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I've been running tubeless for about 5 months since they were set up by my LBS. Had no issues and the tyres held pressure perfectly - hardly had to pump them up! Â So obviously I had to meddle and do my best to ruin things. Tjhe motivation was that I thought I needed to check the level of sealant and potentially add more.
First lesson - deflate the tyre before removing the valve core. As soon as I loosened it it shot up into the stratosphere and it was pure luck that I found it again. Â With the valve at the bottom of the wheel, I checked the sealant level using a thin red tube from a WD40 can. Â I'm not sure how to interpret the results. There seemed to be some blobs of sealant on the tube but it wasn't like an oil dipstick as I'd imagined. Anyway, I decided to add some more, so I squirted in 60ml using a Stan's syringe. Â Next surprise - when I removed the syringe, sealant gushed out of the valve like a fountain. Maybe this was rookie mistake number 2 (or so) and I should have rotated the valve to the top of the wheel before removing the syringe?
Anyway, I quickly replaced the valve core and wiped up the mess from the kitchen floor before MrsJ spotted anything, and inflated the tyre to 80-psi with a track pump. Noticed some sealant oozing out along the bead at first but it seems to have stopped and the pressure has held up while I have lunch. Obviously I will get a better idea tomorrow morning. Meanbwhile I'm wondering if I should have blasted the tyre up with an Airshot?
I'm not one of nature's mechanics, so any comments, tips or advice gratefully received !!
All sounds as expected to be honest. Definitely no need to use an airshot or equivalent, just check the bead has popped back on all round (not that you will have actually dislodged the bead using your via the valve method).
I topped mine up yesterday and I actually just take take the tyre off the rim slightly on one side just enough to see what's goign on and slosh some more in rather than doign it all via the valve. I'm guess you are talking road tyres given the pressure quoted, in which case doign everything via the valve may be easier.
Road bike?
Gravel mostly used on road.
My feedback also being a relative newbie with tubeless road.
I too made the mistake of topping up with the value at the bottom resulting in similar issues to you, sealant all over the garage floor. I now do it with the valve at 3 or 4 o'clock. I don't use a syringe but a tube on the sealant bottle and this means I'm not squirting sealant against gravity but that it also flow to the bottom of the tyre and away from the value ready for when I take the tube off.
Regarding how to inspect sealant, this I'm still not sure on. I had a puncture that needed a tube after a couple of months so just topped it up then anyway.
I'm still not convinced it's worth the faff albeit it is more comfortable!
I usually have the valve at about 4 or 8 o'clock when I squirt me jiz in. 🙂
Quite timely though, as I got a puncture on the way to work yesterday. Longest part of the process was finding a safe place to plonk myself to fix it. Once I'd reach the layby, found the hole (2-3mm wide slit), plugged it with a Dynaplug and pumped it up, I was only 10 mins later into work than normal
inflated the tyre to 80-psi with a track pump.
Seriously, what pressure were you running in the tyre before fannying about - and please tell us it was well 'south' of 40 psi.
I find the easiest way to check sealant is to take the wheel off and shake it. If you can hear sloshing then happy days, if not then top it up.