NEWS ALERT...well not really news, and not really an alert, LOL!!
Anyway, as some of you know I have relied on glueless patches for over 30 years, first from 3M then Park bought the rights so I use the Park brand to this day. I had a series of failures this month, which I still don't know what the cause was. I emailed Park and they said that tube manufactures have changed some of the chemicals that make tubes and therefore some tubes may not accept glueless patches anymore. Hmmm, all I can say about that is, ok.
So I think one of two things happened, not sure if both things contributed to the cause. I prepared the tube-like I always have done, cleaned with alcohol, and applied the patch, installed the tube, filled with air, then about 15 minutes it was flat, what? So I took it all apart and noticed the patch had come slightly undone, this is the weird part, the patch peeled right off like scotch tape. Ok, so I thought the patches I was using were old, so I got another patch box I had, prepped the tube again, and applied the patch, and installed, roughly 15 minutes later the tire was flat again. Took it all apart only to find the same thing that happened the first time. I decided to go to a bike shop in town and buy a brand new box of glueless patches, took the tube out and all I did was buff the tube but did not use the alcohol this time because I was getting a bit ****** doing the whole process over and over. Applied the new patch and it's held up now for 4 days without any abnormal loss of pressure.
So my thoughts are, either the patches I had sat in a warehouse for several years, which Park said was possible, or the alcohol somehow reacted to the butyl, due to the new chemical composition, and made the patch adhesive non-reactive. So from now on I just won't use alcohol, because I have a feeling that may have been the problem? I kept the old patches so the next time I get a flat I use one and not use any alcohol and see what happens.
Stay tuned...though not sure for how long since I don't get flats but maybe once every 2 years.