Porsche includes a plastic squeese bottle of tire sealant in all new Porsche cars. It’s part number 95572263100. Remember that Porsches come with a deflated spare tire and a compressor. This selant is different from the compressed can of Fix-A-Flat. The user removes the valve core and squeeses a relatively small amount into the flat tire before reinflating. A local dealer says that in Europe Porsche puts some of this same silicone based sealant into new tires to prevent or greatly reduce the normal leakage that occurs. My question is, somewhat like the question of using nitrogen in tires, is this a good idea? Would you run new tires with this sealant in them? It is supposed to have no effect on tire balance.
I’d be inclined to call the shop manager (not the service advisor) and ask what if any effect the sealant has on being able to change the tires. Ask him how it works.
I would avoid that stuff if at all possible. The guys who work on the tyres hate it and I can understand why.
Small punctures, particularly in the tire tread, can be sealed with this tire sealing gel. This will not fix your tire, but when used properly it can get you to your local tire facility… a portable air compressor is necessary for the usage of this product.
That sure sounds of rather limited value to me. BTW the kit is about $30.00
If I could afford a Porsche I would use the cell phone for problems like that.
I would also be concerned about tire balance because if I had a Porsche, as I once did, I would drive it fast.
I stopped at a Firestone tire store a while back to ask about sealants in tires. I was told that their company policy was to refuse to repair a tire that had a sealant. Their answer: Buy a new tire. A nearby independent tire store/mechanical repair/gas station said that they would repair such a tire. If you want to research this more, you could stop by a Firestone store to ask why. My guess is that an internal patch or a mushroom plug might not adhere reliably. A thorough cleaning of the area to be patched might work but apparently Firestone has doubts.
I wanted to point out to some posters that while this sounds like Fix-a-Flat, the OP indicates that it isn’t. I’m not familiar with whatever it is, but have to wonder if Porsche would provide something with their new cars that would cause the mess and repair problems that Fix-a-Flat does.
Regular tire stores may not be familiar with whatever this is, and would likely give advice based on their experience with Fix-A-Flat. I’d still be inclined to talk with the shop manager at the Porsche dealer.
To the last comment, you are right. This material is vastly different from Fix-a-flat. It’s silicone based, kind-of slippery, light grey, and tends to form little beads that easily distribute around the inside of the tire. It’s not at all sticky and messy. While a small amount will seal against normal leakage and small punctures, the user has to use more for larger holes. Because of the consistency of the material and the ease with which it distributes in the tire, a small amount causes no balance problems.
Lastly, the advice I got from the dealer came from the general manager at the dealership that runs a group of race cars and swears by it. When I talked to him he offered to give me a bottle of the sealant at no charge. His cost is in the neighborhood of $11 for 3 liters. The $27 kit is one small bottle that fits in the car tool kit.
Being silicone, would it interfere with a later patch application? Or a plug?
The reason for that policy is that tires that had been fixed with some of the earlier versions of Fix-A-Flat would occasionally explode when being unmounted, which killed a few tire techs and seriously injured a lot more. They switched to a non-flammable formula years ago, but Firestone’s lawyers don’t want to take the risk that someone will use a can of it that’s been in their trunk for many years.