Effetto Mariposa Caffélatex Sealant and Vitamina CL Sealant Additive Review

The Effetto Mariposa Caffélatex tire sealant has been around for some years and is useful in a mountain, road, cyclocross, and gravel bicycling, in tubeless, tubular and innertube applications. The durable and puncture repairing mix doesn’t contain harsh chemicals such as ammonia, and when it’s agitated it bubbles or foams up which spreads it more evenly around the interior of the tire. Their new Vitamina CL is a sealant additive made to mix with their Caffélatex sealant and increases the repairable puncture size from 4–5mm to 8mm and greater.

Caffélatex 

The sealant mixture utilizes microscopic silicate particles that move slowly through holes so that the sealing ingredients have more time to heal the puncture securely. Also, the particles are not macroscopic or visible to the naked eye (example: glitter 150-300 microns) but are instead microscopic in size or less than 2 microns in diameter. Meaning, it’s flow characteristics change on a microscopic level without the problems of valve-clogging glitter. It’s fast sealing action, and formula repairs puncture up to 5 mm (mtb tubeless) and 3 mm (road tubeless) in a variety of tire types.

Since it’s entirely ammonia-free, it isn’t corrosive or harmful to tires and rims, and that same characteristic makes it a favorite for cyclocross and tubular applications since its friendly to sensitive latex innertubes.

Wheel movement activates the innovative foaming action, and once it bubbles up, it fills the tires entire internal cavity, making their sealant much more effective against sidewall punctures. Once agitation stops, the Caffélatex mixture will return to a liquid state after about 15 minutes of calmness. In comparison, standard latex mixtures in many sealant brands tend only to coat the outer section of the tire since centrifugal force pushes it out there.

The formula mixture is reasonably stable over time, all of which is dependent on tire type, rims, temperatures, environmental conditions, and application usage. I only tested with a tubeless setup, but they give statistics of Tubular 1-2 years, UST Tubeless tire 4-6 months, Tubeless-ready tire 2-4 months and Tube-type tire 2-3 months.

• Sizes:
  • Bottles (1000 @ $29.99, 250 ml @ $13.50)
  • Pouches (60 ml @ $6.99)
  • Bundled in Caffélatex Tubeless Conversion Kits.
  • 10-liter Pro-Point Cube for teams or shops.

Vitamina CL

The Effetto Mariposa Vitamina CL is a sealant additive made to mix with their Caffélatex sealant. The powder is added directly to the inside of the tires Caffélatex mixture for improved and evener dispersion. The V-CL particles will significantly increase the maximum repairable puncture size while reducing repair time and pressure loss, and the precisely tuned particle size and density offer optimal diffusion within the sealant.

The Vitamina CL is a polymeric powder with exact particle size and density, and it increases the maximum repairable puncture size from 4 – 5 mm to 8 mm (and more), with shorter repairing time and lower pressure loss. Since it was designed for racing applications, more frequent tire valve and sealant maintenance will be required when using the Caffélatex and V-CL combination.

It comes in 200ml re-sealable jar with a 5 ml spoon for $29.99, which is enough additive for 2000ml of Caffélatex.

Installation

Depending on your tire size you’ll need anywhere from 45-250ml of sealant per tire. I was using 27.5″x2.8″ Plus tires, so around 100ml was the magic number for optimal functionality. I poured from the 1000ml bottle into the small cup first, measuring out 50ml each time. The bottle and their website have the specifically recommended quantities to add per the tires specification.

With the tire still mounted on the rim, open it on one side at least 10 cm in length and dump each of the required sealant cupfuls to the interior of the tire cavity, until the maximum quantity has been added.

The V-CL comes with a 5 ml measuring spoon in the jar. They recommended adding 10% of V-CL per sealant volume, so my 100ml of sealant requires two spoonfuls or 10ml of powder.

Add each scoop of V-CL directly into the Caffélatex sealant.

It’s important to pour the V-CL directly onto or into the sealant so that it wets the powder to help it spread evenly. Once done slosh around the mixture, remount/mount the bead and inflate the tire.

Impressions

Installing the Caffélatex and V-CL was a simple chore and the only oddity compared to standard sealant steps is you have to open up the tire’s interior cavity for adding the V-CL powder since it won’t easily pass the valve hole. My tires seated without any problems and I’ve had no leaking issues, and so far the valve cores and valve haven’t clogged up with the Caffélatex and thick pasty V-CL additive. I have gotten quite a few cactus punctures and lot’s of goat heads, and the solution has worked like a charm on those. The foaming system does help to keep all of the tires internal cavity coated with the solution, so it quickly works on sealing up a hole no matter where its located.

To get a better idea of how the  Caffélatex and the V-CL mixture would perform I mounted an old tire and subjected it to multiple piercings and punctures with a punch tool. I started off punching in small holes (1-3mm) and worked my way up to close to their maximum size (4-6mm). The smaller 1-3mm sealed quickly up with just a tad of bubbling. The 4mm bubbled for a while but sealed up without much air escaping. The 5mm and 6mm holes took a bit longer to seal and lost some air, but reinflation brought them back to normal. I rode the tire around briefly, and it seemed to hold air fine, and the tire is still at the same pressure half a day later.

Bottom Line

Caffélatex is a reliable and well-functioning sealant that isn’t too sticky or messy, and when combined with the Vitamina CL sealant additive the pair can repair holes up to 5-8mm in size.  The puncture fixing sealant doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals such as ammonia, and when it’s agitated, it foams up to evenly spread around the interior of the tire.

For further information refer to www.effettomariposa.com