Thought I could fix a flat bike tire with flex seal at the park

I was out at Central Park last Sunday and my rear tire went flat. I remembered seeing those flex seal ads and figured hey, it works on boats right? So I sprayed a thick layer over the hole and pumped it back up. The tire held for about two blocks before the sealant started bubbling out like a weird foam monster. I ended up walking my bike six blocks to the nearest shop where the guy just laughed at me and said I made the mess way worse. Cost me an extra $15 for them to clean off the gunk before they could patch it properly. Has anyone else tried a quick fix like that and totally regretted it?

3 comments

3 Comments

michaelf512mo ago

Double down on that mistake and @park.robin’s buddy Mike is a legend for admitting it publicly. Flex seal is just fancy caulk for memes, not tires.

faithwalker1mo ago

That bike shop guy must have been fuming. Did Mike actually pay for the cleanup or did he just sneak out while the guy wasn't looking? I'm curious if the apology was before or after the scraping, because that changes the whole vibe of the story. Seems like the kind of lesson you only learn once, but some people need to learn it twice.

park.robin2mo ago

My buddy Mike tried this exact thing with his mountain bike last summer. He sprayed flex seal all over a gash from a sharp rock and thought he was a genius. The stuff dried into this crusty black mess that looked like a melted trash bag. Rode maybe 50 feet before it peeled off and the tire went flat again, left a trail of sticky goo behind him. Had to apologize to the bike shop guy who spent 20 minutes scraping it off with a razor blade while giving him the death stare. Mike still gets roasted about it every time we ride together.