Tubeless sealant top-up frequency?

[makoti]

Originally Posted by tuxbailey

That sounds easy. I am just too lazy to remove the tire to clean to old dried up sealant. Wouldn't there be too much dried up old sealant over time? But I guess the tire's life would have worn down way before that.

If you haven't put any in in 3 years, wouldn't worry about there being too much dried up stuff. It really doesn't take up much room dried, and none in 3 years? Refill and keep going.

[ripvanrando]

Originally Posted by ripvanrando

I checked the front tire sealant level with a ziptie and it was also dry. The tire has zero cuts or any indication of damage and I have never found it abnormally low on tire pressure. The Propylene Glycol and Water completely evaporated leaving behind only the latex. I'll leave the chemistry to the chemists but I doubt sealant Mfgs have done any real stability testing to support the often read interval of 3-7 months to replenish or top up. Six months in a garage isn't the same as six weeks and 2000+ miles on hot pavement.

I added 50 ml of sealant and will check the level in 3 weeks.

YMMV.

I checked in 24 days and there was a little left, so, I topped up.

Now, nearly 4 weeks after the top up, I got a slow flat. Sure enough, low sealant. I never hear a psst or see any evidence of a puncture. With latex tubes, I average one flat every 3-4,000 miles. It seems to me the sealant merely dries up in about 3 weeks of riding on hot pavement.

[ti_or_die]

That’s odd. Three months is about average for topping up the sealant.
When was the last time you replaced the tubeless rim tape?

[ripvanrando]

Originally Posted by ti_or_die

That’s odd. Three months is about average for topping up the sealant.
When was the last time you replaced the tubeless rim tape?

Brand new Zipp 303 FC

I did clean the massive boogers out once. The sealant is dried out. It is possible some escaped when sealing flats but I don't see evidence of that.

Pavement is 130-145F now and that is pretty much what my IR gun measures for my tire temperatures.

[benb]

I refreshed my fat bike last week after a year.

Interestingly there was quite a bit of liquid sealant left in the front tire. Absolutely enough to still seal a flat.

Back tire was like a few drops left, definitely not enough.

This was with the Bontrager TLR stuff which is supposedly biased towards lasting a longer time versus something like Stan's which is supposedly biased towards better sealing of more serious punctures.

I did use the Park Tool injector that I got recently. Unfortunately it does not fit through the valve stems I have (which IIRC are Stan's). It does fit in to add sealant, but it doesn't go cleanly through to remove sealant. So I still had to break the bead, which was no big deal, I got everything remounted pretty quickly. Even having to open the bead the Park too worked well to suck up the old sealant without making a mess. Unfortunately the Park tool did not clean up as well as my old tool, it was hard to remove all the sealant from it.

[ironhands]

after mounting, my road tubeless lose 10 psi every night. Is that normal or an indicator I need to top up?

[catchourbreath]

Not normal. I'd check your valves are tight and any evidence of sealant, otherwise take tire off and inspect the rim tape.

[2metalhips]

I've been using Orange Seal (regular) for about 2 years now and recently decided to check my tires on my Cutthroat, 2.2 tires. I couldn't be sure how much was in there so I decided to dismount the tires. It had completely tried to a latex like skin which peeled off fairly easily. I was a Stan's user previously and hadn't seen that before. I'm not sure if adding more sealant would have worked properly if there was a puncture. I had been topping it off about every 4 months or so. Something to keep in mind.

[benb]

Any pump that threads onto the valve stem is kind of incompatible with tubeless IMO.. it is so easy to loosen the valve in the rim when you're twisting those on and off, if you don't get it nice and tight you're then relying on the sealant to stop a leak at the valve stem.

It's kind of "do as I say not as I do" because I have such a pump with a threaded mount for my emergency pump on my MTB but it's really not a great combo.

Just one place you could lose mysterious amounts of air.

[catchourbreath]

Nightmares of my lezyne pump unthreading my valves while miles from home, no valve tool and no spare tube. Somehow hand tightened enough to get home, more than once

[thwart]

Sometimes useful for dinosaurs like me to read thru these kinds of threads.

Using mostly latex tubes , riding on roads without goat heads or similar nasty stuff, rarely have a flat, several bikes sit unused for up to 5 months every winter, etc…

Makes sense for some of us to stick with tubes. Durable old-school technology that doesn’t need to be ‘topped up’.

[clave]

Originally Posted by ironhands

after mounting, my road tubeless lose 10 psi every night. Is that normal or an indicator I need to top up?

I also recommend adding sealant. If that doesn't help, maybe tighten or replace the valve core and then the valve stem?

I've seen all sorts of numbers quoted as normal for air pressure loss per night with tubeless road. FWIW, my bike loses 5psi per 24 hours at 60psi, which is better than my experience with latex tubes at least.

[Grateful Rider]

Stans user for years. Recently bought 12 pack of the small bottles and they work like a charm. No need for the syringe and all associated hassles. Not best value...but worth it IMO

[bigbill]

The only road tubeless setup I currently have is 32mm Hutchinson Sectors at 60# on Boyd Altamont rims. I topped them off in May and I lose around 2-3 pounds a day, more in the back than front. The rear tire won't make the summer but I have some new 32s that I got from Teleguy. When I lived in Texas, I ran 25mm road tires tubeless because of all the road hazards and never had a flat on a ride. In AZ, my rim brake tubeless capable wheels hang up without tires because they aren't being ridden.

[MikeD]

I just went 2 months on Milkit sealant in a hot California garage before it was dried up. 43mm gravel tires with 3 oz. sealant. I think I'm going back to Orange Seal once I use up this sealant.