Best tubeless sealant 2025: which sealant sealed the biggest hole, in our screwdriver test?

Fitting any of the best gravel or road tubeless tyres will require one of the best tubeless sealants to ensure a good seal and protection from future punctures. It is safe to say that running a tubeless set-up on drop bar bikes has received a somewhat mixed reception. However, it has gained significant traction in recent years, with the World Tour finally accepting the technology. So, ditch the inner tubes and puncture repair kits; it's time you got on board, too.

In this group test, we pitched five popular sealants against each other to determine which is best for tubeless tyres. I did this by deliberately puncturing a tyre with six screwdrivers of increasing size – starting at 1mm and going to 7mm – up until the tyre could no longer be topped back up to 70 psi. To ensure a fair and measurable test, I used a control tyre of the popular Schwalbe Pro One 28mm tyre fitted to a Zipp 303s wheel, which is known for its quality seal and compatibility with a wide range of tyres.

One stand-out performer in my test, the Silca Ulitmate Sealant, had me reaching for an even bigger screwdriver to see just how big a hole it would seal. Silca was not the only one to impress, considering it is nearly half the cost of our overall winner, the Muc Off No Puncture Hassle, sealed up to the same size but just struck out as I raised the air pressure, failing at 30psi, which for gravel or wide road (35mm +) might get you home.

If you would like to know more about tubeless setups, why not try these two articles? The first is from Tech Writer and ex-mechanic Joe on setting up tubeless safely, and the second is from life-long bike-rider and fettler Luke on diagnosing and fixing leaky setups.

The Quick List

The Best Tubeless Sealants

Best overall

Silca's Ultimate sealant launched in early 2022 and came with a raft of innovations and bold claims – notably an ability to seal punctures up to 6mm at 80psi and up to 8mm in lower pressure systems. Impressively, it has gone and lived up to the hype.

In our testing, we found that sealant was able to easily plug holes up to (and including) a 3mm diameter. On the 4.5 and 6mm diameter screwdrivers, the sealant would seal at a low pressure but the hole burst open when pumping the tyre back up to 70psi.

But on the second try pumping the tyre back up to pressure, the sealant managed to hold. It seems that after the hole reopened that first time, the 'dam' of carbon fibres around the hole was reinforced, enabling the sealant to ultimately plug the 4.5 and 6mm holes.

Going up to the 7mm screwdriver (which really is huge, larger than any nail you're likely to cycle over) the same thing happened with the hole reopening when pumped back up, but then resealing and able to handle higher pressures. It took an additional cycle over the previous two screwdrivers – but in the end, the Silca Ultimate sealant did manage to hold 70psi after being punctured with a 7mm screwdriver.

It is at the more expensive end of the sealants currently on the market – but its price is by no means an outlier. No other sealant we had on test was able to plug such a large hole and many failed on much smaller diameters.

Of course, this doesn't mean it'll definitely plug every puncture of that size every time, but it's a highly impressive line in the sand and makes this the best-performing sealant we had on test. For road tyres and pressures, we'd fully recommend it.

Best budget

There definitely is something about long-stranded particles that really boosts sealing performance. Although Silca has made a lot of fuss about its carbon fibres and its research, it appears that the Muc-Off sealant works in much the same way, with very similar-looking fibres visible in the plugged holes.

The Muc-Off No Puncture Hassle Tyre Sealant didn't seal quite as quickly as the Silca Ultimate sealant on the middle and larger sizes of screwdriver, but it still did the job nonetheless.

And just like the Silca sealant, it did take two tries pumping the tyre up to 70psi after being punctured with the 6mm screwdriver for the hole to be fully plugged and able to hold the pressure.

At 7mm, the hole would seal at around 30psi, but it wouldn't hold pressures any higher than that – repeatedly inflating the tyre and the seal would break every time.

Still, 6mm is a very good performance – better than any of the other sealants we tested except Silca – and especially at these higher pressures we tested at.

Essentially, the Muc-Off No Puncture Hassle Tyre Sealant sits just beneath the Silca Ultimate sealant and is far more effective.

Best Eco-Friendly

Effetto Mariposa's Végétalex Tyre Sealant is quite different to anything else we've used. It's got a gloppy, almost oily, gelatinous consistency to it, which is a result of its plant-based ingredients – it's fully biodegradable and totally plastic-free.

That thicker consistency could be what gives this sealant its impressive claimed longevity. Although it starts at three months, Effetto is explicit that this is the minimum in the most extreme conditions – not just the lower band of what most people will experience in more 'normal' use.

But longevity wasn't what we were testing for here – so back to its puncture-sealing abilities. The sealant managed to plug the 1, 2 and 3mm screwdrivers without much of a problem.

Going up to 4.5mm, it took quite a long time for the air to finally stop leaking out and a seal to form at a (very) low pressure. When trying to pump the tyre back to pressure, the hole kept on reopening – unlike the Silca and the Muc-Off sealants, the Végétalex seal didn't seem to strengthen after being broken open.

But sealing a 3mm hole at road pressures is all that the sealant claims to be able to do, so it can't really be faulted for its performance – even if it does fail on smaller holes than some of the other sealants on test.

Best For Low Temperatures

Stans No Tubes tyre sealant really is a classic and perhaps one of the best-known options out there. The claims of cold weather performance are quite exceptional for this sealant – not many state that they'll go down to lows of -30°F / -34°C.

When it comes to the sealing ability on our road setup, though, the performance was a little off the mark. The sealant claims that it's good for holes up to 6mm in diameter, but presumably, that is referring to the lower pressures of an MTB or gravel system, as we found the sealant unable to plug punctures larger than 3mm at road pressures.

That said, 3mm is still a significant sized hole. It's not like the pin-prick of an upturned tack, it's the size of a pretty vicious nail – something you'd typically very much try and avoid, rather than simply cycling over it.

For use in milder climates, from this test we'd recommend LifeLine's sealant as it's cheaper and plugged larger holes. But in particularly cold climates, this would be our go-to choice.

Best for small holes

Another sealant stalwart, Orange Seal is a brand with a long history. However, in this test, the results weren't superlative.

To be fair, the sealant did manage to plug holes up to and including 3mm at 70 psi, which is on par with both the Stans and Effetto Mariposa. The Orange Seal Regular sealant also plugged those smaller holes faster than the Stans No Tubes sealant was able to.

However, the claimed longevity is significantly less than all of the other sealants we tested, which stands to saddle you with increased maintenance and cost. The temperature rating also isn't as low as some of the other sealants with equal or better sealing ability.

So, in terms of the actual sealing ability the Regular sealant is in line with most of the sealants we had on test. It's the claimed temperature rating and longevity that let it down.

Orange Seal does have an Endurance sealant which is claimed to last between 2 and 4 months and a Subzero sealant which is claimed to go down to -20°F / -29°C, but both of those only claim to be able to seal punctures up to 3mm – the Regular sealant was claimed to be 6mm.

How we tested

First up, let's go through the tyre and rim combo. We were using a 28mm Schwalbe Pro One tyre on a Zipp 303s rim. Like an increasing number of today's best road bike wheels, there is a pressure limit of around 70 psi.

This is a lower pressure than what early adopters of road tubeless may have been using. But considering the continuing shift to wider tyres and, of course, the growing number of brands going for a 70psi pressure limit, we thought that this made a good benchmark for our test.

We brought a total of six screwdrivers with shaft diameters of 1, 2, 3, 4.5, 5, 6 and 7mm. The process was to add 60ml of sealant and then start with the 1mm screwdriver, puncture the tyre, spin it until it seals, and then pump it back up to 70psi.

If the tyre could continue to hold 70psi after the puncturing, then the next step was to repeat with the next size up – until the tyre could no longer hold 70psi without the hole reopening.

So as not to be too wasteful, we cleaned out the tyre of sealant after each test, patched it up with a stick-on tyre boot, and went again with the next sealant. In the end, we did still end up using two tyres in total.

Performance Comparison Chart

During my testing, there was some disparity between the size of the hole the sealant could seal and what the manufacturer claimed. This wasn't always in favour of not meeting the claimed spec, either. In the case of the Silca and Effetto, it was actually far greater than claimed, which feels like a rarity.

So, to make this easier to understand, I have created this easy-to-read bar chart, which shows the size of the hole sealed in our screwdriver test in millimetres compared to the manufacturer's claimed size.

How do I use tubeless sealant

Cycling Weekly sat down with John Vargus, founder and president of tubeless sealant maker Orange Seal, to learn his top tips for maximising the efficiency of sealants.

1. Before you start it’s important that you shake the bottle of sealant enough to distribute the particulate evenly and ensure there is enough of it in the solution you will put in the tyre.
2. Don’t just guess the amount of sealant to put in. Start by putting in the amount of sealant the manufacturer recommends. For Orange Seal, it would be 2oz (57ml) of sealant for a typical 700x25c tyre. It should be enough to coat the inside surface of the tyre but not too much to add excess weight.
3. Inflate the tyre to below your normal tyre pressure, around 70-80psi, and ride the bike for a few minutes. This allows the pores in the rubber construction of the tyre to open effectively and enables the sealant to really coat the inside effectively.
4. Then pump to your riding pressure. A tubeless setup should normally be 10-15% lower than the tyre pressure you use if running inner tubes.
5. In the event of a puncture, locate the source and rotate the wheel until it is at the lowest point to enable the sealant to begin the process of plugging the hole. Then rotate the wheel until the puncture is at the top. This will allow the air to get to the sealant and enable the sealant to begin coagulating and plugging the hole. If it still leaks air, repeat the process until it works.
6. Sealant does dry out so it’s important to check your levels every couple of weeks and top up as necessary. If you do leave your bike unridden for any length of time, it’s a good idea to unseat one side of the tyre and check for any solid patches of sealant. Remove and refill.
7. Finally, if you do get a puncture sealant alone cannot fix and you need to fit a tube you will probably get covered in sealant. A quick squirt with a water bottle will help dilute it and prevent it from ruining your kit, thanks to the water-based nature of most sealants.

There's more advice on tubeless tyre set-up from an expert in our piece on tubeless tyres: are you doing it properly?

Frequently asked questions about tubeless sealants