Does Tire Sealant Damage Tires?
3 Answers
Automotive tire sealant can indeed cause damage to tires. After using sealant, the tire surface may suffer corrosion, and the formation of a colloidal protective film on the tire surface can interfere with grinding and adhesion during the tire repair process. Tires are circular elastic rubber products mounted on various vehicles or machinery that roll on the ground. The functions of tires are: 1. To prevent automotive components from experiencing severe vibrations and premature damage, adapting to the high-speed performance of vehicles while reducing driving noise; 2. To support the full weight of the vehicle, bear the load of the car, and transmit forces and moments in other directions; 3. To transmit traction and braking torque, ensuring good adhesion between the wheels and the road surface to improve the vehicle's power, braking, and passability.
From my experience handling dozens of tire cases, self-sealing tire sealant is truly a double-edged sword. It contains rubber particles and chemical solvents that can temporarily seal small punctures like nails, but its corrosive components gradually damage the rubber structure. Particularly around the valve stem, prolonged exposure to the liquid can cause rust and air leaks. The bigger issue is balance - uneven distribution of the liquid leads to wheel vibration at high speeds. If you overuse sealant for convenience, you'll find clumps of rubber residue caked on the tire walls when disassembled after six months. While it can serve as an emergency fix for a month or two, you must thoroughly clean the rims and rebalance the wheels afterward.
Last time I got a tire repair, the mechanic complained that vehicles using tire sealants have an exceptionally high return rate. That liquid dries into hard chunks on the inner side of the rim, requiring scraping with a putty knife during tire removal – heavy-handed workers easily scratch the rim coating. Plus, the valve stem often gets clogged with rubber particles, forcing an extra labor charge for valve replacement. It's worse with alloy wheels as the chemicals corrode the surface. The most extreme case I've seen was a car that ran 30,000 km without cleaning – when disassembled, the sealant had solidified into cracked rubber sheets, literally cementing the tire bead to the rim. That's why repair shops now dread seeing cars injected with tire sealant.
