Vittoria Universal Tubeless Tire Sealant is an ammonia-free fluid with big claims, including the ability to seal punctures up to 7mm and work across a range of tyre pressures. From our experience, Vittoria is easily one of the leading proponents in the best tubeless sealant category.
Vittoria Universal Tubeless Tire Sealant – Technical details
The Vittoria Universal sealant is available in bottle sizes from 80ml (£8.99), which is enough for a single mountain bike tyre, 150ml (£11.99), 250ml (£14.99), 500ml (£19.99) and 1L (£29.99). So, it is very much a case of getting more for your money as the sizes increase.
> Buy the Vittoria Universale Tubeless Tire Sealant from Condor Cycles for £13.99
Vittoria has named it Universal, designed for all bicycle tyres, including mountain bikes and road bikes. According to the literature, there are no tyre pressure limits but the recommended sealant levels are 80ml per tyre for a mountain bike wheel or 40ml for a road tyre. These levels sit towards the bottom of the recommended amounts, especially for road tyres.
Vittoria Universal Tire Sealant is an ammonia-free solution and, while there are a growing number of sealants that follow this philosophy, this was more a case of preventing the sealant from drying out too quickly rather than saving the environment. Ammonia can also damage tyre casings and inserts, the latter of which is becoming a popular inclusion for mountain bikers.
Vittoria Universal Tubeless Tire Sealant - Performance
To test sealant performance, we created a standardised puncture test to assess each contender. The same exact tyre on the same rim for each sealant. The tyre used was a Halo GXC, measuring 47mm. Tyre sealant was added in the amount suggested by the manufacturer, and the tyre was inflated to 40psi. This pressure was chosen to give a realistic tyre pressure for all areas of off-road riding. A digital tyre pressure gauge was used to ensure that the pressure was identical on each test. After that, the tyre was rotated sufficiently to ensure that it was distributed evenly throughout the tyre. The tyres were all punctured by driving a 3mm nail through the carcass. The wheel was rotated to assess if the sealant had successfully sealed the hole. If the sealant worked, the test was repeated using a 5mm diameter nail, and if successful on the larger hole the remaining air pressure was measured with a digital pressure gauge and the result was recorded.
During the test, the sealant was faultless, with no noticeable air lost on the smaller 3mm puncture created, and only the smallest amount with the larger puncture. The remaining pressure was 39.8psi, among the highest of all the sealants tested. The sealant also dried quickly and, in a riding situation, this would mean you can continue riding with less risk of the sealant failing.
The sealant was also tested in several bike styles, to test the claims of it working at a range of pressures and, on both a road bike at 75psi and a mountain bike tyre at 20psi, it successfully sealed a forced puncture.
With longterm use, the sealant has remained in liquid form with barely any drying to the inside of the carcass - with no clogging of the particles within the fluid at all.
Vittoria Universal Tubeless Tire Sealant – Verdict
While the price is reasonably good, it's still more expensive than some of its rivals such as the WTB TCS which is £5 less in both 500ml and 1000ml sizes and that also performed very well in puncture tests.
Vittoria Universal Tire Sealant has performed very well in all the puncture tests we have performed, and it has also lasted really well without drying inside. It has worked well in various tyre sizes and pressures, and its quick-sealing properties allow riding to continue sooner than many of the other tubeless sealants that we have tested.
