Continental GP 5000S TR leaking air

Why? I figured out how to make it work. Yes, it’s a lot of hassle to seal them, but I like these tires. I used GP for 15 years, since GP 4000. They have great traction even on a wet surface. Also I think they are not faulty. I think Continental just did not provide proper instructions. Note that on the link they bundled with Muc-Off sealant. Maybe it would work better than Continental one.

They aren’t usually that much hassle. I know lots of people the use them, and nobody had that much trouble. You might have just got a bad one. It happens.

Could also be the sealant. I don’t have experience with the Conti one, but some seem more trouble than others. I’ve always used Stan’s, never had an issue. My mate used Orange Seal, also fine.

Somewhat related : five days ago I installed two new tires on my hookless Zipp 303s wheels : the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel M 700x45 (replacing 40mm tires).

I think I did everything by the book : cleaned the rims before installing, installed the tires with a nice ‘popping’ sound, added a good amount of sealant, pumped them up to the maximum advised pressure, lay them to rest on a bucket and turning them over multiple times and finally installed the wheels in my frame.

Here’s what’s been happening in the following days : there seems to be little to no loss of pressure. Both tires keep their pressure. But small drops of sealant appear on several random spots along the rim/tire-joint (both wheels). I’ve wiped these spots clean every day the past couple of days, but the small drops just keep appearing. Funny thing being : no apparent loss of tire pressure.

I’ve had no such issue with my previous tires.

Should I worry? Did I do something wrong? (perhaps added too much sealant?)

If sealant is coming out, then there is some hole in there. If it does not loose pressure quickly, I would not be worries, sealant should fix this. You see, in my case there was no sealant coming out, just air bubbles. Clearly there is something going on on molecular level due to the tire material, which has terrific properties BTW - low rolling resistance, lightweight, and provides great grip.

I don’t think you need to worry. I raced an entire season of CX on tires that behaved that way. I read somewhere that some tires are like that and it gets better or worse with humidity and temperature changes. My tires also didn’t lose air and the sealant still did it’s job; it’s just that the sidewalls looked like they were sweating and that’s kind of gross. :slight_smile:

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FWIW, it took 3 or 4 days for a new set of Specialized Turbo Pros to get a good coating of sealant and stop deflating overnight. This was wheels off the bike, sitting sideways so the sealant was “directly” on the sidewalls.

My problem was also solved by doing an overnight on a bucket sideways for each side. They hold air very well now.

Certainly more work than the 5000 TL but if it’s just 2 extra nights of pretty much doing nothing, it can be managed.

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Every time I read these topics, the answer is often that all roads lead back to “Orange Seal”.

I’ve tried TruckerCo, Stan’s, and Orange Seal. I’ve had good luck with the last two. The first wasn’t great. No wonder it was cheap. Ultimately, I realized that I didn’t read the instructions correctly and TruckerCo required like 90-120ml of sealant.

I used that Truckerco on a porous tire and one thing that was interesting is that better and better sealing was achieved through several drying/top up cycles.

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Man… I must have a habit of buying some crap tires as I don’t think I’ve ever had a tubeless setup that didn’t require the bucket method or something very similar.

No special install required on Pirelli, Specialized S-Works, and Vittoria N.EXT. Install, go for a ride, finished.

So I missed out the ‘S’ :joy:

Ive got both on my wheels I forget which way they are round (no pun intended). Maybe a 5000S TR on the front and a 5000 TL on the rear. Fitting wise and holding air long term for me there’s not been any noticeable difference.

I recently installed a pair of Conti 5000s TR 28s on HED RC JET Black wheels. Previously, I had tried Conti 5000 TLs and found them so very difficult to mount. Not so with the new TR version. They went on by hand with no soapy water levers etc. Used them for a week then took them off and reinstalled with a tube just to see how it would go if I needed a roadside repair. Again, no difficulty. They initially did need a blast of compressed air to seat, but after that week they inflated with a track pump when I took the tube back out.
Using Stans regular sealant they lost a bit of air for two days or so then that settled down and stopped excessively leaking.

So my experience vis a vis Conti 5000 TRs on HED wheels has been quite positive.

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Not sure if things are any different in Germany, but in the US this means absolutely nothing. Any random seller can put any item up for sale and if they list the brand as “Continental” then Amazon will show it in the “Continental Store”.

Just to relate 1 more n=1 experience here. Just put a set of 5000s TR on my carbon wheels. Went on easy. Aired right up with a floor pump. Used Stans. Held air for several days. No issues, no drama. I suspect something is wrong with the sealant or tires for the OP.

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Bringing this back up… Ive had issues with a GP5000 and a Terra speed. Seems like they are making the bead diameter ever so slightly large. I wasn’t able to mount a tire using the usual tricks; I was able using more advanced tricks. The tire would then just lose air over about 3-4 hours.

The solution was to add a 2nd or 3rd layer of tape to give the tire more of a foundation.

BTW - Ive been experimenting with this tape. Seems like it might do the trick. Cheaper and seems to withstand 80psi of road bike tire air OK. https://amzn.to/3MK9mxh (affiliate link)

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Sometimes the issue may be related to the thin tubeless tape. I like to use thicker tape, the DT Swiss is my favourite.

Agreed - the sealant used makes so much difference, I’ve moved to Silca and it’s even better honestly. Get the standard sealant and the top up without the carbon. Fitted 3 new sets of tyres in the last couple of weeks and all of them have sealed up first go and lost less than 10PSI overnight. Now lose 2-3 over 48hours.

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I installed a second tyre yesterday and it worked much better. As I explained earlier in the thread the procedure should be like this.

  1. Wash the inside of the tyre with a dishwashing liquid and a brush. Then wipe with a towel. Maybe wipe with white spirit.

  2. Pour some sealant inside and rub it into the walls with a brush.

  3. Install the tyre, add ~40ml of sealant and pump it up.

  4. Shake the tyre well, put on a bucket and turn from side to side every several hours.

This way it forked the first time.

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I wanted to share an update about the first tyre that I used since May. It started leaking air and this time I had to install a tube. The picture is below. As you can see it shows signs of wear, but wear indicators are still OK. Usually I ride it until the protective layer starts to show. But this tyre has no protective layer. The problem however is the part that I indicated with arrows. This line, which I believe is an overlap of two layers of fabric as it goes only on the right side, which they used to make the tyre lighter, is exposed to friction. The line was noticeable when I installed the tyre, but now the rubber is worn here and it started bubbling air in some place. I am not even sure if I should continue using it.

Sealant is coming out along that area?

Are you still using this Conti sealant? I’d try something different.

For a long time I used a poor sealant and suffered tires losing air over time. Then I switched to Stans on my gravel/mtb bikes and Orange Seal on the road and haven’t had any of these problems.

Also, don’t be shy with the sealant. Trying to get away with 20 or 30ml may not add enough sealant to the tire, especially one that is letting air in. That will quickly cause evaporation. I start off a new road tires with 90ml and will top up with 60ml during the season.

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