Slime science (tube division)

[moto]

Slime science is the activity of trying to figure out what Slime Corp. has in mind with its specs for the amount of tube sealant to put in tubes for different tires.

The main unresolved question of slime science is why vehicles operated at highway speed are specified with a smaller quantity of the goop. A probably related question is why motorcycles, but not cars, are not recommended to use slime tube sealant.

Here are my data, from slime.com/calculator:






The recommended amounts for highway and non-highway use (YES/NO) are in the last two columns.

Two things stand out. At least in this range of values, the recommended quantities of Slime vary linearly with both the width and the height of the tire. Increase either by 10% and you need 10% more Slime. Makes sense.

The other thing is that highway use (YES) requires only 54% or so of the amount of slime specified for non-highway use. Why is this so?

I suppose the answer might be either a possible tire imbalance caused by installing slime, or an increased gyroscopic effect from the mass of the slime out at the edge of the tire. Reducing the recommended amount of slime by nearly half would help offset either effect.

Perhaps cars are massive enough that these effects are not important. But many motorcycles at high speed might experience more severe reactions.

Other ideas are welcome. Has anyone experienced really severe reactions from putting slime in their Guzzi tubes? (I searched.)

The data table suggests 6.5 and 7.3 ounces for the front and rear tubes of my T3, which is not much different from the 8 ounces that I suspect everybody else has used. But if not, what did you use?

Moto

[wirespokes]

When I was researching this stuff a long time ago, the recommended product was RIDE ON. A friend was having problems with his riding lawn mower due to blackberry vines and thorns. The RIDE ON fixed it and he hasn't had a problem since - three or four years ago.

https://www.tmbrmoto.com/products/ride-on-tire-sealant

[moto]

When I was researching this stuff a long time ago, the recommended product was RIDE ON. A friend was having problems with his riding lawn mower due to blackberry vines and thorns. The RIDE ON fixed it and he hasn't had a problem since - three or four years ago.

https://www.tmbrmoto.com/products/ride-on-tire-sealant

Thanks for that, but it's not responsive to my question.

[AJ Huff]

I would assume that highway speed vs non-highway speed has something to do with tire/tube temperature. And therefore the temperature affect on the slime.

-AJ

[Dirk_S]

My initial thought was that higher speed (highway/pavement) means the slime will find and be forced through the hike more quickly than slower speed (off-road), when the Slime might be more inclined (pun? I dunno, probably not) to continue its bias of gravity over being forced out a hole via the bold passage of escaping air.

[moto]

I would assume that highway speed vs non-highway speed has something to do with tire/tube temperature. And therefore the temperature affect on the slime.

-AJ

Could be. The smaller quantity used at high speed would seemingly heat up faster. Not obvious how that would offset a temperature effect.

[moto]

My initial thought was that higher speed (highway/pavement) means the slime will find and be forced through the hike more quickly than slower speed (off-road), when the Slime might be more inclined (pun? I dunno, probably not) to continue its bias of gravity over being forced out a hole via the bold passage of escaping air.

Love your prose and appreciate your post. Not sure of your argument, specifically how it relates to recommending larger or smaller quantities of slime at different speeds.

[Dirk_S]

Love your prose and appreciate your post. Not sure of your argument, specifically how it relates to recommending larger or smaller quantities of slime at different speeds.

Sorry, I don’t often word things too well. Let’s try take #2:

I have a soup can capped off with a couple of BBs inside, and a hole at the bottom just a hair bigger than the size of one BB. If I shake the can fast, the odds of one of those BBs finding the hole are greater than if I shake the can slowly. Therefore, to raise the odds of a BB finding the hole at slower speed, I add more BBs.

Then again, maybe it’s temperature related rather than volume.

[moto]

Sorry, I don’t often word things too well. Let’s try take #2:

I have a soup can capped off with a couple of BBs inside, and a hole at the bottom just a hair bigger than the size of one BB. If I shake the can fast, the odds of one of those BBs finding the hole are greater than if I shake the can slowly. Therefore, to raise the odds of a BB finding the hole at slower speed, I add more BBs.
...

That's a crystal-clear explanation. It explains why it's hard to get much salt out of a nearly empty salt shaker, but I'm not sure that it explains what slime is up to. Slime doesn't seem like a collection of BBs, since it's a slime, but the argument is clear, and Epicurus Lucretius, the great atomist, might like it.

It's all moot now, since I just installed the slime using 8 ounces in the rear and something like 7 ounces at the front. Hope it works.

That ratio of highway to nonhighway dosages turns out to be 325/600 when I enter large width and height measurements in the online calculator. It doesn't seem to be a root or log of any rule-of-thumb-type value so maybe it was empirically determined.

One thing that attracted me to Slime, besides its low price, is that it does have different versions for tubes and tires, and has this mysterious calculator associated with it. Seems like there might really be some slime scientists in the background instead of just marketers.

[SIR REAL ED]

OK, i'll play.

To start, you list height and width, which combined result in area (2 dimensions).  I think the more accurate quantity that needs to be calculated is volume (3 dimensions).

A highway vs. non-highway recommendation is probably related to both tire temperature (therefore Slime temperature) and rotational speed (therefore centrifugal force).

Another consideration for the highway vs. non-highway may be what are the typical types of tire "wounds" that have historically occurred and that Slime hopes to prevent.

Those are my initial thoughts.

[moto]

OK, i'll play.

To start, you list height and width, which combined result in area (2 dimensions).  I think the more accurate quantity that needs to be calculated is volume (3 dimensions).

A highway vs. non-highway recommendation is probably related to both tire temperature (therefore Slime temperature) and rotational speed (therefore centrifugal force).

Another consideration for the highway vs. non-highway may be what are the typical types of tire "wounds" that have historically occurred and that Slime hopes to prevent.

Those are my initial thoughts.

I'm not after a playmate.

It is the calculator at slime.com that only asks for tire width and height. The implication is that the depth of the slime inside the cylindrical inner surface is being held constant. Since the program associates a quantity of slime with each combination of tire width and height it should be easy for you to calculate that constant depth of slime. The engineers probably used a pure cylindrical model unwrapped to form a flat rectangle. Have fun.

Your two later points are fine but don't in themselves suggest answers to my questions. As I said the questions are now moot.