Slime tire repair??

OK, I know it's a bad idea to use slime or any other kind of tire sealant...but, hear me out and tell me what you think:

I have an 1980 750 LTD that is in great comestic shape, and only needs a final carb clean/tweak, battery and maybe new clutch/clutch springs to be road ready. The tires were replaced once already have good tread on them. I will be replacing them possibly this year if I am able to keep her on the road.

Now, my issue...the rear tire has a slow leak... It takes darn near 2 weeks for it to go flat. I pumped it up good and stiff and rubbed soapy water all over it for an hour last night and couldn't find a leak (I was hoping it was the stem or bead). The local shop wants $30 just to look at it, and thats not counting cleaning the bead/replacing the valve stem etc. So, I am thinking of using the slime just for a get between now and when it's roady ready enough to get some new rubber. Any thoughts?

you already said it...it is the bead or the stem...put 100 psi in it and spin it in a bathtub....you will see air...go super slow....then just fix the stem or re-seat the bead...imo...

tire irons are about 10-15 a pair and some kzr forum searches will show how to pop the bead and maybe try and just spin/rotate it see if it stops...or r&r the tire for a stem replacement...could be the outer stem casing ...or stem to rim seal,or valve stem...i would replace the valve stem insert air pin and over air it -after rotating and smaking with a rubber mallet while deflated and raised up...then set the air back to normal and see if it goes away....all just my opinion...

apbling wrote:

OK, I know it's a bad idea to use slime or any other kind of tire sealant...but, hear me out and tell me what you think:

I have an 1980 750 LTD that is in great comestic shape, and only needs a final carb clean/tweak, battery and maybe new clutch/clutch springs to be road ready. The tires were replaced once already have good tread on them. I will be replacing them possibly this year if I am able to keep her on the road.

Now, my issue...the rear tire has a slow leak... It takes darn near 2 weeks for it to go flat. I pumped it up good and stiff and rubbed soapy water all over it for an hour last night and couldn't find a leak (I was hoping it was the stem or bead). The local shop wants $30 just to look at it, and thats not counting cleaning the bead/replacing the valve stem etc. So, I am thinking of using the slime just for a get between now and when it's roady ready enough to get some new rubber. Any thoughts?

sounds like a rim leak. I would put a tube in it to be sure.

never thought of that... where can I get a tube that would fit?

Good question, are these these tubed?

I would assume tubless. the valve stem is threaded to the rim and doesn't appear to be a tube-type. and they are aluminum mag rims.

You can put a tube into a tubeless rim, you have to remove the stem. I ended up doing that on my wife's car because one of the new tires we got had a rim leak and the dipwads that sold it to me wouldn't replace it because they couldn't find a leak.

Any bike shop has tubes.

well, I found the leak...it's from the bead... however after closer inspection, the tire has some decent sized cracks in the sidewall... I think I'm just going to keep pumping it up every couple days just to get it around the garage and then just get a new tire in a couple weeks when it's ready to hit the road. Thanks for the help fellas.

BTW, any recommendations on cheap but decent tires? I don't need anything super high performance...

Try the Bridgestone S11 from americanmototire.com I run them on two of my bikes, they work really well.

Bridgestone Battlax have a good reputation.

trianglelaguna wrote:

you already said it...it is the bead or the stem...put 100 psi in it and spin it in a bathtub....you will see air...go super slow....then just fix the stem or re-seat the bead...imo...

tire irons are about 10-15 a pair and some kzr forum searches will show how to pop the bead and maybe try and just spin/rotate it see if it stops...or r&r the tire for a stem replacement...could be the outer stem casing ...or stem to rim seal,or valve stem...i would replace the valve stem insert air pin and over air it -after rotating and smaking with a rubber mallet while deflated and raised up...then set the air back to normal and see if it goes away....all just my opinion...

100psi lots of pressure... DANGER DANGER caution easy whoa holy shnikey

Yeah, I didn't go with the 100 psi... I started at 40 and found it. As for the tire, there's a guy at work here that is a parts unlimited rep and is gonna mount it and everything for just under 100. I'm gonna go with the Dunlop 404 (have the same tire on my 550) Seemed like a good middle of the road tire. Any reason I shouldn't go with the 404?