Tubeless puncture - stop or keep rolling to allow sealant to work?
 

So. I hear conflicting reports on what to do when punctures happen with tubeless tyres and sealant. Some posts I've read state to keep rolling and allow the sealant to do its job as your ride. Others have said to stop, bring the puncture in the tyre to the top and put your finger over the hole to let the sealant to its job. Still others have written to bring the puncture down to the bottom and keep the tyre in contact with the pavement to let the sealant do its job.

Is there any right answer? Or just run with whatever works for you?

Depends on the size and number of punctures, air pressure and volume, how much sealant is in the tire, and maybe some other things.

A buddy rode thru a patch of thorns and spewed sealant everywhere and the tire flatted. It was remedied by pumping the tire back to pressure and slowly rotating the tire.

On my gravel bike with wide tires if I get a prick or few I usually don't even notice it until after the ride (little spots of dried sealant on the tread), the sealant just does its job.

On a road bike with skinny tires and high pressure, you'll probably get a hiss with even a small puncture, and what I would do is roll the puncture to the bottom of the tire and let it do its thing. I suppose you could press a finger on the puncture and wait for it to seal to the same (or greater) effect, but I prefer to not dirty my hands if I can help it.

If the hole is small it will seal it self while riding. Saw this other day when someone was riding a gravel bike. A bunch of orange sealant spurted out. A few seconds later it stopped. Tire still full of air like magic.


If you still hear and see it leaking, you want the hole on the bottom where all the liquid sealant can pool and cover the hole.

I am not sure how putting the hole on top with your finger on the hole and all the sealant pooled at the bottom of the tire would do anything.

One school of thought is that if the hole is submerged in sealant then the sealant can't dry to form the plug. But I think it depends on the sealant itself. Some thicker sealants with added fibers are probably more effective at sealing with the puncture on the bottom, while less viscous sealants with better after spinning the wheel a bit to evenly coat the tire, then don't let the sealant pool on the hole, and rely on the air pressure to force smaller droplets into the hole and allow it to dry quickly for the seal to form.

If you're riding and get a puncture the sealant is already evenly distributed.
I have often gotten a small punctures on my road tires and hear the hissing sound of the sealant escaping until it seals the hole.
This depends on how large the puncture is, and the type of sealant. If its a large puncture you most likely will need to plug it or add an inner tube.
You might need to add air after the puncture has sealed itself.
Make sure you check the amount of sealant in yr tires regularly.

It can work, but it'll spray sealant all over you and your bike until it completely closes.

That's what I do, after moving into the shade, if possible.

I get off the bike (to reduce pressure) and spin the tire. I have no idea if that is the best solution - I've only had a couple of punctures that I was aware of while riding.

Sounds like the one thing they agree on is to let the sealant do its job.

I've only had 1 puncture since switching to tubeless two years ago. My sealant (OS endurance) leaked out but didn't seal as I rode. I pulled over and spun the wheel. Seemed like it worked, but leakage resumed down the road so I ended up repeating the process a few more times. Eventually it sealed permanently and I couldn't even tell where the puncture was when I got home. That tire still holds air fine nearly a year later, even though it's been left alone for many months while the bike was on the trainer.

In the future I'll try to leave the puncture on the bottom and give the sealant some time to work instead.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I use Orange Seal. I have had a couple of punctures and the only way I knew about them was b/c when I arrived home my bike was covered in sealant. Had I not seen the sealant on the bike, I'd never have known about the puncture.

Then I had a puncture a week or so ago. The sealant sprayed everywhere. Definitely did no plug the hole while I was riding. I stopped with the sealant/hole at the top but no luck. The sealant would not do the trick. So I used a Dynaplug and that did the trick. Pumped up the tyre and was able to finish my ride. I rode on the tyre for several long rides after that too. The plugs held. But as the tyre had 9,000+kms on it I decided to play it safe and I replaced the tyre. However when I took the tyre off and inspected it, there was still a good amount of tread left and the sealant had sealed over the Dynaplug. I probably could have continued to ride the tyre for another 1,000km.