bsyptak

So, I've just purchased a used bike that the owner says has Stan's in it. It's a tubeless rim and standard tire so I have no idea what's in there except Stan's. He's had the bike for 2 years and said he never did any maintenance with the Stan's except add air. The rear wheel holds air fine but the front loses quite a bit over a 24 hr period. It's probably dry.

So, do I need to somehow get the old sealant out of the wheel before applying the new? Seems so otherwise the tire would get quite heavy after a few iterations.

C Law

pop the tire off the rim like any regular tire. Clean out the old stuff, put in the new stuff. remount and inflate.

It's a peice of cake to inflate tires (UST or regular) on tubeless rims.

When you reinflate, make sure the beads of the tire are in he middle of the rim and not seated along the bead hook. After a few pumps the beads will lock into bead hooks. Do the stans shake for a bit. go ride. it may take a few shakes to seal it all the way up

AfterThisNap

I'm lazy and don't even clean out the old stuff

Make sure to shake the bottle of stan's really well before you pour. I generally add 3 scoops in hot weather (instead of 2) just so I don't have to mess around with the tire for the entire season.

LowCel 

Just buy the little bottle, fill it with some stan's fluid. Take the core out of the tire stem, insert bottle tip, squirt stan's in, replace core in the tire stem, add air. It takes about two minutes.

I never take the old out, if it is dried up their isn't enough weight to worry about. However, if a set of tires is lasting two years then the bike isn't being ridden enough.

bsyptak

I really like the "just keep adding" approach.

Does a 32oz bottle of Stan's have a long shelf life? Seems like it would last me 5 years.

bsyptak

lowcel, if I remove the core stem, the tire won't unseat, right? I'll just be able to use a minipump to pump it back up. Might do it just before a ride this afternoon.

AfterThisNap

It might depending on your tire/rim/strip combo. I would at least find a floorpump just in case.
Stan's juice doesn't have a shelflife, just make sure to shake it up two or three times a year to keep it from settling too much.
My 32oz bottle has lasted me about a dozen tire changes/refills (on multiple bikes).

LowCel 

If you keep the tire up off of the ground then it "shouldn't" unseat. No promises though. I've never needed more than a floor pump when doing it this way though. I don't use a minipump so I can't promise you on that.

bsyptak

I think I'll take an extra tube and wait 'til after the ride...

C Law

keep in mind that if the bike has long periods of inactivity, stans does clump up into a little ball of latex inside the tire when it is drying out. not so much if the bike is being ridden often.

but you might want to pop the bead and have a look inside anyway since it's been a couple of years.

otherwise, removable valve cores are the way to go.

ViperZ

I have just started using Stan's sealant and UST rims and tires. I have the Valve injector kit, however when it comes time to change out the sealant, I think I'll just dismount the tire and use this large syringe that I have and try sucking it out with. Then while the bead is off, I'll just dump in the new sealant.

Come to think of it, I haven't used the valve injector yet as I dumped in the first load of sealant when i mounted up the tires.

It may be different for your non UST tires, and you may need to swish the Stans around the tire bead and rim to get it to set up and seal.

LowCel 

ViperZ - Why would you remove the old sealant? It doesn't go bad. The only reason you need to do anything is to add some if it dries up after a while.

bac

Ditto!

... Brad

ViperZ

No idea Lowcell.... I just thought it lost it's sealing properties overtime, as such needed to be replaced, swapped out.

You're saying it ball ups into a gummy mass, that would break back down if a bit for fresh sealant was added?

The Instructions on the back of the bottle do not make mention or removing the old stuff, and does stet to add more over time.

All I can say is that Pint bottle I bought is one heavy bottle of sealant, and hopefully the stuff in your tires would not weight near that once the bottle has been expended into the tires due to evaporation.

bsyptak

Picked up some Stan's sealant from REI yesterday and reloaded both tires. The store didn't have the little 2 oz bottle to use to squeeze the sealant down the valve stem, so I had to unseat one side of the tire to pour it in. No problam, as I wanted to look inside and see what was in there and see if I could actually do it from scratch. Doing both sides I think might be a chore though. I think maybe using the blower attachment on my compressor might blow enough air to push the tire to the sides of the rim.

I think it would have been next to impossible to do it myself without 4 hands to help the tire find the rim. I wasn't having any luck, because It was taking my 2 hands just to hold the pump chuck on the valve, and nothing to help move the tire around. My wife helped and with 4 hands the tires grabbed and inflated within about 10 seconds. A ride around the block and they were holding air perfectly this morning. I didn't bother removing the old stuff. I doubt it weighs more than a stick of Wrigley's.

Thx all.