I have installed a new tubeless tyre and changed the tape since I didn’t hear a pop but now no matter what I try I hear and feel air coming from 2 little holes in my rim. Am I being to critical, I retaped 3 times already, tried double taping but still air is coming from my rim
How do you know it’s the tape? Valves often leak for a while. When you say “2 little holes”, are they spoke holes and the same two holes after each taping. How much sealant are you using?
These are the holes I am talking about, probably there to equalise pressure of the inside if the rim
Ahh, those are drain holes I think, and shouldn’t need to be taped. Are you unable to get the tire to hold air at all? Or is it a slow leak? Have you tried different tires?
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Have you submerged your wheel in water or sprayed soapy water around the bead and valves just to rules those out as well?
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I feel the air coming out of those holes. I just that was it always like this or have I become to critical. I haven put in sealant yet
If you haven’t put sealant in, your wheels are not sealed. Sealant is what makes the tape, the beads, and valves air tight. And it may take some time. Often wheels won’t seal up for 24-48 hours after putting in the sealant. Often with very supple tires, you’ll need to top off the sealant one or two times before they hold air for good.
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If you have air seeping out of those holes, you need to redo your tape or clean up the tape/valve hole. Air is finding its way under the tape somewhere in the tape job to the holes. If this is happening after adding sealant, then yeah, redo the tape.
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Those holes are definitely meant to be for water. My guess is that your tape is letting air out through the sides, which is making its way into the rim and coming out through the weep holes. I hate to say it, but my guess is it needs another tape job.
Edit: DMC beat me to it
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One other thing you can do. Re-tape, then put in a tube and pump it VERY high. As high as your rim is designed for. This will have the effect of pushing the tape down firmly and evenly. Let it sit for a bit, then remove the tube and go tubeless.
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no sealant yet
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Simply put, there is still air getting past your tape. It could be at any point where air is getting under the tape, making its way past a spoke hole or at the valve and into the rim. That is why air is coming out of the drain holes. You’ll certainly need to retape. A good practice is to use two layers, slightly staggered laterally. That way there will be plenty of tape covering the spoke holes. I’ve seen this happen before. The fix is easy once you understand what is actually happening. Do not use sealant in this circumstance to attempt to seal the leak. You will get potentially get sealant into the rim where it is not meant to be and there will be no way to get it out.
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BE VERY CAREFUL. This has nothing to do with sealant. This is either tape OR you have cracks in the inner wall of the rim. If you try to go hard on the air with say an air compressor or even a pump, you can crack your wheel from the inside and it will be ruined. Make sure you get that tape down well as air is not meant to get inside the wheel cavity.
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Air is getting under the tape, into a spoke hole or at the valve, and is coming out of those drain holes.
Unless its a lot of air and stops the tyre from inflating, I’d just add sealant, it’ll find the gaps and fix it.
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I had the same with new Vision Metron rims. It required another layer of tape to get it to pop and seat the beads. I thought 2 layers was enough. 3rd layer worked like a charm/as it should.
@DMC highlighted this. A simple fix.
I bought new rim tape (different brand and 2mm wider), cleaned my rim as well as I could and still air from those drain holes. I am giving up and will just add sealant and see how it holds up, though I am grateful for this frustrating experience as it meanf I didn’t go out riding today but put my bike on the trainer where my front derailleur happened to fall apart. Luckily this meant I could find all the unique parts and buy the missing generic c-clips
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What a frustrating experience. Hope the sealant fixes it.
Frustrating yes but a blessing in disguise, the consequences would have been so much worse if I had gone out… i pumped up to 9 bar and there’s no more air leaking, though I didn’t hear a pop either after installing the airliner
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I have a set of wheels that don’t make “pop/ping” sounds either. I’d check carefully that the tyre is seated correctly (there is often a little ridge or strip near the rim), then leave it overnight to see if it stays fully inflated. If yes, it should be good to go.
