Just went tubeless, Conti GP4000 tubeless ready. 2017, used with inner tubes before. The sidewall is leaking a massive amount of what appears to be tiny perforations. Has anyone experienced this? I’m assuming that there’s not enough sealant in the world to fix a worn tire? (That said, the tires don’t have much mileage, only used for racing. So assuming that it’s an age thing)
Don’t think the 4000 are tubeless ready? Afaik Conti only started doing tubeless with the 5000.
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Yea there’s no tubeless version of the 4000.
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Like others said, there is no tubeless GP4000. It’s likely possible to get any non-tubeless road tire to seat on a tubeless rim and hold air (for a little while), it would be quite dangerous. Not like ‘there is a chance it the bead would blow off on a steep descent under hard braking, etc etc’ but more like ‘this tire is definitely blowing off in less than a mile of riding’ type dangerous.
That being said, let’s assume that was a typo, and you meant GP5000 tubeless tire. It’s not unheard of to have a bit of weeping on the sidewall for the first day or so after you set it up. From memory, Continental and Maxxis MTB tires have done this to me. I’ve never had a road tubeless tire do it, but it’s not necessarily a sign that the tire’s too worn or anything. Tire manufacturers keep weight down and compliance sufficient by minimizing the extra rubber they lay down, and sometimes air can make its way through the casing fabric. The sealant should dry up and stop the leaking in a day or so.
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Yes, Continental tires are notorious for leaking though side walls. There are videos on youtube showing this issue. If you look up Continental instructions, they actually require throughly rubbing the inside with sealant before installing.
I think this is relatively normal in tubeless road setups. My Schwalbe TL tires do the same thing. Check out this article in BikeRumour:
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That article is spot on.
Stans race sealant does this on my mountain bikes. They still work just fine.
Orange Seal doesn’t do the same thing for some reason.
At first I assumed that “4000” was a typo but looking at the tread pattern it does in fact look like you have a 4000 tyre…
In my opinion I don’t believe your tyre is tubeless compatible because there is no such thing as a tubeless compatible 4000 tyre.
What others have said regarding some sealant leaking out of sidewalls even on tubeless tyres being normal is true - but your setup is not safe.
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Definitely a GP4000, just went into the basement to grab a picture to compare. Tire in front is a GP4000, tire in back a GP5000TL.
So, yeh, either switch to the GP5000TL, or clean out the sealant and slap tubes back in. My GP5000TLs don’t weep. My 29er MTB’s tires do though, Specialized 2Bliss, but don’t seem to do it as much with Orange vs the Stan’s I used before.
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Thank you all, it turns out that this was 100% a user error. They were GP4000s. I changed to GP5000 and now they work perfectly. Thank you again (and for not scolding me, albeit deservedly, for this embarrassing error).
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It’s not like the rest of us have never made face-palming mistakes, I’m happy if I go a couple of days without one 
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