WTB "TCS" (Tubeless Compatible System) side wall leaks

I have some 2.8″ Trail Bosses (29″) that leak through the sidewalls sufficiently enough to cause problems before the end of a ride having set out with 30psi at the start.

There’s goo in the tyre, but is it just a case of not enough? I did the Stans shiggle when setting them up originally so they should be well coated. But even so I would have hoped that a TCS carcass would be airtight out of the packet. Is that hoping too much?

Hi,

TCS Light was OK holding air. Even on shitty TrailBlazer. Now on Tough Ranger and it was standing initial abuse very nicely. One ride old thou, so still need to prove longer term reliability.

Maybe just dodgy one?

Cheers!
I.

Did you do the full upside down shaking on the goo ?

In my experience it will seal non TCS so you wouldn’t have a problem during a ride you might just need to top up a week later.

Doing this takes a bit longer doing the jiggle and I usually leave the tyre semi flat (orientation) at 40 psi …then rotate a bit an hour later etc.

I have some WTB wheels/tyres (Whyte hubs) I don’t use and have been sat in the shed for months and whilst they are not ride ready they probably have >20psi in still.

TCS doesn’t mean airtight you need sealant to do the job BUT you have a bad case there. Most tyres I have fitted lose some pressure overnight until they’ve had a ride or two. I have never had tyres leak so bad it was a problem during a (up to four hour) ride. Maybe it’s a lightweight plus tyre thing? Only WTB tyres I have are Vigilantes which err towards robust rather than light

2.8″ Trail Bosses (29″)

That is quite a lot of rubber. How much ‘goo’ have you put in?

evidently not enough.

Did you do the full upside down shaking on the goo ?

I dance around the shed shakin’ my ass, shakin’ my ass, if that’s what you mean?

If your efforts didn’t bring all the boys to the yard stick some more in and try again

TCS doesn’t mean airtight you need sealant to do the job

And my non tubeless ready racing ralph’s seal…. it just takes a lot more goo…. and also making sure you let it soak into all the gaps…

My first inflation was making puddles on the floor… so much was dripping but a combination of shaking, partially plugging bigger holes with a thumb until they seal etc. – reinflate – and now they hold pressure for a week….

You do however need to make sure you REALLY did the shaking and got the thicker gunkier stuff into the tyre…. I usually dump a load well shaken into a jam jar and then shake more and then make sure its really well mixed up (and put the unused back in the stans bottle after)

The racing ralphs also had some big punctures that I fixed before…. so my experience is these are almost as bad as any “quality” tyre gets but patience and shaking will eventually give a good seal UNLESS your rims are damaged.

TLR or TCD or 2bliss or tubeless easy, as far as I can tell they all need a ride before they really start to seal. Obviously you’ve ridden it but how much?

1/3d of a tube of glitter in your sealant cures many ills and makes you look fabulous when you change tyres

I see you baby.. shake the tyre not your ass!
More spaff required in a big 2.8 tyre, tubeless compatible tyres aren’t leak free they just have a tighter bead generally,
I had this with some Shwalbe tyres, leaked for ages til the gunk finally worked, the fact that they were made of tissue paper is another story..

1/3d of a tube of glitter in your sealant cures many ills and makes you look fabulous when you change tyres your tyre explodes off the rim

makes you look fabulous

Oh yes, I’m using gold glitter at the moment and the sealant does a fantastic job of sticking it to everything. What colour do you recommend dahling 😀

I’ve just setup a trailboss tough and vigilate light onto Hope Tech Rims with no trouble. Not had any leakage is 3 days so far.

I did use the new Stans Race sealant which, from previous experience, seals much better.

And here’s me thinking all the sealant did was seal punctures…

I noticed this with my TCS Light Trail Boss & Vigilante. Not straight away from new, but once used for a bit. Liquid beading on the sidewall dust (how Cali do I sound!) . I’ve added more sealant and seems ok so far. A Google showed it quite common with WTB TCS tyres, the heavy versions may not do it. Also seemed common to add glitter but I’ve not tried this.

There’s goo in the tyre, but is it just a case of not enough?

I suspect not. 29 x 2.8 is a lot of carcass to coat.

Ive just put another 30ml in each tyre, so that would be a about 90-100ml in each now.

Slathered soapy water on the sidewalls and it’s telling just how non-airtight they really are. Never had a problem with Schwalbe sidewalls before. These WTBs just seem so much more porous from the off. Although oddly the leaky sections of sidewall appear to be in one area (both sides) so might be a manufacturing deficiency.

Interested in how much sealant others are using. I gave my Trailblazers two scoops each and they seem to be behaving normally. I tend to give Vigilantes and Trailbosses 1.5 scoops. I have one rear Vigilante that has an annoying slow but that’s almost certainly a tape fault.

A standard Stans scoop is 63ml.

TCS refers to the bead on the tyre, not the inside of the carcass. The TCS bead system is square like true UST but the tyres do not have the additional layers true UST products have. Thus, without sealant on properly taped WTB TCS rim a TCS tyre should seat easily and will probably deflate slowly overnight.

Did you leave on their side on a bucket? That’s always a good one.

That said, my last two bikes have had tubeless Vigilante’s on the front, and one was constantly weeping, the other doesn’t at all.

Only really needed the bucket trick with Nics and Dampfs on Stans rims. I can set up an all TCS combo with the wheel leaning upright against the back door…

Stoner – Member

Ive just put another 30ml in each tyre, so that would be a about 90-100ml in each now.

That’s about as much as I’d put in a 2.3 29er tyre personally- Stans say 1 scoop (63ml) for a 2 inch 26er tyre, up to 3 for a larger tyre (but that’s from pre-Plus days).

Having said that I only have about 120ml in my 4.8 tyres and they seal fine.

Rubber_Buccaneer – Member

Oh yes, I’m using gold glitter at the moment and the sealant does a fantastic job of sticking it to everything. What colour do you recommend dahling

Orange at teh moment, very #enduro

2.8″ Trail Bosses (29″)

Where’d they come from out of interest? I can’t find them online.

d’oh. Wishful thinking, they’re “only” 2.4″ 😳

Using TCS rims, so bead seal not an issue. Just the sidewalls.

A mates specicalized tyre had sealant/beading on the sidewall after initial fitting to the point it would deflate the tyre during a ride, he took tyre back to shop and they said it was due to inflating the tyre to too high a pressure when initially fitting…sounds a bit like a fob-off to me and possibly a faulty tyre

Wow! I was going to say

“I think Trailblazers and Trailbosses have become confused during this thread… “

Then I googled…

3.0 Trailboss

not in 29″.

Although annoyingly I wanted to get some Chronicles, but they were too expensive. 2.4 Trail Bosses turned up cheaply. And now chronicles are just £26 at CRC! Damn!

“I see you baby”

shakin’ my ass, shakin’ my ass, if that’s what you mean?

cheers for the pointers chaps.
They’re holding air loads better now even after only an hour (they were noticeably leaking with an hour before) I will ride them and shiggle them some more but can see it will improve things still.

I used to put 2.5 stans little bottles of sealant in my 29+ tyres. A surprising amount was needed to coat in the inside of the tyres and bead.