b88

Has anyone tried using a Dremel rotary sander to remove the hardened sealant from the edges of the tubeless tires. It takes forever to pry the junk off with needle nose pliers. But I'm thinking it might just sand off some rubber as well if you get too heavy handed.

Koyote

My thoughts exactly.

If you're using power tools to clean your bike tires, your problem isn't sealant.

indyfabz

IIRC, the stuff is water soluble. (I don't replace sealant. My mechanics do.)

b88

I keep thinking same thing but then I go on you tube and .....

dsaul

If you can't get it off with your fingers, it doesn't need to come off. The next batch of sealant will seal up the bead.

caloso

I've just scraped off the excess boogers with my thumbnail. But I'm not sure that's even necessary. Don't you want the old sealant to stay on the inner surface of the tire?

b88

I pick off any big pieces in the inner surface. I clean up the bead as much as possible. I find excessive old hard sealant on the beads result in faster pressure loss. It doesn’t seal quite as well.

b88

While I was changing sealant, might as well take the tire off and check it out.

unterhausen

It's good practice to pop the bead and clean the nasty stuff out. I never do on my own bikes though, I'm curious if some of the older tubeless tires have grown squids.

I think a dremel is more likely to do damage to a tire than help. Sure, the tire is getting marginally heavier over time as sealant dries on it, but probably it will wear out before that's particularly significant.

Darth Lefty 

U R not R’ing C

b88

I'm just looking for justification to buy new toys. . Yes the sealant on my other bike have grown squids. I kept puncturing the tire on purpose to see how well the sealant works. Well the dynaplugs sure work. Then I kept pumping it back up with CO2 cartridges. Fastest way to ruin your sealant.

I unseated the tire because I'm using race sealant, which may or may not plug up the valve stem.

b88

Ya my LBS told me not to inject it through the valve. The right method is whatever works for you.

indyfabz

Stan's cleans up with water.

HerrKaLeun

+1
/thread

Koyote

Injecting it through the valve works for me.

I'm starting to understand why some posters believe that tubeless is sooo much work -- there are a bunch of people making it way more work than it really is.

5teve

Stans specifically recommends against injecting their "Race" sealant through the valve, fwiw.

DrIsotope

I swap out tires every now and again, and all of my bikes are tubeless. I was doing an unsupported 140 miles day after Xmas, so I put on some tougher rubber in place of the happy-medium-style that were on the bike the day before. My method? Take off the sealant filled tire, take it outside, spray it with the hose, fold it up, put it away in the old Igloo Cooler that serves as my tire storage humidor (which currently has 9 or 10 pairs of tires in it.) The stream of water from the hose will take off ~95% of the sealant. There's no need to get a tubeless tire any cleaner than that unless you're planning on selling it.

b88

Thanks. All the same I will stick to recommended install.



Stans race sealant.

Koyote

You do you, I'll do me.

But perhaps just ponder for a moment: what will happen if you inject it through the valve? How is the end result any different than if you pour it directly into the tire, other than that injecting it is easier and takes less time?

Kapusta

I would never use a sealant that I can’t inject through the valve stem with the core removed.

Been injecting Stans (regular) through the core using Stan’s own injector made specifically for this purpose for 10 years.

Koyote

You mean this. It even comes with an adapter for both presta and schrader valves.

Seems like Stan's is okay with injecting their sealant through the valve stem, as long as you use their $10 doohicky.

Kapusta

I only scrape the sealant out when I change the air.

b88

Your first line says it all.

Maybe because we are under lockdown and I can spare a couple extra minutes. Or my bikes been in storage for half a year and I want to clean them up.
Or we just had a snowstorm here. What’s the rush. 😂.

Or a line from a movie I liked, “Some people just like to take the long way home”.

Troul 

a rotary tool may work to be faster, but it's also less forgiving with an oops. I would use a plastic puddy knife.

gregf83 

Stans specifically says to not inject the racing sealant through the valve stem. They say this in the video they provide on how to inject the standard sealant. The tools they supply for injecting the standard sealant include a valve core removal tool so Stans understands the need to remove the core and still they recommend not inject the race sealant using this method.