Cleaning dried sealant off rims

[Keith A]

I recently picked up a set of Dura-Ace tubeless wheels and there is some dried up Caffe Latex sealant on the rims. There is enough of it in there where the bead of the tire sits in the rim, that I'd like to get it out of there. I did a quick search of the Internet and nothing popped up right away...so I wanted to see if anyone knows a safe way to remove this.

Thanks in advance.

[marle]

May be the stuff that kills tubular glue -- 3M Industrial Adhesive Remover

It is a very strong solvent.

fwiw http://www.worldclasscycles.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WCC&Product_Code=3IAR&Category_Code=TAS3

[dekindy]

The word I have seen is that latex is immune to most chemicals and elbow grease is the best way.

[crownjewelwl]

I recently picked up a set of Dura-Ace tubeless wheels and there is some dried up Caffe Latex sealant on the rims. There is enough of it in there where the bead of the tire sits in the rim, that I'd like to get it out of there. I did a quick search of the Internet and nothing popped up right away...so I wanted to see if anyone knows a safe way to remove this.

Thanks in advance.

I get the chunky stuff out with something plastic like a disk brake spacer...then clean it up with acetone

[crankles]

ammonia.

[93legendti]

Have you tried Goo Off?

[93legendti]

"Given enough time, most sealants cease to be active and should be cleaned out; if they solidify, they unbalance the tire with useless weight concentrated in a single spot. Removal is easy to do on a tubeless tire by removing the tire; the fiber-based sealants can be wiped out and rinsed out with water, and the latex-based ones can be rinsed or peeled out once solidified. On a tire with an inner tube, including a tubular, you’ll need to remove the sealant through the valve, which requires removing the valve core, and ideally rinsing and sucking it out."

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/01/news/cyclocross/technical-faq-tire-sealants_102346

[Keith A]

Thanks for all of the replies. I haven't tried cleaning this yet, but my fingernail tests showed that it won't just easily peel off.

[93legendti]

I just asked our mechanic at work, he gave me this answer:

"I'm not at all familiar with caffelatex but I imagine as long as the rim is aluminum and not carbon, I'd go at it with mineral spirit first and then acetone if mineral spirit doesn't cut it. Scrape with a razor blade or some other sharp but manageable tool."

I wonder if you heated it up with a hair dryer, if that might soften it up some...

[Keith A]

93legendti -- Thanks for checking on this for me. The hair dryer is a good idea too. I'll let you guys know what I figure out that works.

[jds108]

Yes, I'd be interested in hearing what works. I recently cleaned up the Stan's inside my tires/rims and just used water and elbow grease. I wanted to switch to caffelatex as I hear it lasts longer before drying out. I don't want to redo my Stan's every 6 months....

[93legendti]

93legendti -- Thanks for checking on this for me. The hair dryer is a good idea too. I'll let you guys know what I figure out that works.

My pleasure. I am interested as well. I've dived in 100% to tubeless, so I am curious about solutions...

Good luck.

[Keith A]

Well my first attempt using a wooden BBQ skewer is doing a good job removing the big stuff because it fits nicely in the groove where the bead of the tire fits. However, this is a slow process and it isn't getting all of the residue out.

http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00KvMTOmcdlEru/Wooden-Skewer.jpg

[martinrjensen]

I scraped off what I could with what ever fit. Then I took a small wire brush and brushed the rest off. it wasn't squeaky clean, but clean enough. I suppose at that point I could have used some kind of solvent, but I didn't bother. Further use of the wheel proved me correct in that further cleaning wasn't necessary. It worked just fine. Note this was with Stan's but I suspect it's similar to Calfee

[93legendti]

How about trying a tire lever...seems like that might work...

[rustychisel]

Can you get hold of eucalyptus oil over there? Seriously.

[Keith A]

How about trying a tire lever...seems like that might work...I don't think this has a sharp enough edge to get under the dried sealant.

[93legendti]

Any progress?

[crownjewelwl]

I don't think this has a sharp enough edge to get under the dried sealant.

disk brake caliper spacer works like a charm

[crownjewelwl]

enve instruction say to clean the rims with acetone!

I just asked our mechanic at work, he gave me this answer:

"I'm not at all familiar with caffelatex but I imagine as long as the rim is aluminum and not carbon, I'd go at it with mineral spirit first and then acetone if mineral spirit doesn't cut it. Scrape with a razor blade or some other sharp but manageable tool."

I wonder if you heated it up with a hair dryer, if that might soften it up some...

[Keith A]

crownjewelwl -- Thanks for the input.

93legendti -- No more progress, it was late last night (East Coast) and once I saw the wooden skewers are going to remove most of it without damaging the rim, I called it a night.

[Keith A]

Bringing this one back up as I finally started trying to finish cleaning the rims. The wood stick did a decent job of getting the bigger stuff out; and then I used water and paper towels and this got some more of it. But they aren't completely clean yet and I'm going to try some type of scrub brush or pad with water and see if this gets the rest of it.

I also found a similar discussion on MTBR...
http://forums.mtbr.com/wheels-tires/how-remove-dried-stans-sealant-rim-bed-750389.html