spelger

for me its a bottle of home brew, only then does the patching begin.

spelger

so this is interesting, did not know tis about 2 chems. i've often wondered about using an old tube cut to pacht size for patching. guess that would not work.

zacster

A few years ago I bought bulk Rema patches and cement. Flats seem to come in groups so I'll patch in groups too. I've done 6 in the last week on various bikes. I keep using them as long as they hold air after a patch job. If the patch takes, and mine mostly do, it'll go indefinitely. Sometime they fail on first use though, and that's when I throw out the tube.
If I leave them too long I forget which are good, and the other day I found my spare tube wasn't.

I have to ask my wife if she has an empty nail polish jar to put some cement in so I can carry it around. I always found the little tubes supplied with the kits doesn't last very long and I can just fill this from the bulk container.

kingston 

I have a can of the rema cement that's getting a little thick. Is there something I can put in it to thin it out?

ClydeClydeson

THis looks like a great illustration of what happens when you fix the punctured tube but do not find and remove whatever caused the puncture - multiple punctures all in the same area of the tube. This is common when the cause of punctures is damaged rim tape leaving a spoke or other sharp edge exposed. Maybe that's not what happened to 10W's tube, but this is what it looks like.

Also, I also find the valve is the limiting factor in tube lifespan - either the rubber around the base of the valve stem gets torn or damaged, or the valve otherwise gets damaged.

pdlamb

1. Check the can to find out what solvent is being used. If you get some of that off Amazon, you may be able to extend the life by a year or two.

2. The solvent costs nearly as much as a new can. It's possible the Rema solids have polymerized so diluting it won't work anyway. When it gets too thick to use, it's probably cheaper to buy a new can of cement.

cyccommute 

The SDS says that the solvent is naphtha. Proportion of solvent needed might be hard to judge. Mineral spirits will probably work. The low flash point, odored version would be better but is hard to find. Try a test on some before adding it to the whole can.

KerryIrons

My nickname among some of our group riders is Patches. It is not unusual for one of my tubes to have a half-dozen or more patches, and when I get a flat it is not from a failed patch. I only toss a tube when I get a hole too big to patch or a failure at the base of the valve stem. I don't keep track of tube mileage like I do for tire mileage, but it would not surprise me if I didn't have a tube on my bike right now with over 20,000 miles and 10 patches. I average around 2,000 miles between flats.

smd4

Seven holes in basically the exact same location? Hmmm....

rydabent

I have one tube that has been patched with a Park glue less patch working fine for over 3 years. The deal is using it right.

ClydeClydeson

Not sure what I am doing wrong, then - I've never had any luck with them.. I was able to get home once and found the tire flat the next morning, but that was the best outcome I have ex[perienced, while most of te time the patch fails withing a short time of application.. Funnily, I have close to 100% success rate with traditional patches, and close to 0% success rate with glueless patches. So what do I need to do to make the glueless patches work? I have the knowledge and a track record of successfully scuffing tubes and getting patches to stick, and glueless are supposed to be easier, so where am I going wrong?

zacster

Same here. And is it really harder to use the cement?

ClydeClydeson

That's my thought - if there is a non-zero increase in failure rate caused by using glueless vs glued, the advantage of glueless is immediately negated.

Troul 

If the area is not cleaned well & not enough scuffing is done (spent sealants, oils, powders, dirt, smooth surface & such) where the toss on patch is applied, it'll have a hard time bonding.

ClydeClydeson

The same is true for glued patches, but I have decent results with those.

Troul 

The difference is that the glue or other applications used prior to pressing down the patch tends to dilute or dissolve enough of the contaminates to allow adhesion.

icemilkcoffee 

Yes. Because the tiny tube of cement is inevitably dry when you need to use it.

Sonofamechanic 

Anyone here old enough to remember the patches you would clamp in place and bond to the tube by burning them on? There was a flammable fabric on the pack of the patch (encased in a tin form) and you would light it with a match and the heat from the burn would apparently help the bond. I can still smell them! Must have been toxic…like everything else in the early 70’s. LOL

cyccommute 

No. And you probably aren’t old enough to remember them either. They were introduced in the early part of the 20th Century (about 1920). They were pretty much phased out in the 60s. Our fathers taught us to set the glue of the chemical patches on fire because they had seen the hot patches being used as kids and didn’t understand what was happening but they were wrong. I still get people telling me about setting tubes on fire because that’s what their fathers taught them to do.

Chemical…aka “cold vulcanizing…is a far better method with far more consistent results. That’s if you use the proper patch kit. 99% of patch kits available aren’t the proper patch kit.

rydabent

The simple trick is a good scuff that you say you do, and then before putting the glueless patch on put the tire up to the size it will be when inflated. Then put the patch on, and hold it for about 30 seconds. When you let the air out the tube and patch will wrinkle up some, but that is fine.

rydabent

The simple trick is a good scuff that you say you do, and then before putting the glueless patch on put the tire up to the size it will be when inflated. Then put the patch on, and hold it for about 30 seconds. When you let the air out the tube and patch will wrinkle up some, but that is fine. If the tube isnt the size it will be inflated, when you pump the tube up when installed it tears to patch loose and it will lose air.

Sonofamechanic 

LOL—I wish! They must have “phased out” out your way, but I grew up in West Australia and we (I) used them well into the mid 70’s. Like I posted—I can still smell them burning. My dad ran a garage so we did a lot of tires.

cxwrench

I'm amazed this thread is on post 47 and could get past "It depends" as the correct answer.

Polaris OBark

I've always been under the impression that "vulcanizing fluid" is the same thing as rubber cement. Is this wrong?

I looked it up. They aren't. But interestingly, I also read:

• Vulcanizing cement needs heat to complete the process of adhesion

So now I am left wondering if what folks in this thread are calling vulcanizing cement is in fact rubber cement?

Troul 

I generally just link it as vulcanizing adhesion promoter tis o be used with vulcanizing cement. rubber cement is the all-in-one. Typically, when something is an All-In-One when it once was a multipart process, it isn't going to be better than the former & might lack in other areas.
Example: JB Weld vs TIG welding. Not going to look at those being equal, even though they have "weld" in the product name.