On tubeless setups, it’s definitely best practice to keep an eye on how much sealant is left in the tires.
With a road tire, I don’t really see any need for more than 30ml of sealant at a time, but I certainly don’t let it dry up either. The only reason I would need more than 30ml is if I got multiple flats on a single ride.
It’s easy enough to pull the valve cores while I’m cleaning my bike and just check the fluid level, there’s really not any excuse for letting it run low.
Of course, this all is complication over just running tubes. So I totally understand why some folks swear off tubeless. I’m sometimes not even convinced it’s worthwhile on the road.
Sounds like a flaw in the tire to me. They shouldn’t bubble sealant out the whole sidewall. Like I said above, I’ve only had two tires do that (same brand/model, bought at same time), and both ended up being returned. At most, I get a small number of bubbles on the sidewall that seal off immediately.
Tires used recently… Vittoria, Bontrager, Maxxis, and Continental. None leaked from the sidewall like you desecribe.
If its not the tape or valve, the rim needs to be completely clean IME. Annoyingly I hit a pothole in a paceline a few weeks back and it unseated, a CO2 cannister never re-seated it but cleaning the rim/tyre with some soapy Muc Off bike cleaner allowed my 5000TR to seat instantly with a track pump and its not lost any significant air since. I had originally planned to use the muc off to identify the leak point, which it did but it also solved it.
In the past though I’ve had to take a tyre completely off the rim, clean the rim and reinstall.
I’m heavy handed with the Orange Seal. I’ll start with 60ml. I don’t see any downside and I don’t care about the extra weight.
With the 5000TL though, the sealant lasted a long time because of the inner butyl layer on the tire. I’m guessing that with the new tire, sealant will go faster because the tire is more porous.
I am sorry about misunderstanding. It’s not sealant, it’s air that bubbles out when I put the tire in the water. I will make a video tomorrow. Today I was riding again and lost half the air in about three hours - from 70 psi to 35 psi.
Muc Off is like throwing a little party for yourself in your garage.
A good reason for not using Orange for the first fill is that is tints your tire orange. Buy the color that matches your bike.
Reserve = Blue
Orange = Orange
Pirelli = yellow
WTB = brown
Yeah sealant will take care of that eventually, but as others have said it might take a few rides and you might have to top it up a few times as the first doses of sealant may get fully absorbed into the pores.
I’ve always set my wheels over a bucket or something that allows them to rest horizontally for a bit and then flip over to do the other side. Might not be necessary, but I think it helps the sealant absorb into the side walls faster.
Haha yup. I do something similar but grab the wheel by the hub and give it a good spin first.
Another anecdotal experience here…when I mounted up my gravel tires a couple weeks ago, as soon as I pumped them up and seated the bead, big, steady hiss of air. Did the tubeless dance, hiss went away in less than 3 seconds, and they’ve been fine since.
I’ve had tires with porous sidewalls that never stopped weeping. I wonder if scrubbing the inside of the tire with soap and water first would help. Sometimes there is a slick film of something on the inside of tires. I wonder if it prevents adhesion?
I also read one time where team EF was pre-treating the inside of their tires with a coating of sealant (painting it on). Something like that might allow the sealant to dry nicely on the inside of the tire.
TRs should not leak like this. I haven’t observed any unusual air loss with several of them.
Tip from the old days when there was no tubeless Race King. With sealant in the tire ride with minimal air pressure several times around the block. Minimal air pressure! Sidewalls will stretch and open up for the sealant. A little more sealant can help.
Yes, that could be the case. I think I should have wiped the inside with isopropyl alcohol. I will try this next time I install the tire.
Yes, I’ve seen a video when someone did this with a Continental MTB tire, probably it was Race King, which sryke is talking about.
Found it:
Yesterday it went from 73 psi to almost flat, today it went to 18 psi overnight. So maybe it will improve, but it takes waaaay too long. I think washing the inside with isopropyl alcohol before installation could be a good idea.
No no no no… No.
