Muc-Off offers a full range of bike care liquids from cleaner to lube but the company took its time to create a tubeless sealant that it was happy with. It’s been worth the wait though as it’s one of the best tubeless tire sealants for mountain bike, gravel and road available whether you’re plugging big holes at low pressure or sealing thorn holes in road tires.
Specification and performance
Muc-Off packages its sealant in three ways. A handy 140ml trail pouch with a nozzle designed to fit exactly over Presta valves for direct fill (remember to take the valve core out first), a 1L home workshop bottle or a 5L canister for bike shops or serious tire stabbers. Pricing is comparable with other good-quality sealants, and Muc-Off also offers bundle deals with a scoop, valve core remover and UV tech for $14.99 /£10.99 tubeless tape or two pouches plus rim tape and Muc-Off’s tubeless valves for $60 / £40. We found we got proportionally much better results in terms of sealing speed and a consistent plug if we were generous with the amount of sealant we used so that reduces value slightly.
The solution is latex-based with various molecule/particle sizes to help with clotting, but it’s ammonia-free so there’s no acrid smell to suffer with. As long as there’s enough in the tire it really works well, too.
It works well to lube beads and settles tires into place and it’s not affected by the low temperatures created by using a CO2 cartridge. Together with the small sachet option that makes it a good choice for fast trailside repairs. The Muc-Off sealant also leaves a thick, even coat right across the carcass after a few spins of the wheel too so it’s good for sealing porous tires.
Stab testing went well too and while it took a relatively long time to seal smaller holes it didn’t lose much pressure so there’s obviously a fair amount of unseen clotting early on. As soon as it sealed it held very well and we had no issues re-inflating our test tire back up to 30psi. It was one of the few sealants that managed to plug the huge hole left by our biggest screwdriver and although it lost 15psi in the process, weeping after the initial catch was minimal and we took it back up to the 30psi mark without it giving way. It did split and spurt when rolling over rough and rocky ground afterwards until it dropped the pressure back into the teens so we’d definitely have had to plug to continue riding. It will probably get you to the bottom of the hill safely if you get a hole on the descent though. If you don’t need big hole or porous carcass plugging capacity then you can water it down slightly to speed up how quickly it seals. The sealant even has a UV dye in it so you can check for sealed holes like a CSI detective if you’ve lost pressure but can’t find the crime scene. The sealant lasts well in the tire too, showing no significant change in consistency or effectiveness even after 6 months in temperatures varying from 0 to 20 degrees.
Verdict
Muc-Off has become the one we reach for to benchmark other sealants or if we’re setting up tubeless tires outside of testing. The sticky mix means it’s not the fastest to the puncture site so it can lose more pressure before sealing, but once healed all but the biggest holes stayed reliably healed. It even gave a workable limp home fix to the damage caused by our biggest most brutal shank. Being available in several serving options is a useful touch, the lack of ‘car park stairwell smell” is a relief, and considering how well it performs the price is fair, too.
Tech Specs: Muc-Off No Puncture Hassle Tubeless Sealant
- Price: $9.99 / £8.99, $39.99 / £29.99, $153.99 / £120
- Sizes: 140ml, 1l, 5l
