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Hi
Well I have finally gone tubeless and it was much easier than I thought (helps the wheels came as tubeless ready) now my question to the STW massive is how often do I need to top up he sealant ?
Do I top it up or clean out the tyre and put fresh sealant in ?
Any advice would be great
Cheers
Carry a 2oz Stans bottle and a valve core tool in case you’re caught out and never is my answer.
Honest answer is depends. I have some wheels that just about work without sealant and in those the sealant lasts months if not years. Others need pumping up every ride and the sealant needs topped up more often too.
I'd only clean the sealant out if it's been sat for ages and dried out in one big lump unbalancing the tyre. Otherwise if it's evenly distributed you might just end up unplugging holes or a porous carcass and use up half of the fresh stuff resealing it all up again.
I use the milKit system on all my bikes to check the sealant and top it up without taking the tyre off.
Removes the guess work and means you can extract any liquid before taking the tyres off if you're switching them about, less mess and waste.
I use Orange Endurance sealant and I routinely top up every 4-5 months.In summer and if I have had a number of punctures I might need to top up sooner after 3 months.I never take the tyre off,just deflate then remove the valve core and inject 60ml of sealant using a Stans syringe which fits over the valve body.A five minute job.
I use Stans sealant and every so often I'll take the tyre off and give it a shake. If it sloshes it's fine. If it doesn't it needs topping up. If it rattles you have a 'Stanimal' (ball of solidified sealant), In that case it's time to pop the bead off, remove the stanimal along with any thorns etc. and re-fill with fresh sealant.
I use Stans. Tyres have been on the bike about 2 years, I think I topped them up a while back but couldn’t tell you when.
They haven’t gone flat so all must be going ok as far as sealant is concerned.
Maybe I’ll check them properly sometime this year.
Rotate the valve down, remove the core and stick a small zip tie in to dip it
Have only rarely done it in 4 years of tubeless. Usually just lasts between tyre changes. So I think the answer is not often enough to worry about. There was a thread the other day about one of those bike garage app things to monitor maintenance intervals - if you wanted to top up once a year that would work well I’d imagine..
Rotate the valve down, remove the core and stick a small zip tie in to dip it
Love this dipstick tip.
Might try that, but I usually only top up when I get a hole and discover my tyres have been dry for ages.
My approach for several years has been - Valve core at 7 O’clock, take core out, wait for money shot. If it spurts out nicely then all OK, if not then top up with 30-50ml. 👍
Only done when I remember (twice a year at best, or when tyre looks a bit low on pressure)
Thanks everyone I am definitely more enlightened
Love this dipstick tip.
Might try that, but I usually only top up when I get a hole and discover my tyres have been dry for ages.
Hence my opening, carry a trail bottle of Stans and a valve core tool and don’t worry about it.
I don't think you can predict lifespan at all tbh, depends on the tyres (for some reason, don't know why). You can hear the sealant slosh if it's still liquid though.
I'm trying oko sealant now which doesn't seem to dry out in the same way as stans does, time will tell I guess