Walked outside the other day and noticed my front passenger tire was almost completely flat. That tire has been an enigma for months. Sometimes it goes flat. Sometimes it holds air. Sometimes it leaks slowly. For a vehicle that I drive on average about 200-300 miles a month I decided to try an "experiment" rather than replace the tires which could be about $1,000.
I did some research and decided to go with Slime Tire Sealant to see if it would address the issue. Products like Fix-A-Flat claim to only be good for a few miles while Slime claims to seal for up to 2 years.
Per Slime's site it is basically a liquid that contains fibers and rubber particles which form a plug as the leak/puncture forces the liquid out. So in theory I'll also be able to see where the hole is if I can see any green spots at which point I could use a plug or patch on the tire as a better long-term fix.
To use the product I simply removed the valve core using the supplied tool, filled the completely flat tire with the recommended amount of sealant, re-installed the valve core, and aired up the tire. They recommend driving about .2 miles but I ended up going a little further because I drove to the gas station and topped off all the tires since my small 12v pump is too slow.
So far it has been over 24 hours and the tire still had air in it and looked like it was still full. I didn't check yet. I'm going to check it in a few days. But so far so good. Expect updates as time goes on.
Update 12/29/14: So I've had the Slime in the tire for about 3 weeks now and tire has been holding air. I did have to top the tire off on Friday because it was down about 2-3psi. In fairness, 3 of my 4 tires were a little low and they didn't have Slime in them. Could have been due to the colder temps here in Dallas of late.
I also added some Slime to a leaky tire on my other car and it seems to have stopped the leak problem I was having in it. I will say having put Slime in 2 tires on 2 vehicles I do feel like it does throw the tire balance off a little.
Update 01/10/15: As I mentioned before, I don't drive the Bronco much except mostly to take it off roading. I'm about to upgrade to 35s from 33s so just trying to get the last few miles out of these tires that I can.
Another tire started acting up. Upon inspection I found that tire had 2-3 small nails in it. Not surprising because there has been a lot of construction all over Dallas. Hit that tire with a bottle of Slime. I now have 2 Slimed tires on the vehicle that I can compare to the 2 regular tires.
I took measurements tonight and will provide updates in the morning on the change (if any) in tire pressure.
Update 1/12/15: An interesting note I found yesterday thanks to some mud on my rim that one of the tire leaks was around the rim. After airing the tire up and driving a while it help constant pressure. This morning all tires were still full of air.
