A couple of times when i replaced tires on small riders, i cut up the old tire with a carpet knife and put the old tread inside the new tire as a 'liner' to protect to tube. They actually sell ready-made liners like that for some larger tires. But when you get into big ag tires on big tractors, it takes a lot more to have an actual puncture in the first place. I have mesquite thorns out here that'll go right through my shoe and give me a strong urge to kill, but same thorns wouldn't make it all the way through the thick rubber on a big tractor tire.

Wow, I'm glad we don't have thorns like that around here!

A lot of the tire places want you to tell them if you've used some sort of tire sealant before they change tires. Why is that? Is it just that it makes a mess when they dismount tires or is it something else?

 

[thepumpguysc]

And the gas it produces..

 

[Vigo327]

A lot of the tire places want you to tell them if you've used some sort of tire sealant before they change tires. Why is that? Is it just that it makes a mess when they dismount tires or is it something else?

Well on car tires the tire is almost always horizontal when you dismount it, which makes it almost impossible to not make a mess if there's a bunch of fluid in the tire. And the mess goes right down into the cracks on your $3000 machine and makes you paranoid and fussy if you're the one who paid for it.

Many larger truck tires, and tube type tires can be dismounted while the wheel is vertical and still on the machine, at which point the fluid only matters if it rises above the bottom of the rim (that's a lot of $$$$ in tire slime).

I've seen firsthand that older 'slime' and fix a flat products also did terrible things to wheels, but as far as i can tell, none of the newer stuff does. So to me, at this point i think it's 99% not wanting to deal with a mess and 1% some holdover apprehension about how bad the stuff used to be in the past. On car tires you're not gonna find any of that old product in something that's still rolling in 2022. In tractor tires it may very well be that noone has opened that tire in 25 years and 'bad old days' stuff is still in there!

 

[KennyG]

I usually put tubes in. But a another way is this

https://www.amazon.com/Plugger-Repair-Mushroom-Tubeless-Motorcycle/dp/B09YCLW6ZX/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=Mushroom+Tire+Plug+Kit&qid=1665626579&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjY2IiwicXNhIjoiNC40MSIsInFzcCI6IjQuMTYifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-6

I bought it to carry on my motorcycle for trips, but it works great for lawn mower tires it will sometimes even seal a side wall on a mower tire if it’s a round puncture and not a tear.

This is similar to a mushroom plug system we used when I worked in a gas station over 50 years ago. We plugged lots of tires, it only took a few minutes and I never saw one fail. I always wondered why I never see it now.

 

[Vigo327]

Well i think in Texas the DOT mandated what's a 'legal' tire repair, because now in the public community college i teach automotive in, we are only 'allowed' to teach combination patch/plug units.

Never used the mushroom plug myself but ive heard of it and and everything i've heard is good.

 

[mo1]

Generally I will put a tube in an air-filled tire that has a leak or a flat from anything except honey locust thorns. Honey locust thorns get to be up to about 4" long and 1/4" in diameter, break off at the tread when the tire rolls and become embedded in the tire carcass so you can't pull them out. The thorns thus continue to be pushed farther into the tire as the tread wears and will puncture tubes whenever that happens, so you can't really put a tube in a tire that's full of thorns. I use Slime in that case, and it works okay. Slime works poorly on rock or nail punctures but a tube does great for those. If I get both rock and thorn punctures in the same tire, the tire is replaced as the thorn either popped the tube put in after the rock puncture and will continue to puncture any tube put in later as well, or the rock punctures a Slime-filled tire and causes a hole too big for the Slime to stop. In that case, the Slime sprays all over everywhere until the tire goes completely flat and makes a giant sticky greenish mess over a several yard radius.

 

[WinterDeere]

... all of which begs the question, why would there be any honey locust left to live near where you need to drive your tractor? I hope all of them are in your firewood stacks today, if not in already in the stove.