To slime or not to slime?

Ok guys. After a weekend at the lease in my 3 month old 4 wheeler... And 3 plugs in the tires I'm wanting another option. Thought about putting slime in but I heard somewhere it wasnt a good idea. Called my dad and he said he used some industrial stuff he got years ago from the tire shop he uses. Of course he couldn't remember the name lol. So what are y'all doing to prevent flat tires? Aside from the obvious... Be careful which I was and even still had 2 flats. Thanks in advance.

I use Slime now in my Ranger tires for hunting in the mixed brushes in South and West Texas. I have used Flat Guard in the past and it worked very well. The best I have used is the Multi-Seal brand but it is expensive compared to the other 2 I listed. Used it ranch UTV/ATV, mini-truck, lawn mowers, tractor, equipment tires, etc and it worked very well. http://multi-seal.com/Hydro-Seal-Tire-Sealant.htm

I use it in everything that sees dirt. 4-wheelers, lawn mowers, tractors, etc. Works great. The best advice I can offer is, when it comes time for new tires, LET THEM KNOW THE TIRES ARE SLIMED!!!!!!! Otherwise they'll put the tire on the rack, break the bead, and slime will likely fly all over the place. Any discount or other break they were considering offering you is out the window. And the guy doing the work will be pissed. Might even be better to air them down and remove the valve stems yourself before hauling them in. As long as they know beforehand what's going on and you don't set a "slime trap" for them it'll go well.

edited to add: I dropped off two slimed lawn-mower tires for replacement about 6 years ago. I had written "SLIMED" in chalk on the tires near the valve stems. They said I was the first they'd seen ever do that, were very appreciative, and slimed the new tires for free.

We cleared 20 pasture acres of locust trees, 2-3" thorns all over the place that wreaked havoc on tires. The thorns take years to decompose and disintegrate. Finally gave up on the slime and replaced the tires.

Got some 6 ply Kevlar (bullet proof vest material) belted tires, haven't had a flat since.....that was three years ago. Best ATV tires I've ever seen....

http://www.essexmfg.com/ATV/index.stm

Our local Tire & Lube center sells a product by the name of "Power Sports Puncture Seal" www.powersportstireseal.com for $35 per gallon.
Looks like it was developed for the oil field service industry. The company is North West of Ft. Worth.
I've been using it for years in utv and utility trailer tires and it works great. We have a lot of mesquite on one of our properties. Rembrandt is right in that it takes years and years for those vile thorns to decompose. If I didn't try to pull the thorns out the inside of my tires would look like a porcupine. I just bought a new rig yesterday and am putting sealer in today. I think I'd consider the Kevlar belted if needing a new set. If your tires are new or in relatively good shape and you are in a puncture prone area I'd definitely put a high quality sealant in them.

I use Slime, and have done so for many years. No complaints. There might be better stuff, but I'm doing just fine with Slime.

Couple of years ago I had a BIG thorn in my Yamaha Big Bear tire. Pulled it out and the air was whistling out. Decided that I'd better plug that big hole, so I did. Tire already has some aged Slime in it. The plug didn't seal off completely, leaving me with a very slow leak, but a leak nonetheless. So I slimed it again. Problem solved.

If you don't want to worry about getting flats then get Essex tires.

This = Kevlar tires are awesome - I dont even carry a spare anymore

X2

well considering these are almost brand new tires.... buying new ones isn't an option unless i want to sleep in the garage with the 4 wheeler... with that said i think ill go with slime since its easily available. seems like its good enough for what I'm looking for it to do.

Buy a plug kit

You wont regret it I don't think Just replace the rear tires on my 2008 ranger only because they were wearing on the inside of the tread. The tires were 5 years old (OEM) tread was almost gone but I oly had one flat in that time. I pluged it, later patched it and reslimed. Saw some leakage from thorns for time to time but the slime worked. The fronts will be replaced sometime after season.

Slime has served me well.

Yeah I own a plug kit. Put 3 plugs in after the second trip to the lease. Really brushy, thorny, and cactus out at my place. I use a 4 wheeler for a lot of stuff out there including blazing trails etcetera. I think I'll stick with slime til they wear out then go Essex

before I bought kevlar tires there was another option other than slime - cannot remember the name of the stuff but the polaris dealer carried it -was way better than slime -

I just replaced my rear tires this week on my 4 wheeler. They were the 4 ply stock tires that came on it new in the spring of 2004. Been slimed several times and has had probably 20 plugs apiece.

I've used slime in my last 2 ATV's and have yet to have to plug a tire, lots of cactus, mesquite thorns, rock, etc. Good stuff!

Slime all the way. Smile away it saves time every day

The first thing I did when I brought my new Ranger home was to slime all the tires. If you hunt anywhere the is cactus you need to slime.

Slime slime slime!! I slime mine every year before they head to the deer lease for a while because if they go flat out there I don't want to have to load them up and bring them back. In fact, I went through a gallon of it yesterday on two four wheelers, but it's better safe then sorry. Taking them out this weekend and they won't be back until after deer season, hopefully they stay full. I've been needing new tires on both of them for years, just haven't got around to it.

I have slimed all4 of my ATVs and never leave home without a spare bottle! Great success for last 10 years.

I use the power sports puncture seal (purple/pinkish stuff) in every tire that doesn't see highway use.
Tractors, farm trailers, backhoe, rubber tire loader, 4 wheelers, rangers, mules, zero turn mower, utility cart, wheel barrows etc.
Haven't used a single plug since, so far it is the best tire sealant I've used.

And I've used a bunch of them, even that over hyped nasa, faa & military approved industrial strength, space age, more puncture resistant than kevlar, bullet proof $70 per gallon money back guarantee stuff.
Yes, I got my money back. But they won't pay to break down the tires and wash their crap out.

I run the red stuff (Power Sports Puncture Seal), which you can also get at Homedepot under another brand. Avoid the green stuff. It dries out and eventually decomposed into small hard pellets.
Also, I carry the plug kit just in case.

Slime slime slime or something to that nature. You will get a few different opinions on which is better. Around $50 should slime all 4 tires.

slime em

The best stuff I've ever used is Super Seal, (developed for tractor tires). To install it's much easier to use the air powered applicator. You will need an air compressor though unless you have a tire shop put it in. It works better than slime, it seals bigger holes, seals them faster, and lasts longer. It's more fibrous/thicker, so it's easier using the applicator. I used to be in the tire business and I have seen and tried all sorts of different "sealers". Super Seal always came out on top, that's why it was eventually the only sealer that I would sell or recommend. To this day, that's all I use. The only way you'll ever get a flat is if you rip the sidewall out or puncture a huge hole in the tire. Slime will work, but FME not as well as the Super Seal. I reading about warning the guy at the tire shop about having a tire slimed. Make sure you do the same if you use Fix a Flat. Yes, it will piss you off getting a face full of that stuff when you break down a tire.

Yes the Essex tire is a good tire we have ran many of them on our machines but they had an over aggressive tread pattern causing a rough ride and tearing up the land now we have found a new one that we feel is even better puncture resistant and a better ride. Although the Essex was a good puncture resistant tire we still had a few flats on many hunts and was faced with having to repair and with this new GPS XII no flats and in fact on one of our machines we let the air out to see what would happen if we were to puncture one, would we be faced with having to change or repair it and we put a whole week on this set of tires with no signs of needing changed or repaired. The tires preform very well with air or without and are truly amazing. We are sold on them for sure and outfitted our entire fleet of machines with this tire. No nasty slime, repair kits or spare needed and that's one huge relief when we are packing and preparing for a hunt.