Tyre sealant: check regularly ~4months

[HDW]

Sorry for the bad spelling above - typing on my mobile phone here :-)

[Bianchi]

My valve broke over the weekend, and as I pulled the tyre from the rim to insert a tube (only option I had) I also found the sam "rock" in my tyre. There was still looaads of luquid sealin in there though. Can it be that the bomb caused it when I tried to inflate the tyre? I use Stans

 

Could be. I see more and more people recommending that you not use bombs.... thing is, it's liquid (compressed) carbon dioxide... you ever feel how cold the CO2 is that comes out? My guess is that chances are it slowly freezes the sealant.

[HDW]

Yeah, you def have a point there. Was quite surprised when I found it. What other way is best to inflate those thin valves on the trails with then? A little hand pump suurely wont work?

[Roneblack46]

What I read in a bike magazine recently is that if the sealant has an ammonia base it can harden when using a CO2 cartridge.

 

Seems you need to get a sealant that is not ammonia based.

 

I believe Stan's is one that's compatible with CO2 cartridges.

 

I have Stan's but have not yet used a CO2 cartridge. "touch wood"

 

Hoping that it is so....

[HDW]

Awesome advise, thanks.

 

How do you inflate your tyres? At the garage, etc?

 

My tyres needed to be inflated almost weekly, so either my LBS didn't seal them as well as the could have, or can that be normal?

[Roneblack46]

I Check my pressures before every ride and use a foot pump if air needed.

 

"touch wood" - never had a puncture yet that required a CO2 top up.

[Li Mu Bai]

Bombs dont cause that. Its a pretty normal occurrence as the latex 'bits' in the sealent collect together. a lot of the latex bits binds itself to the inside of the tire, and some collects as these little aliens blobs. quite harmless. you have to keep topping up your tire sealent at regular intervals for it to remain effective and seal punctures.

[An3]

I've had a similar experience a week ago.

Sealant dried up and left residue on inside of the tyre.

With what can I safely clean the tyre? or must I just leave it?

[Li Mu Bai]

My valve broke over the weekend, and as I pulled the tyre from the rim to insert a tube (only option I had) I also found the sam "rock" in my tyre. There was still looaads of luquid sealin in there though. Can it be that the bomb caused it when I tried to inflate the tyre? I use Stans

Having loads of white sealent sloshing about does not help, its the small little bits (looks like fine pale yellow breadcrumbs or sawdust) thats the active ingredient. as you use the wheel these bits adhere to the inner walls of the tire, or make those álien' blobs over time.

If you dont have enough of these little bits in the white liquid, the hole you are trying to seal will not have anything to fill it and stop the puncture. Hence add to your sealent regularily and make sure you shake the sealent despenser bottle properly beforehand so that the bits that have collected at the bottom of the despenser are properly dispersed.

 

The valve breaking could be for many reasons, a rock tossed up and causing it to fracture, a faulty valve, a bad installation, or perhaps very vigourous pumping style that caused the metal to fatigue. I dont think the cold flow of the co2 from the bomb would do it. perhaps a metalurgist can throw more light on this.

 

I have used both Stans and Joes, no problems with either, they are very similar in function and make up.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Li Mu Bai

[Li Mu Bai]

I've had a similar experience a week ago.

Sealant dried up and left residue on inside of the tyre.

With what can I safely clean the tyre? or must I just leave it?

Just leave it. its an absolute mission to try peel it off, and its quite harmless. Nobody checks in there anyway so you are safe from the 'style' police.

[BenDL]

Could be. I see more and more people recommending that you not use bombs.... thing is, it's liquid (compressed) carbon dioxide... you ever feel how cold the CO2 is that comes out? My guess is that chances are it slowly freezes the sealant.

 

This is an urban legend that won't be killed off...

There is no proof that using CO2 affect the sealant.

[Li Mu Bai]

Awesome advise, thanks.

 

How do you inflate your tyres? At the garage, etc?

 

My tyres needed to be inflated almost weekly, so either my LBS didn't seal them as well as the could have, or can that be normal?

Yeah, you def have a point there. Was quite surprised when I found it. What other way is best to inflate those thin valves on the trails with then? A little hand pump suurely wont work?

Bombs work fine, you even get 25g bigger ones now for 29" wheels.

 

small hand pumps work but take forever, and you can forget it if the sidewall/rim seal has been broken. Then its time to fit a spare tube and go conventional for the rest of the ride. Also makes sense to carry a spare tube that has slime installed (slightly heavier), otherwise you may puncture 5 m down the track again, and have a bigger problem, ending up walking back.

Get a hand pump with a big volume to make tube pumping quicker on the mtb.

[Cassie]

Having loads of white sealent sloshing about does not help, its the small little bits (looks like fine pale yellow breadcrumbs or sawdust) thats the active ingredient. as you use the wheel these bits adhere to the inner walls of the tire, or make those álien' blobs over time.

If you dont have enough of these little bits in the white liquid, the hole you are trying to seal will not have anything to fill it and stop the puncture. Hence add to your sealent regularily and make sure you shake the sealent despenser bottle properly beforehand so that the bits that have collected at the bottom of the despenser are properly dispersed.

 

The valve breaking could be for many reasons, a tock tossed up and causing it to fracture, a faulty valve, a bad installation, or perhaps very vigourous pumping style that caused the metal to fatigue. I dont think the cold flow of the co2 from the bomb would do it. perhaps a metalurgist can throw more light on this.

 

I have used both Stans and Joes, no problems with either, they are very similar in function and make up.

 

Spot on!!

[Cassie]

Pump it hard and check the tyre in the pool to see where it leaks, make sure the sealant gets to that spot. Sometimes it's just at an odd place that the sealant doesn't reach during 'normal riding' - just my humble 2c worth ...

 

Jip..also agree...

 

Furthermore...thnik about it...if you pump your tyre extra hard the first few times....the pressure will open all those pinholes /microscopic pores that the manufacturing process can't prevent....and these then fill with the liquid sealant. After a while, when returning to "normal" tyre pressures...the tyre is not stretched so much + the little pores has filled & sealed with liquid sealant and "relaxes" to to a state where they will not be leaking any more..../this can vary from tyre make to make as well as from tubeless (i.e much less of these pores) to non tubeless (has pores like a sieve!!) which will be much harder to seal at firts, but theoretically not impossible to do.

[Li Mu Bai]

My tyres needed to be inflated almost weekly, so either my LBS didn't seal them as well as the could have, or can that be normal?

 

air leaking out of a tubeless installation is usually the result of a poor tubeless installation. it takes a bit of time to do properly, and often the LBS could not be bothered or are too busy. Joes and Stans websites have good videos of sealing the tires properly.

 

The rubber of the tires often have tiny holes in the sidewalls that need to be sealed up properly. you can pipoint any bigger leaks by immersing parts of the wheel and tire in the bath or pool, but this wont reveal the very small air leaks.

 

take your wheel off, pump it up hard to 4bar. Hold it flat horizontal in front of your chest, allow the furthest edge of the wheel to drop 5 degrees and shake it forward an back slowly for 20 counts. keeping the wheel in that position, turn it 10-15 degrees clockwise and repeat the 20 shakes. go all the way round the wheel till you get back to your start point.

turn the wheel over and repeat the process for the other side. this ensures sealent is driven into all the small sidewall leaks and bead/rim connection.

let some of the air out and repump to your desired pressure and go ride. hope this helps.

[HDW]

Thanks for all the advise!