Since "Superior Tire Sealant" is in our product tag line, the most common question we receive is what makes Black Ox sealant superior?
Our mission when we first started developing our products was to be more effective at sealing larger holes. If you survey the market the industry standard is to seal holes up to 1/4" (6 mm). We felt this could be significantly improved upon.
With our Material Science background and working with surface chemistry as our primary business function we went to work. The sealant we developed is based on a natural latex, similar to most other brands. This is an excellent base material as it is natural (biodegradable), quick hardening, and resilient. A major differentiator for Black Ox products are the additives within the sealant. We tested a wide range of additive materials and observed several very good and several very bad candidates. From our testing we down selected to a micro length carbon fiber material.
One of our core capabilities is specialty coatings and precision chopping of carbon fibers. Most of our services are directed towards the aerospace and automotive industries, each requiring extensive quality control of materials and processes. We rely on these capabilities to internally process the carbon fiber to optimized lengths and diameters determined through testing.
In addition to the micro length carbon fiber, we have another additive which aids in the coagulation. This additive also increases the sealant viscosity which is beneficial in slowing down the rate at which sealant is expelled during a puncture. With these two additives our products are routinely capable of sealing holes up to 3/8" (9 mm). This is a 125% increase area compared to the industry standard. The combination of particles within the sealant has an added benefit of making permanent seals for any punctures created. But we were still not satisfied.
Even though our initial product testing determined that longer fibers could be more effective, we wanted to ensure we provided a launch product capable of being installed through the valve stem, making it easier for broader adoption of our products. There are existing products with longer fiber additives on the market, requiring the sealant to being installed during tire installation. These products, by the way, still only suggest capability of sealing up to 1/4" (6 mm) holes.
With continual testing we developed a proprietary treatment for the carbon fibers which would allow them to maintain their discrete bundle shapes and then cut them to longer lengths. This allowed creation of mini-plugs that could be dispersed in the sealant as an additional additive. These mini-plugs are available for on demand plugging of holes up to 1/2" (12 mm), resulting in an incredible 300% increase in area compared to the industry standard.
These are the reasons why Black Ox is "the" superior tire sealant. Shake well and ride like hell!