Anyone ever experienced this before? Not what you want to discover the day before an Ironman!
Discovered after I rode an hour home from the shop and they topped up the sealant. See photos below, it’s leaking all through the tyre where the tread meets the sidewall. I know Corsa’s are made slightly different to most tyres in that the tread is glued onto the casing.
In all areas where the sealant was coming out the round corner of the tyre was square tread and very bumpy, like there are either pockets or air or sealant in there.
Wow. My guess is that there has been a puncture and it’s delaminated the tread? Strange that the sealant has found its way all the way around the tyre though.
I’ve inspected the entire tire after I cleaned most of the sealant away and it’s bloody impossible to find any holes. But clearly the sealant is getting through somewhere.
I also tried pulling the treat off the casing and found more bubbles of sealant!
Usually the tread cap is molded on where that seam is. This is why old dry rotted tires start cracking there.
If sealant is getting through, then air surely would.
If these are new tires, I’d call the manufacturer as they may have a batch issue (and would likely want to know). If they’re old, I’d argue they’re just dry rotted.
My Corsas do this all the time, usually right after putting fresh sealant in them. I’ve still never run mine full tubeless. I use latex tubes with sealant in them.
It did seem to be worse when they first introduced the TR Corsas (2019ish I think) than the ones I ran last year. Haven’t bought a set yet this year. Still running winter tires.
I’ve never had a performance problem because of it though. Just make sure they’re up to pressure before each ride. As long as there is still liquid sealant in them (and the puncture isn’t too big) the seal right up during a ride.
I’ve had brand new Corsa Speeds with new sealant seeping through the sidewall and the tread intersection before. I just let them sit for a day or two and then pumped them to pressure again and they seemed to be fine and the sealant stopped seeping.
I’ve had Mavic tires do the same - well sealant leak between layers of rubber and cause bubbles. Mavic were great as it appeared to be a wide scale problem and they replaced with brand new redesigned tires, I just had to prove I’d destroyed old ones. Definitely worth checking with Vittoria.
You have to love the internet Seems like we have a 50/50 split of yes this is completely normal to have sealant leak through the sidewall and the other half saying it’s a faulty tyre.
I’m perplexed as to how it’s getting through the sidewall? Wouldn’t have thought it would be a porous material.
I guess what concerned me more was the sealant or air bubbles that formed all the under the tread and made it a square tyre
GP5000TL successfully got me through a 70.3 2:18 bike split
As @kevistraining said above - the sealant and air will be leaking through the central seam of the tyre, which is under the thread. It looks like the thread isn’t glued on fully, so it can also creep out from underneath.
I think from the scale of that problem, it is a faulty tyre. It might seal up if you let it sit for a while, but you’ll have pockets if dry sealant under the thread, which will make it bumpy.
Maybe if the Corsas are known to do that, one option would be to brush the inside of the tyre with sealant first (along the seam), let it dry, and then install it and fill with more sealant.
It could also be that the type of sealant makes a difference, maybe some desolve the glue a bit. I’d ask Vittoria what they recommend.
I’m going to move to Conti’s anyway or maybe try Schwalbe’s. The front tyre actually has worse sections where the tread is coming away but there is no leaking. Barely an issue on the faulty rear I took off.
Yeah, that tire is trashed. It looks like a manufacturer issue. I’d still talk to them.
If the sealant is leaking into the tire, it changes the entire construction of the tire. The spring rate of the tire will change and be uneven, and depending how it’s distributed in the tire, will be out of balance.
If you took that tire, minus sealant, filled it up with air, sprayed it with soapy water, and saw bubbles everywhere, you would bin it. It’s not acceptable with a car tire and shouldn’t be for a bike tire.
Below is the worst of it where there is sealant or air between the casing and thread. Still can’t figure out it got in. That’s where the tyre was basically square.
Probably a casing that bleeds and tread that wasn’t glued properly creating room for the sealant to collect. Really a whole mess of problems with that tire and awful look for Vitoria IMO
I’m glad both me and the lbs couldn’t get the Vittoria Corsa to seat. It was just too soft. We gave up and fitted a 5000TL which seated instantly.
Seems like we have a 50/50 split of yes this is completely normal to have sealant leak through the sidewall and the other half saying it’s a faulty tyre.
