Maintaining the effectiveness of your tyre sealant

The following is sort of a journey of discovery that has come from my using Slime in my MX60 as well as examining Slime and comparing it to other products. The focus of this post is about Slime.

A UK based MTB enthusiast friend of mine (hey Leadville) uses Stans in his MTB and in a recent discussion about the dealing particle size and density we had I became more interested in this product. Anyway, I was reading the label and found this guidance:

So the hint about arid climates and drying piqued my memory. Should be no surprise because Stan like slime Slime is water based (as are they all).

Now I recall how when I changed my tyre last time that the Slime was all clagged up on the inside of the tyre, and I recall too how easily it dissolved putting the tyre into a tub of water (in an attempt to clean it). Thinking about this made me soon realise that the wheel spinning (often doing 30kmh) is acting as a centrifuge, which is commonly used to separate out things suspended in water; and quickly too. See this video:

BTW, if you're not seeing the videos, then either use a computer (not a phone) or put your phones browser into "Desktop" mode because to be frank much of the internet doesn't work on phones. Even youTube is still a better experience on a desktop setting.

Which isn't ideal for how the product was intended to work and indeed may also be part of what Stans is getting by replenishing.

So as I'd previously done an experiment with adding "cheapo-slime-alike" into my tyre because I noted that it benefited from being bashed around and refreshed with some of the cheapo stuff

Towards the end of that I mentioned also that I bashed the tyre with a hammer ... So I thought I'd do a blog post consolidating all that and showing what I did on a youtube video.

In summary, what I do is:

1. let the tyre down (by removing the valve from the stem)
2. insert water with my syringe
3. bash around the circumference of the tyre with a hammer to loosen off any slime caked in there
4. give it a quick spin and a sudden stop
5. re-insert valve into stem and reinflate
6. take if for a ride

So ultimately this now seems to be the best way of making the most out of slime

PS: this is the result of a weeks drying in a glass with a lid and then re-hydrating with a few drops of water