[Closed] Tubeless sealant dried out - replace or just add more?

Just put more in. The dried out stuff is no problem, But if there are loose balls inside it’s worth taking those out.

Also, you should be able to top it up by removing the valve core, so no need to remove the tyre in future.

Take out the valve core, inject more in through there with a syringe, replace core, pump up with a track pump and away you go!

I just kept on keeping on topping off with sealant but eventually ended up with a stanimal the size of a golf ball which lead to interesting handling. You have a new compressor to play with making cleaning out the tyre an easy and worthwhile task so no excuse not to do it.

Hi, I know this may sound stupid but I wonder if you could just add some water to revive the sealant that is already in your tyres 🤔 has anyone tried this?

I used to clean it out but it's such a ballache, and since sealant is mostly water the solid material weighs next to nothing. With good tubeless ready tyres you only need to do it a few times before the tyre wears out anyway. I'd bet that the amount of rubber deposited inside weighs about the same as the amount you lose from the tread over time 🙂

Also bear in mind you need to top up with less than you used when you fit the tyre, since a good portion of the initial fill goes to filling the nooks and crannies of the tyre and tape, and these remain sealed.

You can't add water to revive it once it's dried though. Latex works by being a long chain protein molecules floating around in water. When you agitate it, the molecules get tangled up and turn into a solid, like how wool fluff turns into felt. The resulting solid is not water soluble, in much the same way as cheese does not dissolve in milk. Also, balloons and many other waterproof things are made from latex which starts out the same as your tyre sealant.

Makes sense. Thanks for the info 👍

But if there are loose balls inside it’s worth taking those out.

I switched to Stan's Race and have found it bad for doing this, the noise alone is annoying!

my old sealant looked like a bandage rolling around in there, i could feel it wobble at 30mph..

I’ve been using Continental sealant for a few years now. A litre bottle lasts ages and I’ve never had any problems with it balling up inside.

I generally lift out the lumps and put more in unless the remaining stuff is very discoloured etc in which case I’ll wash it out and replace entirely.

If Im taking the tyres off I pull any big lumps out and sheets wher its stuck to the tyre but otherwise just top up with about half the original ammount.

I switched to Stan’s Race and have found it bad for doing this, the noise alone is annoying!

Ive not had issues with it, not any more than usual anyway.

Only issue I've been having is the whiskers dont pass trough syringes very well so its bit of a pain to topup. I've gone back to breaking the bead off and just putting a squirt through the gap.