Tubeless: Do I need to remove the tire when replacing sealant?

Equipment
21

Then just toss them in the trash and don’t waste your time cleaning the inside of your tires.

I disagree here. When I’ve removed my tires after many top ups and drying cycles, there is a layer of latex glued to the bottom. I think the accumulated layers does provide flat protection and also gives any liquid latex something better to stick to if you do get a puncture. I also wash the slick film out of the inside of my tires before I put in sealant so that the sealant sticks better.

Ok, I did clean some gravel tires out once. After I took out all the old dried latex and installed fresh sealant, it was like my tires were Swiss cheese with a hundred tiny holes that were all now leaking. When you rip the bandaid off, you get all those holes back.

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22

We’re going to have to disagree then. That latex is not providing any strength or flat protection whatsoever - it’s nowhere near the durability of the tire itself and isn’t stopping anything that’s punctured the tire itself. 100% False sense of security. Add to that, old sealant is a pain for clogging valves, I’ve had it be a pain for getting a bead seated 100%, and I’ve never had a tire with new sealant that wasn’t 100% sealed and holding air / sealant in under a minute (seconds?) regardless of how much I cleaned it out.

And, if you have a tire that’s swiss cheese with hundreds of tiny holes, that’s a tire you should be replacing.

(I’m also not saying you have to blast it completely clean and strip it bare, but all the big stuff comes off fast)

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23

If these really work… but don’t they make seating a lot harder because I can imagine that without a presta core airflow is best

24

Add more sealant once it gets low. How long this takes depends on things like environment temperature and specific sealant used.

You don’t need to clean out the old sealant. By the time I wear a tire out (8-12k km) there’s still negligible residue.

You don’t need to remove the tire. You can either take the valve core out and inject through that with a syringe (Luer lock syringes fit quite well on most presta valves provided the syringe is short enough to not hit your hub), or just unseat a few inches of tire, pour some sealant in, turn the wheel 180deg, reseat the bead, then reinflate.

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25

I will occasionally use thicker sealant on first application, but regular sealant for top off.

You need to add sealant as needed, not quarterly. For me that is monthly in the warm months.

26

Same here - every 3-4 weeks in the summer and not at all during our snowy winter.

When I lived in NM and it was a dry 100F every day I was toping up weekly on my gravel bike. Bike was also stored in a hot garage.

I do the shake test. If I can’t hear sealant sloshing around and it’s been a few weeks I’ll top up. Better safe than sorry.

2 Likes
27

Are you aware the 5000 S TR and AS TR are totally different than the original TL tyre?

28

Yes. Still, going through the valve with Orange Seal is easy and zero mess for me.

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29

Which tyre do you run? ?

30

Original GP5tl (I have a stash). The STRs seem to only last maybe 5-6k.

I think most of the variation people report with tire longevity relates to the predominant aggregate used in asphalt wherever they live. Variations in aggregate particle type/size/shape can really impact tire wear.

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31

That’s the preferred way for me too.

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32

Someone above said they had to clean out their tires because their valve stem would get clogged.

This is a job for an old spoke. Run it through the valve stem when you top up and then clean your valve insert while you are there.

The downside of tubeless is these 500 little tricks you need to learn … usually the hard way. :slight_smile:

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33

I have lots of wheel sets. They don’t all get spun on a regular basis so the sealant can pool. I’ll remove that chunk but not the thin layer around the rest of the inside.

That’s Orange Seal regular for you. :man_shrugging:t2:

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34

Just my useless 2 cents…but this Tubeless & Sealant thing sounds like a total pain in the ass and makes gluing on tubulars tires look like a dream.

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35

Road yes, but there isn’t a chance in hell I’d run tubes for gravel or MTB.

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36

This is what I’m trying to work out :rofl:

Ran tubes for years, new bike came with tubeless. If it’s just a case of putting in sealant through the valve every few months, no biggie. If I’m taking tires off though :exploding_head:

37

Orange Seal Regular user. From experience, this time of year I top off once a month. Lots of dry heat this time of year, afternoons at 32C / 90F. Pics from Saturday…

Remove valve core and use dip stick to check on sealant level:

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The dip stick came with a bottle of Orange Seal. Do you see the dip stick above? Here it is after pulling out of front tire:

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Thats down from 100% (~50ml) to 20% (~10ml). Time to add 40ml sealant thru valve stem. The rear tire was empty ~0ml.

I use a metal rod to clean the valve stem:

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Spent a total of about 15 minutes adding sealant and cleaning up. Once a month in the hot & dry days of summer.

5 Likes
38

I’ve always just used the syringe to suck the old stuff out and replace with new.

39

Very brave doing that on a carpet :sweat_smile:

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40

Which syringe do you have?