For a note, I only go tubeless for my fat bike and mtn bike.


I add more sealant every season, just an extra 2oz or so. I don't clean out the old sealant, I think your suppose to but that sounds like a terrible process. For a flat that doesn't self seal, if you can't patch it, buy a new tire.

I'll top off my sealant every 3-4 months, usually when the tire loses pressure pretty quickly. For bigger punctures, I carry bacon strips, which are basically rubber strips that you insert with a tool (usually provided with the strips) into the puncture. Give it a spin and pressure it up and it should hold. I also carry a conventional tube + CO2 in case the bacon strips don't work.

Try Dynaplugs for faster fixes. It's what I carry for road-tubeless

How long can you ride before adding more? I get 2-3 months of solid riding before I need to add more, unless I get a puncture that looses a lot of sealant (but still seals)

Do you have to clean the old sealant every time you add more? No but I will pick off some dried sealant if I need to take the tires off for any reason, I also go through tires fast enough that I'm not dealing with years of build up so I usually don't clean them.

What do you do if you get a flat that does not self seal? Plugs or a tube. Plugs are a lot less mess if you can get them to work.

FWIW, I'm only riding MTB so you may have different results/needs on the road.

you don't have to clean the sealant out every time. but i do. it's every 4 to 6 months. it's not hard. that said, if i deflate a tire and it looks like the sealant is fresh, i just pump the tire back up. if it holds, i'm good. if it looks like a lot of sealant has congealed then i take the tire off, clean it, remount it, new sealant, and i'm off. it's pretty quick, quite easy, not necessarily messy. you get a feel for doing it.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

with only 1 bike, I only get 4-5 months out of my tires.

How do your clean you yours? I do it every winter (4sets of tires) and time it takes is an hour plus per set.

just with my hands. i peel off the congealed parts. it goes pretty quick.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Thanks. I was told to remove as much of the old sealant as possible, so use a scrubbing pad to take it down to the tire. Supposedly, I was told, if you don’t use the same sealant, the old and new sealant can interact and solidify the new sealant in the tire. Guess that was an urban legend.

that seems to me to be a little over-diligent. i don't know. to me, the only kind of tricky part is this: if you had a leak between the tire and the rim and the sealant sealed it, you've got to get anything like that off the tire. once you remount the tire you'll want the bead area to not have congealed goobers on it. otherwise, not a big deal.

but you probably are better off using a sealant that is recommended by the tire maker. for example, if you use a gum or skinwall tire or anything that has sidewall leak by design, you'll need for sure a latex sealant to plug those little sidewall leaks. when that's the kind of tire i'm using i put the sealant in, turn the tire flat, like a plate, and soak the sidewalls with sealant, on both sides.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman