sealing Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless

[ccf]

After I got my Acebike wheels, I put Schwalbe Pro One tubeless tires on them. The tires started getting punctures about every third ride. Within weeks I had a puncture in the front tire that prevented the tire from holding any more than about 40 psi even though the wheel had 2 ounces of sealant. The puncture was so small it was hard to see. I purchased a third tire to replace the front tire. In the mean time, the same thing happened with the rear tire. A small puncture prevented the tire from holding normal pressure. Eventually the third tire that I put on the front failed the same way.

I sent a note to Schwalbe about it, and got this reply:

"The Pro One tires are designed to work with your sealant, and even large holes shouldn’t be a problem at all. If you’re seeing punctures from even small holes it’s a dead give away that your sealant isn’t working as it should be. We’ve been seeing a run of this recently with Stan’s sealant (and maybe a couple of others), where it seems there has been some kind of formulation change (we use rebranded Stan’s sealant as our factory sealant). Switching your sealant to Orange Seal will solve your issue immediately, and you shouldn’t experience any further issues."

I've been using Stans. Have any others had similar problems with the Pro Ones and Stans?

FWIW, on the advice of a friend I switched to Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season tires. Since then I've only had one puncture, and the only way I knew about it was that I noticed the residual Stans peeling off the outside of the tire after a ride. The tire only lost about 10 psi from the puncture.

-Cliff

 

[Rick Youngblood]

I've been using Stans. Have any others had similar problems with the Pro Ones and Stans?

Yep, I had same exact problem you described. The tiny hole would continue to blow out with high pressure. I switched to Orange sealant and haven't had an issue over the last 4 weeks. I think Orange is the a tribal recommendation here.

 

[ratz]

Orange for the win. And the new Hutchison stuff is really good.

 

[Doug Kline]

For comparing the difference between Orange Seal and Orange Seal Endurance, here is a useful chart: https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...f3ca/1444161954431/OS_product_info_sheet2.pdf

The dilemma is sealing the big holes vs having to top off each month.

 

[Doug Kline]

And this is what a puncture of a Pro One looks like from the inside. I couldn't see the hole on the outside, but had a tell tail line of sealant sprayed on my Camelbak. Curiosity got the best of me so I had to look. I'm still running on that tire without problem.

 

[LarryOz]

I hate those boogers. If they get too big and break off, then they spin around in your wheel when you ride!

 

[ccf]

So I finally got a puncture in my rear Hutchinson Fusion 5 All Season tire that the Stans would not seal to any higher than 25 psi. Well, actually I got three in one ride. I must have rode through a mine field of glass. I pulled two pieces of glass from the tire. At first I thought the Stans would hold, so I rode to the office. But it didn't, so I took BART home.

Then I switched to Orange Seal Endurance. Seemed to work great. In the garage, it quickly sealed all three punctures. Rode on it for a few days, but then it lost all of the air at the office; no sealant leaked out. I pumped it up at the office, and it started spraying Orange Seal all over the carpet, my bike, etc. from the largest of the three punctures. I finally got it to hold, but it will only hold 65 psi. If I go to 70, it blows out. Here's what the cut looks like on the outside.



It is smaller than the specs say Endurance should seal. What do you think? Have any of you had a cut like this that with Endurance that can't be sealed to higher pressure? Should I try to boot the cut with a tube patch on the inside of the tire?

-Cliff

 

[Doug Kline]

I haven't gotten a cut like that yet, but I've been carrying a Genuine Innovations Tubeless Repair Kit around just in case. I'm interested to know if this works, if you get a chance to try one.

https://www.genuineinnovations.com/au/products/tools-accessories/tubeless-repair-kit.php

 

[ccf]

Had three more episodes where the Orange Seal blew out of that puncture. The last was with Elisa on my wheel; it rained Orange Seal on her.

So I took the tire off and booted the puncture with a tube patch. So far, so good. It held 80 psi for 50+ miles today.

 

[RojoRacing]

Stans is shit, simple as that. Stay away from Slime as well. Orange seal is good as well as the Truckerco cream Sealant I use. All sealants effectiveness drops with age so after a month don't expect any of them to seal up larger or even small holes as well as it did in the first few weeks. Before any of my important races I always refresh my Sealant for added security. Also running fatter tires at lower pressures helps because you don't need the Sealant to hold 100psi.

 

[RojoRacing]

Had three more episodes where the Orange Seal blew out of that puncture. The last was with Elisa on my wheel; it rained Orange Seal on her.

So I took the tire off and booted the puncture with a tube patch. So far, so good. It held 80 psi for 50+ miles today.

I also boot large puncture with patches but I use silicone as glue because rubber cement won't glue a patch to a tire that's been exposed to latex Sealant. I've ridden over 1000 miles on the tire with patch without issue.

 

[bazzawill]

Stans is shit, simple as that. Stay away from Slime as well. Orange seal is good as well as the Truckerco creamSealant I use. All sealants effectiveness drops with age so after a month don't expect any of them to seal up larger or even small holes as well as it did in the first few weeks. Before any of my important races I always refresh my Sealant for added security. Also running fatter tires at lower pressures helps because you don't need the Sealant to hold 100psi.

I also boot large puncture with patches but I use silicone as glue because rubber cement won't glue a patch to a tire that's been exposed to latex Sealant. I've ridden over 1000 miles on the tire with patch without issue.

Jason ever the font of knowledge. Which reminds me I really should refresh my sealant but I am always a little weary to mess with tubeless tyres that are mounted and holding . Remounting can either go one of two ways. Perfect and easy or a complete PITA. I do carry a small bottle or orange in the hope if my sealant does stop working I may be able to refresh and seal on the go.

Just need to find some TruckerCo in Aus without paying $30 shipping when my 1l orange runs out[/QUOTE]

 

[Bill K]

Which reminds me I really should refresh my sealant

I got my first tubeless flat yesterday because the Orange sealant dried up. A pinhole leak that the sealant would have easily plugged (and has for me many times before).
I tried plugging it with the Genuine Innovations plug but that did not work because apparently there needs to be some sealant to fill in around the plug. I didn't want to mess with the tire in the rain so I abandoned my ride plans and did the pump-ride a mile, pump-ride a mile, lather, rinse, repeat until I got home.
I think I am going to carry a small bottle of Orange with me in the future.

 

[RojoRacing]

Jason ever the font of knowledge. Which reminds me I really should refresh my sealant but I am always a little weary to mess with tubeless tyres that are mounted and holding . Remounting can either go one of two ways. Perfect and easy or a complete PITA. I do carry a small bottle or orange in the hope if my sealant does stop working I may be able to refresh and seal on the go.

Just need to find some TruckerCo in Aus without paying $30 shipping when my 1l orange runs out

[/QUOTE]

I'll ask Greg and see if he has anyone out there. Honestly I feel orange seal is maybe 10% better but at double the cost it's not worth it, and you guys know how much I love things orange. I was mtbing around at this place called rockville in the pouring rain which is possible because it's all granite rock so you have 100% traction almost like riding on sand paper. Always half the time our tires were completely under water and you could even see the ground because everywhere was like riding in a stream. I got a 1/4 rock tear and though my day was done but somehow the truckerco cream sealed it up with only a couple psi loss and we kept riding. I couldn't believe it sealed so fast with so much exposure to water, I'd say the sealant was about 2-3 week old when it happened.

 

[Markopolo]

I've used something similar to the genuine innovations tubeless repair kit on vehicles, they work well and are cheap and quick. The catch is if it is close to the sidewall it will not seal because of the flex, one reason tire repair stores will not repair something with a hole close to the sidewall or into the sidewall.

I see the bike tire as one big round sidewall, I can see using the orange stuff or Stan's to seal a sidewall, but for a puncture count your blessings if it works, same with the plug. And I'd think that plug kit would have to be pretty small diameter.

How many oz. of sealant is used vs. how much does a tube weigh?

For the ones riding in sticker country, when we were kids we used a piece of wire the was attached to the caliper bolt that lightly rubbed the tire as it rotated, anything picked up would be knocked off before it had a chance to go around and embed itself. That was the thinking anyway.

 

[Mathew Fy]

For the ones riding in sticker country, when we were kids we used a piece of wire the was attached to the caliper bolt that lightly rubbed the tire as it rotated, anything picked up would be knocked off before it had a chance to go around and embed itself. That was the thinking anyway.

I’m glad I don’t have that problem, but for those who do:
https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/preventing-flat-tires-one-year-of-tire-wipers/

 

[ccf]

I also boot large puncture with patches but I use silicone as glue because rubber cement won't glue a patch to a tire that's been exposed to latex Sealant.

Yup. My boot with rubber cement lasted just 116 miles. Sigh.

 

[Frank Costantini]

Question about sealant (havent used tubeless yet): when the sealant “expires”, do you have to remove the tire and clean out the old sealant before adding new sealant, or just top it up with new sealant? If the latter, how many times can you add sealant?

 

[ratz]

Question about sealant (havent used tubeless yet): when the sealant “expires”, do you have to remove the tire and clean out the old sealant before adding new sealant, or just top it up with new sealant? If the latter, how many times can you add sealant?

Depends on the tire, wheel and climate but in general. If no punctures then mount in spring; top off mind summer, remove over winter clean and repeat if tire tread warrants. After any flats top off the fluid. If more than 3 punctures it's good to remove the tires an get rid of the the big goobers that collect at the point of the puncture and can make the wheel unbalanced. In the end there's a "learning on the job" component to tubeless. Take the Middle ground and you'll be good.

 

[Frank Costantini]

Thanks, Bob. In the schedule you mention are you referring to (spring, mid-summer, etc) are you referring to Orange regular or Endurance sealant? I ordered some regular because of the increased sealing, but maybe should use Endurance for less frequent changes?