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road tubeless wobble
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So I finally got a new Conti 5000 TL to replace the sidewall blowout on my last tubeless tire.
I get it mounted... and it wobbles. WTF?
There is a line on the tire just above the rim and it measure 2mm above the rim on most of the tire but 3mm for maybe a foot of the circumference.
I don't seem to notice it much on the road.
Bad tire? The beads SEEM to be mounted perfectly and it's hold air fine with just over 1.5 ounces of sealant.
Rim is perfectly true.

I wonder if the tire will just break in and even out over time or what.
Last edited by: NordicSkier: Jun 12, 19 21:25
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
So I finally got a new Conti 5000 TL to replace the sidewall blowout on my last tubeless tire.
I get it mounted... and it wobbles. WTF?
There is a line on the tire just above the rim and it measure 2mm above the rim on most of the tire but 3mm for maybe a foot of the circumference.
I don't seem to notice it much on the road.
Bad tire? The beads SEEM to be mounted perfectly and it's hold air fine with just over 1.5 ounces of sealant.
Rim is perfectly true.

I wonder if the tire will just break in and even out over time or what.

likely... it's not beaded up. here's the dirty secret: there's scant harmony among standards. some wheel and tire makers manufacture to ETRTO, others to ISO, some have proprietary bead hooks on their wheels, some are now using straight-wall beadless designs.

you need to overinflate your tire so that it pops up. then take air out. why? because not all tires easily go on all rims.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
I wonder if the tire will just break in and even out over time or what.
Doubtful.

When the bead is higher in some places than others, it's frequently because the diameter of the bead seat shoulder is too small per the diameter of the bead, so some spots are sitting on the shoulder and some spots are sitting higher. This is dangerous, it's a cause of blow-outs; it's just like how having the bead in the center channel makes it easier to lift the bead over the rim edge elsewhere. It's rarely a problem on tubed tires because the tube helps retain the tire bead, but when running tubeless you have a smaller margin of error.
You could try putting down another layer of tubeless tape, making sure that you're using a tape that's as wide as the rim bed including the bead seat shoulder, and seeing if that reduces the unevenness.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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I wouldn’t ride it that way. The bead is probably hung up somewhere on rim. Try pushing it back into center channel all the way around and re-inflate. Are you using a high volume pump or compressor?
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Re: road tubeless wobble [Carl Spackler] [ In reply to ]
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Hand pump. I pumped furiously to get the original inflation.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Yeesh, I though that would wreck the tire. I'll give it a go.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
Yeesh, I though that would wreck the tire. I'll give it a go.

it might wreck the tire. but this is a common complaint among tubeless. not just road tubeless. and it's not just tubeless. it's tubed tires on tubeless ready rims. not all of them. but this is a tubeless rim phenomenon.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
Yeesh, I though that would wreck the tire. I'll give it a go.

It's possible, but as long as you don't go totally bonkers, it's unlikely. Tires are typically derated to withstand significantly over their rated pressure; think about what happens if you pump a tire to max PSI and then massively heat up the air in the tube by doing lots of hard rim braking down a twisty mountain pass! Tires ideally shouldn't need to be overpressured in order to seat properly, but at the same time, it's in general not a bad idea to pump them somewhat stiffer than how you normally ride them when you first mount them (not just for seating, but also to check that a pressure boost isn't a problem).
Last edited by: HTupolev: Jun 12, 19 22:18
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
Hand pump. I pumped furiously to get the original inflation.

Pancake compressor. Search on slowtwitch main site. I wrote about it. Tubeless user's best friend.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: road tubeless wobble [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Slowman wrote:
NordicSkier wrote:
Yeesh, I though that would wreck the tire. I'll give it a go.


it might wreck the tire. but this is a common complaint among tubeless. not just road tubeless. and it's not just tubeless. it's tubed tires on tubeless ready rims. not all of them. but this is a tubeless rim phenomenon.

I let the air out and unseated the bead. It looks like the rim tape has lifted and was maybe between the bead and the rim.
Going to pull the tire off, redo the rim tape, re-seat the tire and have a go at it again. Uggh.
I'm determined to give tubeless a go but this is trying my patience.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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A hand pump might be insufficient to seat tire; it typically requires a bigger initial burst of air. At a minimum, remove the value core and hold pump valve in place to get higher volume for initial bead seat, let air escape and then put value core back and inflate. Spin the wheel to see if there’s any wobble before riding.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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I had the same issue, tubeless ready rims with a tubed tyre. As it was brand new I took it back to the shop who fixed it. They then gave me a tube of effectively lip salve, but made by Shimano, to smear on the inside of the rim to allow the tyre to slip over and seat correctly. This works... I don't think you need the Shimano version, any lip salve would work I reckon....

I would like a less awkward solution as trying to do this on the side of the road would be a PITA....
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Re: road tubeless wobble [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Or a quick trip to your friendly LBS... that's what I do when I have the same problems. Their shop compressor will inevitably seat the tires correctly.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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you can also make the rim and tire slicker with some dish soap or soapy water. When the tire is on the rim but before you inflate it, take a wet and soapy sponge and run it one lap around the rim between the tire and the rim - be sloppy and get it good and wet. Some lubrication often helps the tire to snap at lower PSI than might otherwise be needed.

Andy Tetmeyer (I work at HED)

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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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A pancake compressor is ideal, but if you don't have the money or space for it, then I would suggest getting a trigger activated CO2 inflator like this one that can dump out all the compressed air at once when the trigger is pulled:



So far I have 100% success rate with it, seating 12 road tubeless ready tires without using soapy water, even tires that have been removed from the rim before. I used 20g cartridges, and each cartridge left 120 psi in each 700x23c tire after the beads popped loudly into place.
Last edited by: RichardL: Jun 13, 19 10:28
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Re: road tubeless wobble [andy tetmeyer] [ In reply to ]
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andy tetmeyer wrote:
you can also make the rim and tire slicker with some dish soap or soapy water. When the tire is on the rim but before you inflate it, take a wet and soapy sponge and run it one lap around the rim between the tire and the rim - be sloppy and get it good and wet. Some lubrication often helps the tire to snap at lower PSI than might otherwise be needed.
This.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [andy tetmeyer] [ In reply to ]
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andy tetmeyer wrote:
you can also make the rim and tire slicker with some dish soap or soapy water. When the tire is on the rim but before you inflate it, take a wet and soapy sponge and run it one lap around the rim between the tire and the rim - be sloppy and get it good and wet. Some lubrication often helps the tire to snap at lower PSI than might otherwise be needed.

I can't believe I had to read this far down in the thread to see this advice. Thank you Andy.

It makes the tire easier to mount, easier to inflate, and easier to get the bead seated.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [dangle] [ In reply to ]
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dangle wrote:
andy tetmeyer wrote:
you can also make the rim and tire slicker with some dish soap or soapy water. When the tire is on the rim but before you inflate it, take a wet and soapy sponge and run it one lap around the rim between the tire and the rim - be sloppy and get it good and wet. Some lubrication often helps the tire to snap at lower PSI than might otherwise be needed.


I can't believe I had to read this far down in the thread to see this advice. Thank you Andy.

It makes the tire easier to mount, easier to inflate, and easier to get the bead seated.


I keep a spray bottle of soapy water on my bike work bench and just spray down the sidewalls when installing (when needed).
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Re: road tubeless wobble [MKirk] [ In reply to ]
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MKirk wrote:
I keep a spray bottle of soapy water on my bike work bench and just spray down the sidewalls when installing (when needed).

Same! One for rubbing alcohol, one for soapy water (just give it a good shake), and then a green one with some sediment at the bottom and I can't remember what it's in there. Someday I'll get brave enough to open it and find out.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
I let the air out and unseated the bead. It looks like the rim tape has lifted and was maybe between the bead and the rim.
Going to pull the tire off, redo the rim tape, re-seat the tire and have a go at it again. Uggh.
I'm determined to give tubeless a go but this is trying my patience.

I feel you. I've been down the road tubeless rabbit hole and have gone back to tubes. Still running tubeless on my MTB though. Much better experience there.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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Soapy water around the bead.

Conti tyres have a witness line in the moulding that (when seated properly) sits just outside the edge of the rim - check this is visible all the way around with an even gap to the rim edge.

I’ve been up at 90 psi to mount Conti tyres on Mavic ust rims - a nice bang / series of bangs when they seat properly.

* all my experiences are the MTB rims *

WD :-)
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Re: road tubeless wobble [RichardL] [ In reply to ]
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Yes also used the Co2, but thought it a bit of a waste to be using so many cartridges. So got an airshot, which does the same but with air that you have to pump up beforehand. I have found to work really well for road an CX tubeless.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [msrixon] [ In reply to ]
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You must be using the wrong type of inflator then because you only need one cartridge per tire. I have an Airshot also, but it only works half the time and doesn't work well for tires that have been removed from the rim.
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Re: road tubeless wobble [RichardL] [ In reply to ]
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I don't understand these tubeless-specific "charge-up a chamber and dump it into the tire" pumps. A good one will run you $150, a cheap one $70. They require a ton of work to charge the chamber and then you've got one (fairly weak) shot to blow the beads on. You can get a pretty nice compressor for $90, fit it with a ~$25 presta converter and you have a much better solution that can also be used for many other purposes. I've had a cheap 3 gallon compressor for years, it works very well.
Last edited by: hiro11: Jun 14, 19 8:34
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Re: road tubeless wobble [hiro11] [ In reply to ]
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Yup. Looked up the cost of a pancake compressor at Lowe's in Canada. $109. I can see it getting a lot of use.
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