Protex Corporate Fleet Van

“Protex is focused on helping companies by protecting their staff on the road by reducing punctures and puncture-related incidents”

Managing Director, Protex UK Sales Ltd (PUKL), Douglas Essex says: “The legal pressures are ever increasing on companies is to provide a ‘Duty of Care’ to its employees on the road and to keep them safe in their vehicles. Protex is focused on helping companies by protecting their staff on the road by reducing punctures and puncture-related accidents”.

Protex Tyre Sealant is a unique, puncture-protection system, designed to be installed into any pneumatic tyre and it does not cause wheel imbalance. Once installed, it will permanently repair punctures as they occur from penetrating objects up to 6mm in the inner tread area of the tyre and 15mm in slow moving plant vechicles, with minimal loss of pressure. Installations are made simple by applying a measured amount of the Protex formula through the valve core of the tyre. This then centrifugally coats the inner tread area of the tyre, protecting it against punctures for the legal life of the tyre.

Protex was designed and developed in the UK in 2001. The sealant developer appeared on Tomorrow’s World which hailed it a “major contribution to road safety”. Since this programme, Protex has been fully developed and endorsed and was launched in August 2003 for commercial and domestic use nationally by PUKL. The manufacturer is a UK-based company, Protex Solutions Limited (PSL), which distributes the Protex product globally.

Protex is designed to be installed into any pneumatic tyre

“Another benefit is the cost savings associated with avoiding tyre deflation and with not having to replace tyres prematurely”

It is an accredited tyre-protection product to Motability; which manages a fleet of 650,000 adapted and modified vehicles in the UK supplied to the physically challenged. There have been a number of puncture-repair products in the marketplace for slowmoving vehicles over the past 30 years. However, the tyre sealants that have been available for on-road, high-speed vehicles have only been a “post” remedy, applied to temporarily repair the puncture as a “get-you-home” solution and not as a permanent repair.

Protex is an aqueous glycol-based solution containing, among other things, specially-treated particles, rust inhibitors, preservatives and gums, all held in suspension. It has many advantages from an environmental point of view, being non-toxic, non-flammable, non-hazardous, bio-degradable, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health-friendly and contains no CFCs or other harmful substances. It can be transported and handled without any special requirements and can be easily washed from a tyre should this prove necessary. It also is environmentally friendly as it will reduce the amount of tyres being disposed of at landfill sites.

Protex is installed before punctures occur, with a measured amount applied through the valve of the tyre. Once installed it does not affect wheel balance. As the wheels turn during normal driving, Protex coats the inner tread area of the tyre. This is possible because of the unique combination of ingredients in a highly viscose liquid state that spreads evenly over the area.

This even coating, brought about by the wheels rotating and the resultant centrifugal forces coming into play, combined with the pressure in the tyres, means that when an object causes a puncture through the tread of the tyre, Protex is forced into the hole and solidifies immediately to seal. As the vehicle continues its motion this ensures an airtight seal is completed almost instantaneously. The sealant plug will be totally impervious to water.

Tyres are permeable and so release air slowly over time, Protex works towards preventing this from happening. The liquid is an aqueous glycol substance, which means it is not permeable. Therefore, the area that has a Protex coating will not let air escape so the tyre maintains the correct pressure for longer and, in turn, makes the life of the tyre last longer and decreases fuel consumption. As well as sealing the puncture, additional benefits derive from the special Protex chemical configuration, which includes protection to rims, steel belts and valve stems from rust, and helps with conditioning the tyre against gradual process of dry rot and case hardening. Inclusion of a thixotropic emulsifier in Protex gives the solution both strength and flexibility.

Douglas Essex, Managing Director (left) and Paul Coughlan, Operation Director (right) – the founders of Protex UK Sales

Another benefit is the cost savings associated with avoiding tyre deflation and with not having to replace tyres prematurely. To the commercial, agricultural, and construction markets, the downtime of vehicles as a result of flat tyres can be costly in terms of vehicles left idle or being repaired on site, non-productive employees and unsatisfied customers.

There are 26 million private cars on the UK roads, plus millions of other vehicles with pneumatic tyres. AA statistics in 2002 stated that Britain got through 50 million tyres annually, all of which could have been protected by Protex against punctures and blow-outs. This tyre sealant can be used in cars, vans, lorries, coaches, agricultural vehicles, taxis, motorbikes, bicycles, small and heavy plant, wheelchairs, wheelbarrows, ride-on lawn mowers, emergency service vehicles, fork-lifts and many more both in on-road and off-road use.