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TYRE SEALANT
Tyres are your only contact with the road and yet, many of us, ignore their condition.
Apart from tread depth, correct tyre pressures can avert potentially lethal consequences and save you money.
All too often tyre pressures are not only down but are different from wheel to wheel.
Quite apart from the inconvenience of changing a wheel, finding a garage or a road traffic incident, there is the expense involved.
Keeping your tyre in good condition is one part of the equation. The other, could be, the use of a proprietory tyre sealant.
Why Tyre sealants?
The problem is the way wheels have to be designed. All wheels have a “fitting well” in them.
It has to be there for the fitting and removal of tyres, but it is this well that can be so dangerous when you have a puncture.
When the tyre is inflated, it is held in place by air pressure, but when this pressure is lost, the tyre can move around freely and drop into the fitting well. Braking and traction is lost, you can lose steering control and the wheel rim can come into contact with the road.
How Tyre Sealants Work
As the tyre rotates, the product spreads evenly over the inside surface. Immediately a penetration occurs, the air pressure in the tyre forces millions of fibre particles and fillers suspended either in ethylene or propylene glycol to interlock which plugs the hole in the tread area preventing any further air loss within one or two revolutions of the wheel.
This action is so rapid that the driver may not know a puncture has happened. Later, when the tyre is inspected, if the cause is still present it can be removed. When removed, the vehicle must be driven immediately to enable the tyre to re-seal itself.
Depending on the grade of Sealant used, holes up to 30 mm (1¼ inches) can be repaired using this technology.
Fibres
Fibres constitute the backbone of the tyre sealent. The stonger the fibres, the stronger the tyre repair.
The stongest fibres are state-of-the-art synthetic fibres such as those used in tyre cord and bullet proof vests. Using a variety of fibres is also very inportant, especially in the relatively thin carcass of a conventional tyre.
The more varied the fibres in both length and degree of branching, the faster the seal forms and the more permanent it is.
Fillers
Once a strong plug is formed by the fibres, the final seal is provided by filler particles which lodge between the fibres to form an effective airtight plug.
The use of these fillers is imperative for a high performance sealent.
Suspension
The function of the liquid in the sealant formulation is the medium by which the fibres and fillers reach the area of the puncture in the tyre .
In some sealant formulations, the components may separate over a period when the tyre is inactive. If separation does occur, such formulations will fail as tyre sealants.
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Don't forget to mention that you found this information through the World of Motorhomes Website.
Tyre Sealent
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