Anyone have tricks on how they change their tubeless tires without making a mess. I see people talking abut switching out tires frequently, but I install a single pair and leave them on until they’re dead only refreshing the sealant occasionally. This of course means I don’t tailor my tires to specific riding conditions.
I haven’t figured out how to do it without making a mess not to mention the hassle of getting the tire on for some manufacturers and getting the tire seated. I do have an air compressor which at least makes the last part a bit easier.
Get a turkey baster and an empty plastic water bottle. Break the bead on the the mounted tire and hang the tire/rim from a workstand (or whatever). Use the turkey baster to suck the sealant out and shoot it into the bottle. Use a paper towel to wipe the inside of the mounted tire to remove the remaining sealant. Unmount the tire and set aside. Mount the new tire most of the way, just leave 1/4 of the bead unseated and dump the sealant from the bottle in. Top off with fresh sealant as needed. Complete mounting the bead, set it with the air compressor, insert valve core, and pump up. Ride.
The only advantage to this is it also measures the sealant you pull out, although the right turkey badger probably does this. I’d definitely measure before putting it in the new tire. There’s been plenty of times I’ve put 4oz in a tire and when I removed the tire a month later it had 3oz, with no punctures, because of what stuck to the tire/bead.
Changing tires around between wheelsets is a breeze now. I’ve probably swapped tires around 10+ times this year. I can probably do a full tire swap in 5-10 mins assuming the tires directional arrow is obvious (ahem, thundero hd) and I don’t need to use my air compressor.
I go outside where I have hose, take the tire off and hose off the tire and wheel with the sealant going into the gravel, grass, dirt, or whatever. I use Stan’s so nothing environmentally untoward. Getting a tire to catch air can be tricky. One thing that can help is putting tube in a new tire on the wheel, inflating it, and letting it sit for awhile/over-night to shape it correctly after it having been folded for however long. Other than that, an inexpensive air compressor with a tank (~$70 Walmart Robot or human?) usually does the trick. The tank is necessary so that it can deliver a high quantity of air very quickly. Take the valve core out to maximize air flow and get the beads to catch air and seat.
That’s like buying more feet for a person with a shoe collection problem. I do OK with road tires, but my offroad tire collection is a bit out of control. Besides all the variety of courses and conditions, I try not to race on tires that are too old or have too many patches. So, they kind of have a lifecycle as race tires >> pit wheel tires >> training/riding tires. Besides training wheels/tires, it’s rare a set of tires would ever stay on a wheel for more than a few weeks. I can swap a set of tires in 5-10 minutes and it’s not much different then putting on a freshly waxed chain for me. I wouldn’t want to count how many off road tires I have in the garage right now, but it’s certainly over 50 and that’s after “cleaning house” last winter to get rid of the old stuff that was just gathering dust. Here’s a couple bins worth -
Thank you so much to everyone who replied. I got some great ideas and made a few purchases to try to facilitate the whole thing.
Part of the issue maybe that I am using Silca sealant which is the previous iteration can’t be injected through the valve. Therefore, some of the techniques might not work.
