Cleaning ‘Slime’ out of Wheel?

[Mr_Joe]

My Son has a car in FL. He used ‘slime' on a slow leak, seems to of fixed it. Now when he goes over 60 mph or so the car shakes, the slime seems to of took that wheel out of balance. I don't know how much he used.

The tire is fairly new, likely less than 10k on the Pirelli. He's mostly around town at slower speeds, may drive home at some point.

Is there a procedure to clean out the slime to bring the wheel back to balance? Once the tire is off the wheel is it easy to peel the dried slime off?

I ask because talk of a new wheel and tire was mentioned. Is this a common problem when using slime? Maybe he used to much?

 

[danez_yoda]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46EChq5sGck

 

[Snagglefoot]

Thanks. Was wondering about that. I bet the tire mechanics really enjoy cleaning slime. I wonder what they mutter while doing it.

 

[Kestas]

It would have been much cheaper to repair the tire professionally at a shop in the first place. After cleaning out the slime, they'll still have to repair the leak.

Does your son's car have a spare?

 

[tomcat27]

that's a horrid mess!

 

[Mr_Joe]

Nice utube video. Yes, he has the small spare, 2006 Vibe.

He had a pinhole in the sidewall, on this fairly new Pirelli. It seemed more of a manufacturing defect. He was worried they wouldn't want to repair it in the sidewall.

I thought the slime would harden up, maybe it stays pliable longer? Anyhow, he was talking about a new tire. I just thought it could maybe be cleaned out.

 

[bdcardinal]

The slime was awful to deal with when I worked at Sears. One of my friends that worked with me was overcome with the fumes when he broke a bead on a tire with slime where the customer didn't warn us before.

 

[Langanobob]

Not slime but I used some Berryman's tlre sealant and had a similar vibration problem. Broke the bead and wiped the excess sealant out with a rag. Wasn't a big deal but I can see how tire shops wouldn't like it if faced with it all day long. Vibration disappeared and the slow leak stayed fixed.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted by Mr_Joe
... He had a pinhole in the sidewall, on this fairly new Pirelli. It seemed more of a manufacturing defect. He was worried they wouldn't want to repair it in the sidewall....
If it's in the "sidewall" they won't be able to repair it, or shouldn't. As for "manufacturing defect", if true that would be a serious defect, unlikely I'd think. As described, a new tire will be only option so no cleaning of slime required.

 

[Black_Thunder]

when i worked at a tire shop, we absolutely loathed trying to repair a tire that had either fix a flat or slime in it.


if you didn't break the tire down first and cleaned all of that garbage out it was hard to find the leak, so we had to break the tire down, clean it out, clean the wheel, remount it, find the leak, dismount it and then try to apply a patch to rubber that had saturated in chemicals.

 

[bdcardinal]

Watched the video posted. One thing we were taught at Sears when I worked there was to completely inflate and deflate the tire 3 times if we knew there was sealant present. This would help evacuate the fumes so you didn't get knocked out when breaking the bead. Also a bit of a nit pick, but I always took balance weights off before breaking the beads.

 

[edhackett]

Originally Posted by danez_yoda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46EChq5sGck



Note that at 1:25 they failed to take the backing off of the patch. So much for that "professional" repair.

Ed

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by edhackett
Originally Posted by danez_yoda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46EChq5sGck



Note that at 1:25 they failed to take the backing off of the patch. So much for that "professional" repair.

Ed


I noticed that also, super triggered.

 

[Black_Thunder]

ok i watched the video.....and did you mean they didn't show taking the backing off the patch?


I didn't see any backing on it when they applied the patch.

the gray around the outside is part of the patch.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by Black_Thunder
ok i watched the video.....and did you mean they didn't show taking the backing off the patch?


I didn't see any backing on it when they applied the patch.

the gray around the outside is part of the patch.


The patches I have seen, that grey is the peel off section for the adhesive on the patch. You pull the plug part up to the tire, them remove the peel off and them pull it against the inside of the tire.

 

[Black_Thunder]

not all patches are like that.

the whole underside of the patch is sometimes gray like the edge or red/pinkish

the piece that gets pulled off is usually blue.

 

[bdcardinal]

You may be right, its been almost 12 years since I worked at Sears. The one I worked at, the Santa Barbara one, just closed. The main store is closing any day now, sad panda.

 

[Black_Thunder]

i imagine it varies it varies per manufacturer.


this pictures shows it well.


I've used similar plug patches, but the gray material is a dark red instead, but same kind of blue pull away material

 

[Black_Thunder]

Originally Posted by Mr_Joe
Is there a procedure to clean out the slime to bring the wheel back to balance? Once the tire is off the wheel is it easy to peel the dried slime off?

I ask because talk of a new wheel and tire was mentioned. Is this a common problem when using slime? Maybe he used to much?

the slime doesn't really dry, its stays gooey/runny and was made originally for low speed applications like lawnmowers, atvs etc.

the time when i had to repair a couple or replace the tire, I just hosed the rim off with the garden hose and scooped all the old slime out of the tire with rags and then had to wash the tire out with water as well.

 

[edhackett]

Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Originally Posted by Black_Thunder
ok i watched the video.....and did you mean they didn't show taking the backing off the patch?


I didn't see any backing on it when they applied the patch.

the gray around the outside is part of the patch.


The patches I have seen, that grey is the peel off section for the adhesive on the patch. You pull the plug part up to the tire, them remove the peel off and them pull it against the inside of the tire.


In this case if you look at at 1:35-1:45 you can see the gray is papery, shiny, does not stick to the tire, and is damaged by the application of the patch. As bdcardinal says, this type of patch should have had that removed.

Ed