How to fix an inner tube filled with Slime?
 

Hi

I've got a heavy duty inner tube in the front that's got Slime inside. Unfortunately I punctured it right at the beginning with a tyre lever (how did I manage that), fixed it with a patch and no problems for a few thousand kilometers until it went flat in Romania. So I fixed it again but it worked only for 200 meters. So I changed another tube and saved this one for a later repair. Which I did here in Jordan and tried to be extra careful with it, cleaned it very well with a solvent and scraped it good before putting on a patch. This was a few days ago. Yesterday I decided to change the tyres so I installed that repaired inner tube back on. It worked well then but went flat again today.

So does anyone know if there's any secret in repairing an inner tube with Slime inside? And how come Slime doesn't fix it since the hole is not that big? I'm getting pretty frustrated changing tubes on the side of the streets here in Amman.

Jami

Buy a new tube ,cheaper and more reliable in the long run

Boy do I hate tubed tyres, I wish the Tenere had tubeless spoked rims!

Slime washes off easily with just water, but your best bet is to get the tube vulcanised rather than repairing it with glue.

I would have thought any third-world tyre place would be able to do this for a couple of quid. Basically they cut a small piece of rubber to go where the hole is, then a larger piece of rubber to go over the whole area, use some sticky stuff to hold it in place temporarily, then place it between plates under pressure and heat the whole thing up. The pieces of rubber are fused to the original tube, see pic below.

I've had this type of repair done several times, once to a rear tube that had had slime in it.

Vulcanising, interesting.
Did you have to pray the whole time?

Hi Tim

Of course, why didn't I think that by myself! Off to find a tyre shop then. Thanks!

Jami