Questions about tubeless - oily weeping?
01-28-23, 10:21 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Questions about tubeless - oily weeping?
I'm new to tubeless.
Maintaining two bikes. One's still t/l. I went back to tubes on my bike.
I noticed an oily weeping to the outside of the tires where the sealant apparently did its job. The liquid is clear and looks/feels slightly oily. It'll stay there on the tire for months, not drying up or going away.
Recently I peeled both tires off my bike. The tubeless sealant had completely dried out. There was no liquid whatsoever. Does anyone know what the oily liquid is? I used Bontrager tubeless sealant.
Maintaining two bikes. One's still t/l. I went back to tubes on my bike.
I noticed an oily weeping to the outside of the tires where the sealant apparently did its job. The liquid is clear and looks/feels slightly oily. It'll stay there on the tire for months, not drying up or going away.
Recently I peeled both tires off my bike. The tubeless sealant had completely dried out. There was no liquid whatsoever. Does anyone know what the oily liquid is? I used Bontrager tubeless sealant.
01-28-23, 05:35 PM
#2
Mad bike riding scientist
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It’s a glycol…likely propylene glycol. It has virtually no vapor pressure so it won’t evaporate. It can wash off the outside but the propylene glycol dissolves into the rubber which won’t wash off. You are seeing a bit of the material that has made it all the way through the rubber but the bulk of it is in the rubber itself. When you put more sealant into the tire, it will just be forced through the tire while displacing the old glycol but it won’t go away.
On a positive note, the glycol isn’t toxic as long as it is propylene glycol. If it ethylene glycol (which I don’t think is used) it is toxic if you lick it. But to paraphrase the old “Doctor! Doctor!” joke, don’t lick your tires.
On a positive note, the glycol isn’t toxic as long as it is propylene glycol. If it ethylene glycol (which I don’t think is used) it is toxic if you lick it. But to paraphrase the old “Doctor! Doctor!” joke, don’t lick your tires.
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Stuart Black
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Days of Wineless Roads. Bed and Breakfasting along the KATY
Twisting Down the Alley. Misadventures in tornado alley.
Stuart Black
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Days of Wineless Roads. Bed and Breakfasting along the KATY
Twisting Down the Alley. Misadventures in tornado alley.
