Originally Posted by
urbanknight
I'm thankful to not get flats that often, but that means the vulcanizing fluid often disappears from the tube by the time I get another flat, rendering the rest of the patches useless. So I've decided to buy extra tube and save them up until I have like 5+ to patch, then do them all in one sitting. What do the rest of you do?
I don’t know what you guys are doing to your tubes of vulcanizing fluid but you are obviously doing something wrong. I just got back from a month of touring using a tube of vulcanizing fluid that had been opened many months ago. I used it several times and the only thing I was worried about was running out due to use. I don’t squeeze the air out of the tube of vulcanizing fluid and I just seal the cap tightly. I’m going to replace the old tube of fluid with a new tube of fluid that I bought more that 5+ years ago that has been sitting in my unconditioned garage for the entire 5 years. One thing I do make sure I do is to keep the tube away from the sandpaper when I pack the kit.
Don’t roll the tube of cement. Don’t allow it to rub against something. Don’t crease the sides of the tube as you use it (squeeze in the middle rather than the sides) Keep the cap on tight. All those go a long way toward keeping the solvent in the fluid from evaporating.
Also, I just bought a generic patch kit and the glue that came with it is marked "rubber solution". Anyone know if it's the same stuff or if I got something different?
It’s rubber cement. I guarantee that any analysis would show only solvent (probably xylene) and rubber. There is no accelerator in the fluid to make the chemical bonds that make cold vulcanizing happen.
You should avoid mixing systems that really do use cold vulcanizing chemicals. They are probably not cross compatible because there are several ways to make the chemistry work. Only two patch kits use true, chemical cold vulcanizing that I know of…Rema and Park (and I’m not sure about the Park). Using Rema patches with Park vulcanizing fluid, or vice versa, may not work properly as they use different chemicals.