Ethylene glycol as tire stop leak

[gbent]

Ethylene glycol anti-freeze makes a good stop-leak for off-road tires. I assume it works by softening (or degrading)the rubber. Does anyone have any ideas how long it would be before the integrity of the carcass would be compromised?

 

[sciguyjim]

Unless someone has experience with this, it's hard to tell w/o data. IMO, the better a chemical is at making the rubber soften and swell, the faster the carcass integrity would be compromised. Et glycol does evaporate fairly easily, so even a leak fixed with it would eventually dry out and begin to leak again.

 

[HiGroove]

I would like someone's opinion on this also. My son and I race go - karts and are always looking for a cheap and good tire preparation to improve the tire grip. People are using racing specified product and others use gum turpentine, to improve grip.

How does the Ethy Glo. degrade the rubber. How long does it take for the EG to effect the rubber ?

 

[ecclestone]

Highgroove, If you are looking for a cheap rubber softener ,good old household bleach is just as good ,and in fact was used by most drag racers to commence burnouts, Oil of wintergreen is also a softener,as long as you dont mind smelling like a football change room.In some countrys tire softeners like Formula Vee traction treatment are banned and are in fact checked by digital "sniffers" touching the tires.The reason antifreeze is used as aleak stopper it is because ethylene glycol is more "searching" than say water,congeals in any holes and prevents the loss of air ??

 

[evelrod]

gbent, as to your original question of "...how long..." all I can add is that from an old "country boy", my father in law added water/et-glycol to the tractor tires to increase the weight and prevent freezing in those Texas Panhandle winters. Pressure was in the 70 to 100psi range as I recall. I drove that old International all over the place, over all sorts of crap and I don't think I ever saw a puncture. Before my father in law died in '94, he sold the old tractor to a collector and it still had the same tires as I remember being installed in the early 60's. A good guess that the et-glycol was still in the tires.

Rod

 

[ecclestone]

Certainly ethylene glycol has a high compatibility to all rubber compounds,you rarely see hose laminating in well maintained coolant systems.The latest coolants contain numerous additives besides the ethylene glycol the main antifreeze anti boil element. Usually they also contain a bittering agent as untreated antifreeze is sweet tasting. Actually an Italian wine company was prosecuted some years ago for adding it in small quantities to wines to improve the taste and reduce "frosting"