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New Hunt 4 Seasons Disc wheels, taped when delivered. New WTB Resolute TR tyres. Went up fine, beads popped into place. Plenty of Stans. Lots of spinning, lots of riding now. Rear holds air fine (maybe a wee top up every 4-5 days). Front keeps needing a top up every day. Doesn't lose a lot of air, but enough to need it topped up every day.
A week ago, took the tyre off, the end part of the tape had come away a little, so added another strip of tape over that. It's better than it was, but still losing air.
Any suggestions? Take the tape off and start again? New Stan's? (My bottle is quite old but fluid is still nice and runny when shaken up) valve seems tight and well-seated.
Does fairy liquid (to help seat the beads) not react well with Stan's?
Had a quite quick slow leak on rear - just been to shed to track it down, on inflation at high pressure it showed as a leak around the valve -- I added an extra bit of tape at the valve hole and proper tightened it up. but sounds like valve is OK.
Does it leak in soapy water at all?
When you've inflated it, has the bead set all the way round? It usually goes pop. Follow the bead, make sure there are no spots where it's not popped into place.
Have you tried replacing the valve or tightening and the core ?
I'd place money on it being the tape. In my experience, leaks around the valve are usually due to air leaking into the rim cavity and finding the only way out.
If it were me I'd be stripping the tape and redoing.
Might be worth leaving the wheel horizontal overnight, flipping and repeating, it’s helped a few times when I’ve had with slowly leaking tubeless
In my experience it will almost certainly be the tape. It may seal up with sealant, but personally I’d just retape it and be done with it.
Stick it in a bucket of water (or similar) and see where the leak is actually coming from first?
Your options are tape, valve base unsuitable or badly fitted tyre.
Agree with others, my experience is that it’s usually tape, and whenever tape has been compromised then stripping and retaping is the only reliable answer.
It’s worth noting that Stans used to recommend scuffing the inner surface with abrasive paper before taping to aid with sticking and therefore sealing. This seems to have gone out of fashion (presumably because no one wants to vandalise their new wheels!) but is worth considering if you’re positive the tape was good and all other possibilities are exhausted.
Thanks all ... Sounds like it's probably tape. Wanted to avoid that as not that confident at my own ability to reliably re-tape. And on a new set of wheels that came pre-taped, that's a little frustrating.
Think it's not the bead as it's reliably and evenly seated all the way around
I’ve not long owned some Hunt wheels (very impressed) but had no issues. Previously had issues with valves leaking slightly so that would be my first point of call...
I have also had valve cores develop slow leaks. But not new ones.
For road/gravel tyres and pressures do others also expect them to need pumping up every 4 or 5 days? My experience (limited, just a couple of months for gravel tyres on new rims) is not this bad bit I still thought slightly disappointing. If a mtb tyre needs a top up every week I tend to think there's something wrong with it.
For road/gravel tyres and pressures do others also expect them to need pumping up every 4 or 5 days? My experience (limited, just a couple of months for gravel tyres on new rims) is not this bad bit I still thought slightly disappointing. If a mtb tyre needs a top up every week I tend to think there’s something wrong with it
TBH, every 4-5 days is fine, that's all the back tyre needs, half a dozen pumps of the track pump. But having to top up the front each morning is s bit disappointing. The MTB goes weeks without needing air adding.
Got a similar thing on an old pair of wheels - on my 2010 Stumpjumper FSR.
Haven't run them tubeless for years, but decided a while back I should really get round to it.
First attempt and tyre stayed inflated for a very short while before deflating; air could be heard escaping from spoke nipples.
Last night I took the valve out, re-taped the hole & put a smaller cut in it. It definitely sealed better, but there is still a leak - tyre goes down over perhaps 20 mins - no sealant yet.
The foot of the valve is quite small, so I might add a cut from an inner tube as an 'o-ring' and also stick a bit more tape around the rim.
Last time I did this, I can't remember how sealed it was before I just decided enough was enough & stuck the sealant in, which sorted it out totally.
As others have said, more than likely to be the rimtape. I have issues when I change tyres that are tight on my rim that they pull on the edges of the rim tape, I sometimes dont notice and then my tyres wont stay up.
out of interest, what brand is the valve itself?
fwiw: LBS did a tubeless set up on my two wheelsets and advised me to use stans ones even though they prefer orange seal itself (which is also what i was requesting).
I had one wheel of the 4 lose a little pressure after a fortnight (none of the wheels has been used yet but other set is on my bike). I pumped it up, shook & rolled about a bt and checking it regularly. seems fine - could have been the recent cold snap. (my forks also lost 10psi at the same time and i've never experienced that before)