Best tubeless sealant: keep your tyres turning

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(Image credit: Josh Ross)

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Best tubeless sealant
How to choose

A tubeless setup can be one of the best ways to evade punctures, which is why it’s really important to invest in the best tubeless sealant possible. It's the magical glue that holds everything together. Just like finding the best tubeless road tyres, the search for the perfect sealant can be a real time-suck. There are so many options out there, from thin to thick, designed for different puncture sizes, and with varying lifespans. But trust us, getting the tubeless system right is totally worth it.

Best tubeless sealant available today

Switching to a tubeless road setup opens up a whole new world where flat tyres are a rarity and your ride becomes super comfy. You can stop worrying about inner tubes and run lower pressures, which makes for a cushier ride, better handling, and lower rolling resistance. Pair that with the best tubeless sealant, and you'll almost never have to deal with a flat tyre again. Sometimes, you won't even realise anything happened, you'll just keep on rolling while the sealant does its thing.

We've done the hard work of comparing all the options out there to find the sealants that seal like champs, last the longest, and are easiest to use. So, if you're itching to jump into the tubeless game but don't know where to start, keep reading for our top picks. Maybe you're a seasoned pro who thinks there might be something better out there, in which case, check out our choices and see if they match up with yours. Read on for our roundup of the best tubeless sealant you can buy right now.

A bottle of Stan’s No Tubes Original on a concrete background

1. Stan’s No Tubes Original

Best if you get regular shop servicing

+ The most widely used in bike shops
+ Not bothered by extreme temperature
- Acrid smell
- Needs thorough mixing

Arguably the most recognisable name in this list, Stan’s was among the very first to produce a sealant specifically for cycling, and offers two options: Original and Race, the latter working best for gravel, where punctures tend to be larger. It’s one of the most popular on the market, with the majority of bike shops using it in their workshops. This means if you regularly get your bike serviced, you don’t have to worry about incompatibility issues, as not all sealants work well together.

A bottle of Orange Seal Endurance Formula on a concrete background

2. Orange Seal Endurance Formula

Best for avoiding balls of sealant in the tyres

+ Won’t react with Stans if a shop accidentally mixes them
+ Lasts well beyond the stated time range
+ Does a good job coating the inside of the tire without clumping
- Difficult to get properly mixed

Another good option is Orange Seal, which is compatible with Stan’s formula. It also does a great job of handling punctures, and unlike Stan’s, it doesn't ball up in your tyre as it dries. Instead, it puts a coating on the inside of the tyre that actually protects against air leakage through the casing of thin tyres. There's a regular and an endurance version, and in our experience they last far longer than the manufacturers’ recommendations.

A bottle of Effetto Mariposa Caffelate on a concrete background

3. Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex

Best for fast sealing of small holes

+ Foaming system gets to a puncture fast
+ Non-toxic and non-corrosive making it useable for tubular tyres as well
+ Customisable puncture protection with purchase of sealant additive
- Won’t plug the largest holes

What makes the Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex special is that it foams up and coats the inside of the tyre, and as the tyre rotates, this constant action of foaming keeps the sealant from sitting in one spot at the bottom of the tyre. This means small punctures will seal faster and you'll never have to stop. The obvious downside is that it only works with small punctures, so it’s perfect for race day situations where the road is smooth and it's unlikely you'll encounter a large puncture.

A bottle of Bontrager TLR Tyre Sealant on a concrete background

4. Bontrager TLR Tyre Sealant

Best for making leaks visible

+ Blue colour makes it easy to find small leaks
+ Ammonia free
+ Thin fluid does a good job keeping the solids mixed and available
- Smells awful
- Blue colour can also be difficult to clean

The Bontrager TLR sealant is, if anything, by far the bluest of the bunch, and there’s a good reason for it. If you've got a small leak the bright colour is easy to spot against a tyre. Bontrager TLR is a very thin carrier fluid, even thinner than Orange Seal, with a good amount of solids in it. It's not thick enough to chunk up and plug large holes but it does well with medium-sized holes where the thin carrier gets the particles to the spot in a hurry.

A bottle of Finish Line Fiberlink on a concrete background

5. Finish Line Fiberlink

Best for combined lifespan and even distribution

+ Natural latex
+ Doesn’t smell bad
+ Thin fluid does a good job keeping the solids mixed and available
- 8oz bottle is a squeeze bottle that makes it hard to use with an injector

Finish Line’s formula features Kevlar particles to help it seal larger holes. It’s thinned out by natural latex, in what is both an acknowledgement that sealant doesn't last forever, but also to help get the Kevlar to the puncture in a hurry. The only challenge with the current product is the smaller bottle uses a squeeze format. It might be helpful in some situations but we'd suggest using an injector such as the Park Tool TSI-1 and the nature of the bottle makes that harder.

A bottle of Muc-Off No Puncture Hassle on a concrete background

6. Muc-Off No Puncture Hassle

Best if you use CO2 to re-inflate tyres

+ Doesn’t ball up in the tyre
+ Ammonia free
+ CO2 compatible
- Won’t plug the largest holes
- Small bottles don’t play well with sealant injectors

Muc-Off is one of the leaders in tubeless technology, so it’s no wonder that its sealant is among the best. It might not work with the largest holes that can happen, but it offers plenty of features, like being visible under UV light for detecting hidden leaks. It’s also best if you use CO2 cartridges to re-inflate your tyres, because the extremely low temperature will render many sealants unusable, whereas this isn’t a problem for Muc-Off’s formula.

A bottle of Silca Ultimate Tubeless Sealant on a concrete background

7. Silca Ultimate Tubeless Sealant with Fiberfoam

Best for the eco-conscious

+ Seals large holes
+ Removes carbon fibre from the waste stream
+ Allows a switch to the replenisher product for liquid top-ups
- Can’t be injected through a valve on initial install

Sealants are a mix of a carrier liquid, plus some kind of dissolved solid to physically clog a puncture. Silca Ultimate Tubeless Sealant with Fiberfoam uses recycled carbon fibre as its particle of choice. The thin particles are larger than what other brands use, which helps with better puncture sealing. While it's impossible to use an injector through the valve stem, Silca offers a replenishment product that adds more carrier without carbon fibre particles, which you can inject.

A bottle of Panaracer Seal Smart on a concrete background

8. Panaracer Seal Smart

Best for thin casing tyres

+ Fully biodegradable
+ Highly viscous
+ Does a good job handling porous tyre casings
- Can’t be injected through a valve

Rene Herse, the king of thin casing, ultra supple, tyre design, recommends Panaracer Seal Smart. Panaracer uses walnut shells as its particles, making them another eco-friendly option, and has a very thick viscosity. It's better at stopping tiny leaks through the casing of supple tyres. The downside is yet another product that won't travel through an injection system; you are going to have to break the bead on one side of the tyre and pour the Seal Smart in.

A bottle of WTB TCS Sealant on a concrete background

9. WTB TCS Sealant

Best for winter riding

+ Ammonia free
+ More synthetic latex and less carrier designed for evaporation
+ Better performance in typical ride temperatures
- Can be difficult to inject

WTB uses more synthetic latex and fewer thinning agents than other sealants, which means less evaporation is needed in the temperature ranges people actually ride in. If you've got epic winter rides planned for rainy days above freezing, this is a great choice. In practice what all this means is a thick sealant. You’ll want to make sure your valves aren’t too small, as some valves narrow as they open into the wheel, while others don’t.

How often do you need to add more tubeless tyre sealant?

While some brands provide expectations for the lifespan of their sealants, others don't bother. Finish Line, for example, states, "Tire porosity varies greatly from tire to tire. Porosity and climate affect sealant longevity. Refresh as needed." It's a clever way to avoid being held responsible if customers have a different experience than what's advertised, but it does hold some truth. Different tyres, climates, and riding conditions will inevitably lead to diverse outcomes. If you're after a one-size-fits-all rule, checking your sealant once a month is a wise move, but in our experience, it often lasts much longer. In fact, you'll probably find yourself needing to replace the tyre before even thinking about swapping out the sealant.

How do you check tubeless tyre sealant?

There are a couple of ways you can check your sealant situation: One option is to use an injector to suck out whatever's left in there to get a better idea, or just shake the tyre and listen to hear if there's any sloshing. You can get creative and use something small and thin as a dipstick to see how much sealant you've got. The easiest method though is to flip the tyre so that the valve is at the bottom and leave it for about 10 minutes. Deflate the tyre and remove the valve core then push it flat against the ground. You should get a bit of sealant leaking out of the valve; if not, it's time to add sealant.

How much tubeless tyre sealant do you need to use?

There’s no exact science to this, although Finish Line, again, has recommendations on its bottle, Effetto Mariposa actually goes into the most detail.

The idea is to balance enough sealant that it gets to a puncture when it needs to but not so much that you carry excess weight. Bigger tyres need more sealant and you can check the detailed table that Effetto Mariposa lays out to get an idea. It is worth noting though that other brands tend to recommend higher quantities. The general rule of thumb is 60ml for road tyres under 30mm and more as you go up in size.

Can different brands of tubeless tyre sealant be mixed in the tyre?

The simple answer is no but there is a long answer too. We've had a lot of experience mixing Stans and Orange Seal and it worked out fine. That's only our anecdotal experience, though.

Those two brands happen to be pretty widespread and people reported similar results. Other brands may mix just fine as well, but no brands are testing others and making recommendations. There's no incentive to do that, from their point of view. So, we can't tell you that in every case it won't work, because there's no data and every brand recommends not mixing. It's best practice not to do it.

How do we test tubeless sealant?

The best tubeless tyre sealant is a lot like the best tubeless road tyres in that no two situations are the same and it's incredibly hard to draw any concrete conclusions. There have been times when we've gone an entire season without getting a single flat and there have been times when every ride has meant a new flat tyre.

Even testing in a stand is fraught with challenges as it's an ideal situation and these sealants will do a good job under an ideal scenario. As is the case with claims of aerodynamic efficiency or head injury prevention, we've got to accept a certain amount of faith in the claims of the manufacturer. Still, there's more to the best tubeless tyre sealant than the ability to stop a puncture. Good quality tyres that are in good shape will do an incredible job of stopping punctures. Beyond just stopping punctures, a good sealant has to be easy to use and easy to live with. We've put together a list of the best options pulled from our experience that not only do a good job of stopping leaks but also have a unique selling point. Something that makes them perfectly tailored to a specific type of rider. Everything here is a good choice, look for what matches your needs.

Josh hails from the Pacific Northwest of the United States but would prefer riding through the desert than the rain. He will happily talk for hours about the minutiae of cycling tech but also has an understanding that most people just want things to work. He is a road cyclist at heart and doesn't care much if those roads are paved, dirt, or digital. Although he rarely races, if you ask him to ride from sunrise to sunset the answer will be yes. Height: 5'9" Weight: 140 lb. Rides: Salsa Warbird, Cannondale CAAD9, Enve Melee, Look 795 Blade RS, Priority Continuum Onyx