Tubeless tyres cons...
 

[Closed] Tubeless tyres constantly deflating, any solutions?

Posts: 8859
Free Member
Topic starter
 

This is all a bit new to me.
These are Stan's Alpine rims, Schwalbe Racing Ralph Evo tubeless ready and Stan's tubeless kit. Rims are like new, tyres in very good condition. They are both constantly deflating over the period of 8 hours or so, occasionally one of them might keep their air, but not very often. They never go flat, just very soft and need more air nearly everytime. Do I just stick a load more Stan's sealant in? I've already put more in.
Thanks


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 4:56 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

a tube?


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 5:01 pm
Posts: 0
Full Member
 

Buy one of the long thin oblong plastic plant pots from a Garden Center.

Fill the plant pot up with water.

Inflate offending wheel/tyre combo and stand it in the water. You should see where the leak is from... will determine the next action.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 5:05 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

With the Alpine Stans recommended just the yellow tape and valve. If you use the rim strips you might need drill or file out the area on the rim bed at the valve hole. I had a problem with my rocket rons on dt 4.2, wouldn't hold air until that area was flatter.
http://www.notubes.com/ZTR_tubeless.aspx


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 5:10 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I've had this with a Nobby Nic before. It settled down eventually.

Check you've trimmed the yellow tape cleanly from around the valve hole.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 5:32 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Its possibly leaking out the side walls. remove wheels, and leave them sat on a bucket for a hour or two each side.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 6:16 pm
 ibis
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

UST ?


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 6:22 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Have you ridden the wheel yet? If you haven't yet then do it, it helps push all the sealant into all the nooks and crannies and should then seal the tyre fine. Might also be worth deflating the tyre to about 10 psi and having a gentle roll around on it as this does much the same.

If you have ridden it on a proper ride then it suggests that something else is wrong. Was the yellow tape applied correctly and is it still intact? Have you done the valve up really tight as doing them up much more than finger tight often makes things worse and can cause leaks.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 6:27 pm
Posts: 15433
Full Member
 

You. did do the "sealant shuffle" didn't you? may well bee you need to get the sealant distributed better round the tyre (especially the sidewalls) just to seal up those last few "pin holes"


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 6:31 pm
Posts: 14707
Free Member
 

Steve-Austin - Member
Its possibly leaking out the side walls. remove wheels, and leave them sat on a bucket for a hour or two each

+1 (spin em up first though to distribute the sealant round)


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 6:35 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I nearly lost the will to live with a pair of Racing Ralph Evo Pacestars recently.

It took literally a whole week of evenings injecting more sealant, spinning them, dunking them in water, shaking the sealant, lying them at an angle etc. before they sealed. Even then, the first couple of rides they still went flat and further dunking in the bath revealed endless new pinholes in the sidewalls.

My conclusion is that quality control at Schwalbe is pish poor - I certainly wouldn't buy another pair.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 6:54 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

ditto a set of conti x-kings RS (UST ready) Side walls made of cheese.

What worked was scrubbing the inner walls with a nylon pot scrub to loosen up the waxy layer, fitting then putting a good 500mls of stains in them. Over next few days spin, lay flat, spin, lay flat and repeat.

Once they passed the bubble test removed all the stans with the their syringe kit, and they've been faultless since. Given they weighed 460 gms on the kitchen scales, worth the effort compared to the typical 700+ gm dedicated ust tyre.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 7:52 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I only have problems with Ralphs, it's the only tyre that gives me grief... some just don't seem to want to seal...


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 8:25 pm
Posts: 22
Free Member
 

Bonty TLR or Spesh 2bliss - fit and forget


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 9:43 pm
Posts: 9
Free Member
 

I had this problem when I tried tubeless. An uplift day sorted them out. Get em out for a full on sloshing session.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 10:00 pm
Posts: 8859
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Thanks for all the help
I've ridden them extensively over the last few months and they are still having to be pumped up at the start of every ride. I don't know how much Stan's sealant was put in originally, but I added 30ml to each tyre about a week ago, methodically slightly rotated each wheel over the course of a few days and so far it's made little difference.
Sounds like it might just be the fact that the tyre walls are thin, so maybe I'll just persevere and add more sealant.


 
Posted : 28/06/2011 10:03 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Previous recommendations on here have been to brush on a mix of liquid latex, and glitter on the inner walls to try and seal them up. Never tried it personally ...


 
Posted : 29/06/2011 5:54 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Given the length of time this has gone on I'd be surprised if it was still a sidewall or bead issue.

My money is on a dodgy valve - unscrew the core and give it a clean, it might be gummed up or poor valve seating in the rim.


 
Posted : 30/06/2011 8:58 am
Posts: 7935
Free Member
 

I've got contis that do this - its a constant balance of sealant sealing the pore holes in the sidewalls, and new ones opening. Dynamic equilibrium, or not, if you're constantly having to pump them up.

Mine take about a week to drop from 30 to 10psi. I'm not terribly bothered, since I check my tyre pressures every ride anyway. If I was, I'd put more sealant in and live with a little more weight, but over time and regular topping up, they do improve.


 
Posted : 30/06/2011 9:08 am
Posts: 11604
Free Member
 

Put a couple of capfuls of stans in, then look up the stans videos on doing the sealant shuffle thing and rest the wheels on a bucket either side.

Too little sealant or thinking that normal riding will distribute the sealant over the sidewalls is almost certainly why they are failing to seal. Also make sure the yellow tape has a round hole at the valve, if you just cut a cross in it and push the valve through the flaps it will leak.


 
Posted : 30/06/2011 10:40 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

M6TTF - Member
Bonty TLR or Spesh 2bliss - fit and forget

+1

(with ust rims though, no silly tape/rim strips)


 
Posted : 30/06/2011 10:50 am
Posts: 54
Free Member
 

Ditto on the Stans website, I followed [url= http://www.notubes.com/detailed_kit_instruction.aspx ]THIS GUIDE[/url] and all worked out well with my Racing Ralphs Evos on Crest rims, with Stans yellow tape, they leaked a lot at first mind and as they're 29ers I ended up putting about 4oz in each tyre.


 
Posted : 30/06/2011 10:59 am
Posts: 11604
Free Member
 

[i](with ust rims though, no silly tape/rim strips)[/i]

I'd rather have a wrap of yellow tape in my rims than heavier UST rims. Means I get to use normal spokes that I can get anywhere, rather than rim/manufacturer specific UST spokes that are hard to get hold of ๐Ÿ™‚

Wife's XT wheels...over six weeks chasing a new spoke, at which point we gave up and fitted a different XTR spoke. Hope Hoops with silly yellow tape, spare spokes supplied with wheels as standard ๐Ÿ™‚


 
Posted : 30/06/2011 11:16 am
Posts: 7935
Free Member
 

Spooky +1


 
Posted : 30/06/2011 11:21 am