My silca sealant clumped up 90% of the carbon fibers. Now it's basically, as far as I can tell, stans sealant with occasional fibers (I think a lot of the sealants come from the same source and the different companies just add various additives to differentiate).

The carbon fiber stuff is a real pain to deal with. My suggestion to silca is to include a packet of the fibers separately. Add them dry to the inside of the tire, then fill their sealant through the valve stem. I assume they don't like that because people will just buy the fibers and then buy the cheaper stans. Happy to be wrong Silca, but for the love of spilled sealant everywhere when installing Conti tires on HED rims, please let us mix the carbon fiber separately.

mine didn't seem to have any fibres to speak of. as such, it seems like an even thinner mix than others which does nothing in the case of a puncture. i suspect that even within their production system keeping the fibres evenly distributed is a challenge.

i think your idea of selling the fibres separately is in principle a good one - i didn't have any major issues with setup mess but we both have issues with fibre distribution, in opposite ways. i assume that replenisher + fibres = fibre foam, though there may well be more to it than that

Ya, I've read about their clumping issues. I figure if it clumps inside the tire, and you get a leak, maybe that booger blob will find its way to the hole :) If not, then it's just a big waste a few days or weeks after you install it and it starts to clump up.

I'd not run it if it was potentially not combatible with some rim tapes...

I use TruckerCo Cream II and 3m 8988 tape. Truckerco sells and reccommends Tesa 4288 over the 3m. May buy a roll of the Tesa when my 3M is running low although my roll will probably last many years to come. I use two layers of tape for my tubeless wheels. Replace it every other year roughly on a tire change although it's probably fine.

This is what Silca recommends, this is from the Sealant section of their Education Center;

1. Check/Install the rim tape – Look for any tape coming up at the sides, wear, etc that might mean there could be a leak. If you see any issues we recommend replacing the rim tape with a Tensilized Polypropeline tape. Tesa tape on Amazon is a great place to start and if you need help with that we have a guide on replacing your rim tape

I didn't know that it wasn't compatible with DT Swiss rim tape, I just set up a set of DT Swiss wheels yesterday with Silca sealant.

I've had a set of Swissside wheels, which I'm sure must have DT Swiss tape on them and they're fine. Maybe Josh will chime in....

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Kiwami Racing Team

So the fiber clumping issue was on us and existed within the first few months of production.. the stuff plugs the bottling equipment and we had to work through 3 different bottling machines and suppliers before finding one that could handle the stuff. As a result, some bottles had too much carbon and some very little. The ones with too much carbon could lead to clumping, though even if the carbon did clump, the raw sealant will still test better than Stan's and about equivalent to regular Orange Seal.

The DT/Zipp rim tape issue is something we initially thought was something related to us, but it now appears to be more related to something that was changed with the tape, most likely during covid related supply chain issues, as we did over a year of testing on the sealant in wheels using both Zipp and DT tapes without issue, but from mid 2020 onward began seeing issues. You can now find dozens of threads on MTB forums debating the identical delamination and discoloration issues with the rim tape using any of the common sealant brands. Seems that any sealant with any sort of particle leads to abrasion, and sealants with more particles like Stan's raceday or SILCA just seem to do it a bit faster. You can read more here: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/rim-tape-failure/

When we say tensilyzed polypropylene rim tape, that means anything like Stan's yellow tape, Schwalbe blue, 3M, Tessa, etc.. all of these tapes use similar TPP materials and are either made by 3M or Tessa, and all of them are significantly more durable than the PET/vinyl tapes that have logos printed on them.. a good rule of thumb is that the good stuff is generally brightly colored, opaque, and has no logos on it as it cannot be printed on as the material will not hold ink.

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

I use Stan's rim tape and Silca sealant and have had no issues whatsoever.

Hmm I just bought some Silca sealant to try, but having read this post I am now wondering if it is worth actually installing it on my Zipp wheels if it is going to give me issues with the tape. Don't want to be messing around trying to find some very specific new type of tape that might be better with Silca sealant. I live in Europe and am guessing it is probably hard to find the specific tape brands you listed. Have been using MucOff sealant for past 2 years since the wheels were new, this has not caused me any issues with my rim tape. What to do??

https://www.amazon.com/...e-8896/dp/B00C0Z1Z5C

Josh schwalbe blue tubeless tape has white logos all over it ...

I’ve used Silca sealant on a set of Zipp 404 fc’s for the past year. Oddly one rim tape had issues (I believe from install), but one has been fine for the past year with the factory installed Zipp tape.

I found that not to adhere very well.

Clearly from the responses to this post so far, it is not so simple. Some say one type of tape works, others say it doesn’t…….all too hard quite honestly.

If Silca knew about these tape issues for 12 months+ then why on earth do they not put clear warnings about it on their product descriptions and packaging??? Just imagine if somebody had a catastrophic blowout that was caused by a tape issue, that in turn was caused by using Silca sealant then I suspect a judge in a product liability case would look very unfavourably on the manufacturer……especially when it is documented and even admitted to here on this forum that they have known for some considerable tape that THEIR sealant could cause problems with tubeless system effectiveness.

I think I might be returning my so far unopened bottle of their “super” sealant to avoid this issue for myself.

I'm sorry for my tone, but when you get to talking product liability while clearly having not even bothered to fully read any of the details I've included I get a bit frustrated..


It's hard to call this a SILCA issue when this particular tape is also failing when used with pretty much EVERY OTHER MAJOR BRAND OF SEALANT that contains any sort of particles, READ the single track forum link I posted.. it's a bunch of people going on about how Stan's and Continental, and Orange Seal and numerous other brands of sealant have all 'caused' this identical failure in this same tape. At some point, we have to say that this likely isn't really a sealant problem and is most likely a tape problem. Especially when we have numerous documented instances across the internet of the problem occurring in one wheel and not another, or with one roll of the tape and not another.

I also take issue with the comment that 'I'm guessing it's probably pretty hard to find the specific brands of tape you've listed'.. seriously? These are the biggest names in tubeless, the companies that founded the space, and which are in turn made by the world's 2 largest manufacturers of adhesive backed tape, 3M and Tessa.. a few keystrokes on the googletron will find this stuff pretty much everywhere from dozens of the most common brands. Beyond that, I'd recommend just buying any other brand of tape as the issues with DT and Zipp seem to be limited to certain batches or certain time periods of manufacture, hence people having the issue intermittently with different rolls or different wheel sets.. hard for me to say as I'm not either of those companies, but I'm unaware of this issue with any other tapes on the market even the printed ones.. we just recommend TPP tapes as they are much stronger and just plain better tapes than the vinyl based tapes.

Also, noted on the Schwalbe blue now being printed..this had been the same Tessa tape that Stan's uses but now appears to be different with printed branding so I'll take it off my list of TPP tapes!

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

At some point, we have to say that this likely isn't really a sealant problem and is most likely a tape problem. LOL. If in doubt deny all responsibility and say that it is the fault of the tape manufacturers!

Why does Silca not put a warning on its product to avoid combining it with Zipp and DT tape?????

My respect for Silca has just disappeared in 24hrs. Sorry Josh you are one loyal customer less.

So you're going to go buy sealant from another manufacturer who also didn't put a warning on their product and isn't here on the forum giving the information out so that you know about it?

Sure, that makes sense.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

nothing to add to the discussion but I have to say this is an awesome reply.

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Tiago
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Sponsors: : Blueseventy :

Actually I will simply continue to use the brand that I have been happily using for the past two years without encountering any problems with my rim tape. I had thought I might try the Silca option, as I was previously a fan of the brand, so thought why not try it????

But if I have to muck around looking for some new tape, that will definitely and reliably work with the Silca sealant and then having to replace my current tape….just to much hassle TBH. I’ll look for my marginal gains elsewhere thank you.

Glad I saw this thread just before I opened the Silca bottle! It’s already gone back to the retailer I bought it from. He was shocked when I told him why I’d returned it.

Which brand are you currently using?

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

It would make sense for him to be shocked because the problem is with the tape not the sealant.

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Tiago
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Sponsors: : Blueseventy :

Agreed, what an idiot. Sadly he'll share his skewed side of the story without that facts. Hope that dealer is smart enough to see the idiot in front of him.

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Kiwami Racing Team

Glad I found this thread. I had a tubeless tape failure last week on my Swiss side wheel which I had been running for 8 months and maybe 2,000 miles with Silca sealant. After I took the tire off I saw the Swiss side logos on the tubeless tape were starting to wear off in places exposing a transparent orange layer underneath, which lines up with the issue described here. I replaced the stock tape with Panaracer tape, but now I’m going to go look for some TPP tape based on Josh’s input above. I felt very lucky that the initial rim tape failure didn’t cause me to crash and I do not want to test my luck a second time.

I use Silca and use DT Swiss tape. Both work great. Don’t try to inject it. You really don’t need to, and you cannot do that with Silca. There is a learning curve to tubeless. My first few were a total mess. Now it is a super easy thing. When you get even better you can dismount the tire, collect a few ounces of sealant from the old tire and reuse it mixed with some new for the new tire. If you get into cyclocross you’ll want to change tires all the time and become a pro with tubeless 😆