Are Flat Out, Slime and Stans a scam?

L

LazyJTexas

New Member
Region
USA
City
Lakehills, Texas
Are Flat Out, Slime and Stans a scam? I already purchased Flat Out, but my LBS guy (who assembled my Aventure) said not to waste my time with any of them because the are just a scam, and that I would be better served to buy Tannus Armor or puncture resistant tubes. As an out of shape senior, having a flat miles from my car in Texas could be a serious problem.
 
Slime does prevent leaks from small punctures.
It also plugged up the shrader valve in a couple of tubes I owned, preventing adding any air. One of the tubes was a slime brand tube. I couldn't get the valve out, it was glued in.
All tubes leak down 10-20 psi in several months. I add air about 4 times a year.
 
Find a new LBS guy. The one you are working with is giving you advice tailored to what he sells. He is either doing that or he lacks experience to be opening his mouth. Or he is an idiot.

Its not that Tannus Armour and puncture resistant tubes are bad. Use those. But calling Slime/FlatOut scams is just plain ignorant... at best.

FlatOut actually works very well on large holes. Thats its chief difference over and above Slime. It is rated for 1/2" holes and it has sealed a jagged piece of metal that was very nearly that on a tubed tire. When used as a tubeless sealant, and I hit a strip of a half-dozen roofing nails (from some kind of nailgun) it was able to seal the half-dozen holes so I rode home. And that tire was tubeless. FlatOut is a superior tubeless sealant since it can do what Stans and Orange Seal cannot: Seal big holes.

I am in my late 50's and have cardiac issues so walking home pushing a bike would be very very bad. Especially since we just crossed our local record of 64 days over 100 degrees fahrenheit yesterday.

Here is the Bolton test. I know Kyle (the guy in the video) and he's a straight shooter. This test is on the up and up.


More on the subject:

talesontwowheels.com

(e?)Bike Flat Prevention

As a daily rider for decades, I have some thoughts on this subject. Mostly along the lines of “no flats allowed, ever”.
talesontwowheels.com talesontwowheels.com

If you want to really bullet-proof your tires, use all three and more. The front tire on my Bullitt has a puncture-guard belt inside of it. Under the tire is Tannus. Under the Tannus is a thornproof tube. Inside the tube is FlatOut.

Here's a thing about Tannus: At higher pressures (higher than fat bike pressures) it flattens out paper-thin. Tannus talks about this and suggests you air down your tires in between rides so it takes longer for this to happen (seriously). Tannus is a product too new in the market to say it will last for X years. Hopefully it will. I've got it in several of my bikes. BUT if I can't fit it in under a tire as I cannot on some bikes, or I can't do a thornproof tube like on my fat bikes, then the default go-to is a tire and FlatOut. That stuff is good enough to make me feel safe. that and an on-board portable compressor.

And of course on a tubeless setup its just the tire with FlatOut inside as a sealant. Those are my enduro bike and my Fat trails cargo bike... the two that get the worst-case use in the middle of nowhere.
 
reed scott said:
Slime and Flat Out are not scams. They work quite well for small holes. My rear tire and tube have a small mesquite puncture and have lost zero air in months because I use Slime. Bolton Ebikes recently did a test. You tube.
Click to expand...
or low pressure tires. start upping the pressure and they are less effective.
 
LazyJTexas said:
Are Flat Out, Slime and Stans a scam? I already purchased Flat Out, but my LBS guy (who assembled my Aventure) said not to waste my time with any of them because the are just a scam, and that I would be better served to buy Tannus Armor or puncture resistant tubes. As an out of shape senior, having a flat miles from my car in Texas could be a serious problem.
Click to expand...
I have had good luck with Slime and Stans with the thorns. Nails not so much...
 
LazyJTexas said:
Are Flat Out, Slime and Stans a scam? I already purchased Flat Out, but my LBS guy (who assembled my Aventure) said not to waste my time with any of them because the are just a scam, and that I would be better served to buy Tannus Armor or puncture resistant tubes. As an out of shape senior, having a flat miles from my car in Texas could be a serious problem.
Click to expand...
I think some LBS's will tell customers that so they will purchase the more expensive Tannus product along with the labor to install them. I'm sure they work for some people but after seeing how they flatten out over time it's no different than using a thicker thorn proof tube. One of my LBS offer Tannus along with sealants. I'm going to take my bikes down in the next month or two and have them "Desert Proof" my tires. They install a puncture resistant liner, thicker thorn proof tube and then add sealant. Price is cheap too. Will give me a little peace of mind while riding. It's not 100% flat proof but for my type of riding (I don't ride off-road) it should work fine.

This vid gives you an idea:
 
I agree with the posts here they work, and can save your *SS. I'm often far from home with no easy way to get help sometimes. I like Stans for smaller holes, but will try Orange next just for fun, and probably FlatOut as well. Certainly the Armor is very useful as well if it is installed correctly. You can also just buy highly puncture resistant tires that basically have the Armor built in. I'm running my new tires with no sealant right now since it is close to the end of the season, but will add sealant again in Spring 2022. I found cooler weather could affect the sealants. The Bolton test had quite a few flaws or limitations, but it is an interesting data point. Maybe we can get Project Farm to do a test.

Remember to carry one extra bottle (2oz) if running more standard size tires, and I recommend a carrying few CO2 cartridges for air, but a pump will do. I carry both and start with the pump if the tire is completely flat. I've had a few events, and a couple of times it probably would have been better to just patch the tire on the road side. My experience (I travel long distances) has been that in the future if i have a flat while riding, I will add air ((tires already have sealant)) and maybe some extra sealant to see if it holds. if it does not hold pretty quick I will just patch it rather than wasting time to get the sealant to work and save my CO2 air. If it went completely flat (existing sealant didn't stop it in time) I will patch or replace the tube when I get home. I've rode 100s of km after sealant, but my experience is best to patch as soon as you can afterwards for my usage.

I also have an emergency Huffy Quick-Change tube for my 26x2" wheels, which I think is genius for e-bikes.
 
m@Robertson said:
My enduro has tires pumped to 65 psi for part of the ride, at least. In the 40's on the trail (I weigh a lot so my tire pressures are higher than normal but still within spec). FlatOut works for it fine. Beyond that I can't say.
Click to expand...
stans has worked ok at 70 but it the last two flats only sealed after I got home went to change the tube in the morning and they were sealed. but I think some holes were sealed without knowing it. I have speicalized high psi sealer in right now.
 
fooferdoggie said:
stans has worked ok at 70 but it the last two flats only sealed after I got home went to change the tube in the morning and they were sealed. but I think some holes were sealed without knowing it. I have speicalized high psi sealer in right now.
Click to expand...
Thats something else I tried: Using tubeless sealant inside of a tube. I was about 70/30 worked vs. didn't work. The problem I had when it didn't work was the tube leaked out the sealant and then the sealant did a great job of sealing the tire hole, but not the tube hole and the air came out ... like ... a rim seam or a spoke hole. I could wind up making it home or, in the case of a bad hole, having to patch roadside.

I know I sound like a paid advertisement for FlatOut but it is really that much of a game changer; able to fill small and large holes, works in tubes and tubeless. Good for nails. I have yet to run over something it can't fix. Now, I do have to keep needlenose pliers handy to pull out whatever has punctured the tire, and I also have a battery-powered pump to refill the tire. FlatOut may not seal immediately. I may have to ride a block and refill. The 6 nails needed 4 refills but I rode a block or two in between each and after the 4th... the same tire is still filled to this day after that 4th refill.
 
indianajo said:
Slime does prevent leaks from small punctures.
It also plugged up the shrader valve in a couple of tubes I owned, preventing adding any air. One of the tubes was a slime brand tube. I couldn't get the valve out, it was glued in.
All tubes leak down 10-20 psi in several months. I add air about 4 times a year.
Click to expand...
Not doubting anyone else's experience, but I've used Slime for years and never had a hint of a clogged valve. It shouldn't take a lot of air pressure to blow any Slime out of the valve if some did get in there. And it's water soluble, I can't compare it to other sealants because I've only ever used Slime and it has definitely worked very well for me.

TT
 
I have had several good flats this summer due to large screws and a couple from smaller staples and such. I just added some slime to try last week, but after watching the Bolton test on YouTube, I'm definitely going to give flat out a try next time I need to change the tubes. That looks very promising, and even if it just helps you get home with a small pressure top up vs a roadside patch or tube swap, that would definitely be worth the money to me.

I use Ride-on in my motorcycle, and they make a bicycle version they were marketing as Bike-on, but it's been tough to source up here in Canada. I have a small bottle to try, but not enough to do 2 fat tire tubes yet.
 
indianajo said:
Slime does prevent leaks from small punctures.
It also plugged up the shrader valve in a couple of tubes I owned, preventing adding any air. One of the tubes was a slime brand tube. I couldn't get the valve out, it was glued in.
All tubes leak down 10-20 psi in several months. I add air about 4 times a year.
Click to expand...
I've not had that problem. Added slime after first flat around 600 miles. Also before that I would check the tires regularly and need to add a little from time to time. Post slime I've had 0 flats after more than 2000 additional miles and I've not had to add any air at all including after the bike sat all winter.
 
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