Which tapes do folk prefer for sealing rims?

I’ve read that Scotch Tough Duct Tape is good and there is obviously Gorilla Tape. What about Duck tape?

I’m not keen on the split tube method.

This is for fat rims specifically BTW.

Cheers

Tesa tape (aka Stans yellow tape).

Gorilla Clear Repair Tape – been running it for 18 months no problems. Avoid cloth backed tapes as they’re heavier, soak up sealant, come unstuck. Split tube works well on non-tubeless rims or where bead fit isn’t tight. Some rims and tyre combos e.g O-O are pretty rubbish and may need packing out with closed cell foam to work.

Cheers fellas.

I’ve got the Emmental/El Guapo wheelset with Floaters. The tyres are a little loose on the rims to be fair.

Don’t suppose anyone has experience of coverting this wheelset and has any advice whether I need to foam pack or not?

I used on ‘lap’ of duct tape (not quite sure why), followed by three laps of electrical tape. Seemed to work. Probably should’ve just used electrical tape TBH..

Tesa 4289 +1
£10 or so on ebay for 60m. Done many wheels with it, some tubeless rims, some ghetto.

Any heavy duty duct tape (or Duck if you like branded) will do. Cheap stuff from B&Q I got and worked perfect using the Pinkbike method – http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Gorilla-Tape-Tubeless-Conversion.html

Though that was standard wheels, not fat. I guess principle is the same.

You have the same rims as I do. TBH the process is a bit different from normal rims…

I’ve done it 3 different ways and all worked well. They all needed a bit of faff because of the width of the rims, I had to add packing foam (Jiffy foam for me, other foams are available) to build up the rim bed otherwise the tyre just wouldn’t inflate. So in order of preference…

3) Rim tape, about 4 wraps of packing foam, then a 24 inch schwalbe AV10 split tube. Easy and repeatable but the heaviest method I used by quite a way. Most folks recommend the AV10D but the AV10 is cheaper and lighter. It’s smaller but is a perfect fit on these rims, as long as you cut it straight and clean.

2) Rim tape, 4 wraps of foam, then 4 wraps of pallet wrap around the rim to seal it, with a tubeless valve. Effective this but kind of ugly with the plastic wrap, and can be a pain in the arse to change tyres- I had to redo the wrap from scratch most times. Way lighter.

3) Rim tape, 4 wraps of foam, then 75mm PVC tape (like really wide electric tape) to seal it, with a tubeless valve. More faff to set up than 2, but more durable, you can be reasonably assured of being able to change a tyre without redoing it all

(in all cases I use 50mm PVC tape with the sticky side out, to cover the cutouts, then a wrap of 75mm PVC tape with the sticky side in as the rim tape- which happens to be airtight, but I don’t think it really makes any difference- it’s just light and cheap and colourful)

Thanks NW. Just what I was after.

Should the foam wrap be the full internal width of the rim?

Cheers

I’ve just converted the same rims and managed to get them both inflated and holding air with floaters.

I just used a 24 inch inner tube, split it down the seam and opened up across the rim, the schwalbe ones I used were the perfect size. I then took them both to to the local garage and used their pump and both went up first time. Oddly, they would only inflate when the valve was at the bottom.

They’ve both held air overnight but I confess other than a quick spin around the avenue to slosh the fluid a bit, I haven’t lowered the pressure that much or ridden them in anger yet.

As mentioned above I was pretty pessimistic given how loose the tyres are so was surprised at how easy it was.

psycorp – Member

Should the foam wrap be the full internal width of the rim?

The width of the bed basically- you don’t want the tyre to be sat on foam when it’s inflated, the foam’s only there to fill the gap when you’re trying to inflate.

It’s worth trying without but I just found it too hit and miss. I’ve done it maybe 12 times now and only twice did it work without foam. Just learning the same processes with my BR710s and I’m still in the “is this reliable or was it just luck” phase which is pretty frustrating!

Got ya. Thanks

The way that tubeless works is to get a good fit and seal between the tyre bead and the ‘shelf’ on the edge of the rim – the problem with Floaters is that can be pretty baggy and hence the need to pack the rim out to get a good fit. Having fitted tubeless numerous times with various tyre and rim combos, I would probably go for a combo of closed cell foam and split tube. Start by fitting the foam and fit tyre with a tube to see how well the bead fits – deflate the tyre and if you can pop the bead with finger pressure then it needs more packing. Alternatively, simply go for the manic pumping method and be prepared to get sealant everywhere!

I just used some 25mm T. rex tape from Screwfix only £2.50 for 9m and it worked well on my flows and just the right width