"Tubeless ready" rim leaking air at joint – normal without sealant?

Just converted my tubeless ready rim from tube to tubeless. Popped the tyre up without sealant first just to check it all and noticed that air is leaking through the rim joint right on the edge of the rim. Should I send the wheel back for warranty replacement or should this stop when the sealant is added? Don’t want to pour in sealant and create a mess only for it to not work.

Any one else had this issue?

Cheers

I’ve had one that leaked through the whole of the rim join on the inner face of the rim. Sealant stop this and it has not reoccurred.

Did you use tape?

Tubeless ready usually just means the bead hook of the rim and the bead of the tyre are the correct shape. You still need to make sure the rim is sealed with tape and the tyre itself will be porous without sealant.

“Tubeless ready”, as far as I know, just means that the bit where the bead sits is reinforced. UST rims are the ones with an airtight rim bed.

yeah – all taped up etc etc. Sounds like sealant might fix it. Will give it a crack.

Cheers

If you mean tyre-bead join around the edge (i think you do) then yes, normal, fixed with sealant.

If you mean where the rim is bent into a circle, and joined, then no, not normal.

What thisisnotaspoon says – it means the tape is not sealing the rim bed well enough, so air is escaping. The place you see this happen is through the rim joint. A re-taping should solve this problem, although adding sealant might also work. If it’s still happening with sealant in then it definitely needs re-taping.

I took it you were talking about the rim/tyre junction. Generally if the rim taping has failed, I find most air heads out via the spoke holes to the valve area.

It may not quite have popped onto the rim fully. What PSI did you inflate it to? I generally make sure that I’ve put about 40 PSI into it.

Or it just needs a bit of sealant and a Stan’s dance (shake it around vigourously) to finish sealing it.

If you mean where the rim is bent into a circle, and joined, then no, not normal.

Yes- this. So where the rim it self is joined together. I looked at the tape again and noticed it doesn’t go all the way up the inside rim wall. Is it supposed to go all the way up? I thought it just covered the “flat” section, ie not the vertical part. Either way, in theory the tyre should press hard enough against the rim to stop air coming out anyway.

Didn’t hear any pings at all, which I always get on my other rims even with the airshot which was odd.

Might add some more tape on the offending section add sealant, pump and pray!

add sealant, pump and ride.
Riding a bit usually gets them sealed up.

(Praying, not so much)

I’ll be able to sleep well tonight. Adding sealant did the job…panic over.

Cheers for the input guys 8)

I’ll be able to sleep well tonight.

Sleep well. It’ll be flat tomorrow. #bitterexperience 😀

Sleep well. It’ll be flat tomorrow. #bitterexperienc

True, but they’ll be fine after he’s pumped them up again…

…every single day for a fortnight!

Mavic ksyriums are airtight – must be their machining.

Thread Resurrection … so new budget wheels with pinned rim and taped (this,isn’t my first go) leaking from the joint … so I re-taped this time with gorilla tape to be sure and it’s still leaking from the walls of the joint.

My previous spare wheels were the same superstar’s own and were fine… and no leaking from the front one..
minimal sealant … what was left in the tyre…
Return ?
Add sealant?
I could try taping up the side…not keen…
Could araldite
Hot glue gun?

The tape you use should be wider than the internal width of the rims – by 4 or 5mm. The tyre and tape will form a seal with no part of the bead of the tyre touching the rim. It can be fine as us but will likely need some sealant in any case.

Non of my other wheels have ever needed the joint taping all the way up… I’m not saying that it shouldn’t but it’s never been needed on any other rim .. (excluding my best rims that’s that’s 12 rims… in the family that are tubeless.

This includes the front rim. Which is fine and the Tactic rims which are identical bar the width…

I can stick in some more sealant or could tape up the the edge round the joint I but was hoping to ride these tomorrow… and I have enough sealant left to do one proper helping… so was trying to preserve it.

What do you think of trying the glue gun?

Sealant.

Righty ho … sealant it is

Q – Which width TCS Tape should I use for my rim?
A – WTB recommends using tape that is 5mm wider than your inner rim width. Most of our rims will have the inner rim width listed in the name (i.e. Frequency i23 uses 28mm TCS Tape).

https://www.wtb.com/pages/resources

But if you know better, then crack on….

I had this issue with Mrs G’s bike. It is a Specialized (Camber) that came with 2bliss rim tape installed already. On first attempt it leaked at the join.

Have added sealent and it is all good now; held up fine and has been ridden locally and in the Alps for a couple of days.

WTB rims are absolutely **** terrible to setup or remove tubeless tyres from, so would ignore anything they publish.

In which case you are doing it wrong. Just about the easiest/cleanest/simplest setup there is.

But if you know better, then crack on….

Like I said … it’s not that I’m not saying it shouldn’t just that non of the other 11 rims (and I’m excluding the carbon ones since don’t have a joint) ever needed it … or quite a few others I’ve done for friends.

Equally I’ve never had a rim I could practically get a fingernail in the gap … pinned rims you can usually feel it but not see the gap.

My CRC Prime road wheels were classed as tubeless ready, and came ready taped. However you could see daylight through the sidewalls of the rim joint. It took a while to seal when I set them up, but the sealant eventually plugged the gaps. Hasn’t leaked since.

My Superstar rims leaked around the joint without sealant when I dry inflated/seated the tyre.

Once I put the sealant in all was fine – tyres still up after 3 months.

That was the trail EX23 rims with 25mm gorilla tape.

My Alexrims leaked at the pin joint but sealant did the job and its never been a problem.

In which case you are doing it wrong. Just about the easiest/cleanest/simplest setup there is.

Bollocks. In many years of riding a WTB tyre/rim combo is the first time I’ve ended up just going “**** it” and using mole grips to unseat the bead. They are now sitting with a 40C Nano on them that my previously undefeated Flashcharger can’t shift at all. From previous threads I’m not the only one that feels this way either.

My use of Stans, Mavics and Hunts hasn’t ever resulted in any of that nonsense. Even when they had tubes in the WTBs were still massively tight on the rims.

Feel free to give pointers though

Cheers everyone. The sealant worked great.. stuck in, inflated up to silly psi (prob about 40) and gave it a few spins every so often and this morning it was still way to hard to ride! Just hammered it all day and it’s still doing great.

Tyres are still up…still just taped over nipple holes.

The wider rims are way better with my 2.4 Mary/Hans (so good to a wider on Maxxis) and now down to £100. Very happy all round for £130 as a spare set. (Steel axles are £15 or so if your heavier)