HillRider

I'm taking my first foray into tubeless tires and wheels to go on my Surly Midnight Special. Choosing the wheels and tires was pretty straight forward and I've ordered a pair of 650b Shimano WH-RX570 wheels (12x100 front and 12x142 rear thru axles, centerlock discs, tubeless ready) and WTB Horizon 650bx47 tires. The wheels have removable valve cores so sealant can be added with the tires fully installed. Not exotic but good.

At this point my question is, which sealant? After watching several Youtube videos and reading some threads here it appears the most well thought of contenders are Orange Seal Endurance and Muc-Off. Both are reported to seal well and last at least 6 months. Muc-Off is a bit more expensive but is CO2 tolerant so roadside inflation with a CO2 canister won't damage it. Finish Line and Stans got mixed reviews. So, what say the forumites? Experience, good or bad, and recommendations will be appreciated. Thanks.

cpach

Orange Seal Endurance is what my shop uses predominantly and what I've used myself for a long time. It seems to last a little longer than Stans and similar other options, and seal a touch better. I used Stans Race for a while--it definitely seals better than any other sealant I've seen, with the tradeoff that it can't go through the valve stem. I'd say just use Orange Seal Endurance.

dabac

I’ve used this stuff https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenda-tire-.../dp/B0052CHIY2

and have been quite happy with it. It’s not the best for big holes, but is really long lasting.

dsaul

I use the original Orange Seal. I tried the Endurance formula and didn't like it as much as the original, because it didn't seal punctures as well for me.

well biked

At our shop, we were longtime Stan's Notubes sealant users, but we have changed our preference to Orange Seal sealant in recent years.

urbanknight

I was just looking at this for putting Stan's sealant in. Seems like that goes in through the stem (with the core removed), doesn't it? Although the one review for the product makes me hesitant.

Also, can I change from Stan's to Orange Seal in the same tires? I read it wasn't good to mix brands because they might have different solvents that react with each other in an undesirable way.

Riveting

I've never added sealant via the valve (with core removed), I just put the one bead of the tire on, pour the sealant right into the tire, and then put the other bead on. What exactly is the advantage, if there is one, of filling via the valve? Maybe I could see using the valve to add some extra sealant without having to remove a bead, but I usually remove all the old sealant and clean the inside of the tire before adding new sealant.

vespasianus

I use orange seal and supplement all my tires with star shipped glitter as well.

urbanknight

I'm brand new to tubeless and just reading this to educate myself, but I imagine it would be more convenient when refreshing the sealant to not have to remove (or partially remove) the tire. How do you remove the old sealant? Does that help keep the tires from getting weighed down or something?

DaveSSS 

To change sealant brand, it's best to remove the tire, clean it out and start new. I bought this kit for adding sealant.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FMJ34TG...sin_title&th=1

Some bottles of orange seal come with a lid and hose that fits over the stem, but I'd still remove the core.

https://www.backcountry.com/orange-s...saAlrNEALw_wcB

Jonneh

This was an excellent test of a bunch of sealants: https://www.slowtwitch.com/Products/...rt_2_4155.html

Bontrager TLR came out on top, closely followed by Orange Seal.

I've also heard good things about the Tufo ones (not tested there), although the Extreme version seems to dry up fast.

Riveting

I use Stan's and remove the entire tire to clean the old sealant out, and when it dries real good, it often peels off like a rubber sheet, though sometimes when it's not fully dried, rubbing the undried wet stuff off with an old piece of bath towel works pretty well. I'm not so concerned with weight in general, but the reason I remove the old sealant, is just to make sure the old sealant doesn't get dried and built up in "one" part of the tire and make it unbalanced at higher speeds, and also I would imagine the new sealant has an easier job of sealing new holes without the old dry sealant getting in the way, possibly stopping the new sealant from getting into the hole and doing its job. So I typically remove all of the old before adding new. Maybe I'm being overly cautious, but it's worked for me so far, and I've NEVER had a complete flat while using sealant, and one time I pulled a dozen goatheads out of a tire all at once, first rotating the tire so the goathead was at 6 o'clock, and allowing the sealant to pool to the bottom before pulling the goathead out, and all 12 sealed up nice and quick using this method, and with minimal/no observable loss of psi.

HillRider

Interesting article but a couple of things make it less useful:
1. It was a test of sealants in road inner tubes, not low pressure tubeless gravel tires which are what I'm getting.
2. It is over 7 years old and a lot of newer sealants have been introduced since then and others have likely been reformulated. Orange Seal Endurance and Muc-Off are noted new comers.