Vittoria tyre Gumwall Discoloration -What to do?

[joelmalm]

I recently bought a pair of Vittoria Open Corsa EVO SC Clincher tyres.
The gumwall version.

After my first race with them, i cleaned my bike with the same all natural soap I´ve used for my bikes the last ten years.

Now though, the thin layer of something resembling bees-wax on the sidewall
disappeared and the colour and texture changes to a solid brighter beige/yellow instead of the original orangey-yellow colour.
The tyre now look like the fake gumwall tyres you see on cheap city bikes..

What I really want to know is if this thin layer of wax (?) was there as a water-repellant, since the casing is made up of cotton/latex.

Anybody else had this issue?

I´ve contacted the seller which hasn´t solved my problem yet.

[Louis]

These are racing wheels, right? Not show bike wheels. In that case, forget about what they look like and ride them hard. They're tools, not jewels.

Caveat: I'm not a racer, but I have seen a few over the years.

[Liv2RideHard]

Same thing happened to mine. The gum does not last forever especially if they are your primary wheels. Mine no longer are the same color as the gum color has faded a bit. The gum walls you see on the pro's bikes always look so "gummy" b/c they are constantly getting new tubulars glued up so they always look fresh.

[joelmalm]

These are racing wheels, right? Not show bike wheels. In that case, forget about what they look like and ride them hard. They're tools, not jewels.

Caveat: I'm not a racer, but I have seen a few over the years.

Yes, these are racing tyres and I treat them as such.. :)
My concern is that they now won´t be as water-repplant as before.

And yes, I know they´re tools, but I do care a tad bit about the looks aswell..
Looking fast is half the work!:)

[joelmalm]

Same thing happened to mine. The gum does not last forever especially if they are your primary wheels. Mine no longer are the same color as the gum color has faded a bit. The gum walls you see on the pro's bikes always look so "gummy" b/c they are constantly getting new tubulars glued up so they always look fresh.

Yes, these are my primary tyres. And I guess you´re right that the pro´s bikes will always look a bit more fresh than mine..

Like I tried to explain before is that yes, looks are one of my concerns,
But most importantly, Is my tyres worse now without the latex coating on the sidewall?
Can you re-apply this in some way?
Or just don´t bother?

[happycampyer]

You could apply a sealant on the sidewalls—the most common sealants used by 'cross racers seem to be AquaSeal and McNett tent sealant. I've used AqualSeal on tires with gumwalls but after reading up on McNett's, I might try that the next time I need to seal a tire.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Should I be worrying about sealing my road tires? I've never done this in the past (Vittoria & Conti tubulars; various clinchers).

[joelmalm]

You could apply a sealant on the sidewalls—the most common sealants used by 'cross racers seem to be AquaSeal and McNett tent sealant. I've used AqualSeal on tires with gumwalls but after reading up on McNett's, I might try that the next time I need to seal a tire.

Having a read right now on Mcnetts. Seams to be the stuff that I need.

Thanks!

[zmudshark]

I use liquid latex.

[happycampyer]

I use liquid latex.From what I understand, that's basically what McNett's is. It seems that there are several advantages of liquid latex over AquaSeal.

To FastforaSlowGuy, this is an issue for tires where the sidewalls have exposed casings.

[joelmalm]

I use liquid latex.

What brand do you use? Any online seller perhaps?
Latex seems to be the stuff that covered the sidewalls in the first place.

When It comes to Mcnetts Tent sealant and silicone grease I found these three products:

Tent-Sure-Tent-Floor-Sealant
http://www.mcnett.com/Tent-Sure-Tent-Floor-Sealant-P169.aspx

Or:
Sil-Net-Silicone-Seam-Sealer
http://www.mcnett.com/Sil-Net-Silicone-Seam-Sealer-P143.aspx

Or:
Silicone-Grease
http://www.mcnett.com/McNett-Silicone-Grease-P253.aspx

Will stroll down to my local hiking/outdoor store today and have a chat and see what they have in stock.

[happycampyer]

I'm hoping 11.4 will swoop in and describe the biochemical properties of the various types of sealants, but it seems that the most common sealant used (and sold by places like cyclocrossworld.com and worldclasscycles.com) is urethane (AquaSeal), with liquid latex (Tent-Sure) growing in popularity. I haven't heard of anyone using silicone sealant on tires, and silicone grease might be useful on O-rings that seal battery compartments in heart rate monitors, cyclocomputers, etc., but I wouldn't put it on tires.

The urethane seals the sidewalls and protects the casing, but apparently some people still have issues with rot, and the suspicion is that water penetrates through tiny gaps in the sealant (say, near the edge of the rim), and then gets trapped underneath the urethane so the tires end up rotting. The liquid latex may not be quite as protective, but perhpas the fact that it is a bit more permeable (latex is what the inner tube of nicer tubulars is made of, and air tends to escape from them at a faster rate that butyl tubes, so this makes sense), allows the sidewalls to air out a bit better, but this could all be conjecture. Another benefit of the liquid latex that some people note is that it doesn't affect the suppleness of the sidewalls as much as urethane does. This for me is the main reason I want to try it on the next go-round.

[joelmalm]

I'm hoping 11.4 will swoop in and describe the biochemical properties of the various types of sealants, but it seems that the most common sealant used (and sold by places like cyclocrossworld.com and worldclasscycles.com) is urethane (AquaSeal), with liquid latex (Tent-Sure) growing in popularity. I haven't heard of anyone using silicone sealant on tires, and silicone grease might be useful on O-rings that seal battery compartments in heart rate monitors, cyclocomputers, etc., but I wouldn't put it on tires.

The urethane seals the sidewalls and protects the casing, but apparently some people still have issues with rot, and the suspicion is that water penetrates through tiny gaps in the sealant (say, near the edge of the rim), and then gets trapped underneath the urethane so the tires end up rotting. The liquid latex may not be quite as protective, but perhpas the fact that it is a bit more permeable (latex is what the inner tube of nicer tubulars is made of, and air tends to escape from them at a faster rate that butyl tubes, so this makes sense), allows the sidewalls to air out a bit better, but this could all be conjecture. Another benefit of the liquid latex that some people note is that it doesn't affect the suppleness of the sidewalls as much as urethane does. This for me is the main reason I want to try it on the next go-round.

Well, this is more info and help than I could ask for! Thanks.
Liquid latex is on top of my shopping list.