TL;DR: After getting many punctures on my tubeless tyres (F/R), I see lots of sealant (standard Orange seal) leaking from and spreading on my tyre when the bike is resting in my garage. Need tyre replacement? Need to try a different sealant? Plugging all punctures is not an option (they are too many).
Hi folks,
I still consider myself a newbie, so spare me, please, if I'm asking a dumb question.
I've searched around the internet, but I've only found cases where punctured tubeless tyres would leak both sealant and air – not sealant only, as in my case.
My situation is the following. I have owned a Trek X-Caliber 9 since 2020. On both front and rear, it features Bontrager Kovee DW 23mm rims and Maxxis Ardent Race EXO 29×2.35" tyres.
Only in the past year, I've been riding it more "seriously" (i.e., I finally quit caring too much about it and rode some nasty rocky downhill segments). Recently, I've got quite a lot of punctures (up to 18 in the rear), but I never got a flat tyre.
I am sure there is little to no air leak. After ignoring the sealant leaks for a month or two, I noticed almost no sealant was left in either of the two tyres (2mm max as measured by dipstick method).
As a mechanic topped up the sealant 2 years ago, I thought it had dried out. Out of laziness, I concluded the old sealant leaked off completely, so I topped it up with standard Orange Seal, hoping it would finally clog the punctures after a ride…nope! Sealant still leaks from almost all punctures (see pictures).
I'm not excited to plug all punctures, honestly.
My question to you is: should I just ignore this and commit to more frequent sealant refills, or would a tyre replacement be a wiser move?
Thanks for sharing your opinion!
Cheers
by quotamare