Question on patching tubeless tires
 

I'm looking for some guidance based on experience for patching a Hutchinson Sector 28 tubeless tire. Yesterday I returned from my ride and noticed orange splotches on the bike and on me that was clearly Orange Seal sealant. The rear tire pressure was only down 10 pounds so I pumped it back up to 90 pounds and assumed that the hole was plugged by sealant. The pressure checked OK this morning before my ride but about 2 miles out I heard a hissing noise and the pressure dropped way down. I could see sealant bubbling on the tire while I added air. I got the bike home and removed the rear tire.

I've washed the wheel and tire but with the sealant residue it is difficult to see much of anything like a hole or a cut. I can see a small wire puncturing the tire but that seems like an unlikely source for the type of air loss that I experienced. It isn't like I can pressure check it in water like a tube. If I need to remove the sealant residue, what is safe to use on the inside of a tire? New to tubeless and need advice please.

lol the tiniest of hole in a tire holding 50 to 100 pounds will leak fast and usually all the way down. The wire has to be removed and the tire patched. Putting sealant in a tire is not a very good idea. It will usually leak anyway and the tire is very hard to work with once that crap is in it. When a car tire comes in to a tire store with sealant in it, they usually just throw it away cause the sealant is very nasty and almost impossible to clean out.

Secteur 28 tubeless road tires absolutely require sealant. Unlike most other road tubeless tires they will not hold air without sealant. What you have to do is to remount the tire after having removed that piece of wire, then inflate the tire and mark where the punctures are.Then you can remove the tire from the rim and apply patches on the inside.

Here's a good write up on Hutchinson's tubeless patch kit that might be helpful. They're working on a mountain bike tire, but you can apply the repair procedures to your road tubeless tire, and a road tubeless patch kit from Hutchinson is available.

Review/How To: Hutchinson Rep?air Tubeless Tire Patch Kit

sealant in tires is a bad idea, I dont care who puts it in. If the tires require sealant, use a differnt system. It is only a pain.

The Sector 28 is different from any other tubeless road tire out there. In order to keep tire weight low with the 28mm width, Hutchinson made the tire carcass much thinner, hence the need for sealant. Nobody else makes a road tubeless tire as wide as this one, so if someone wants the benefits of a wide road tubeless tire, there is no other choice. Sealant works very well in road tubeless tires. When Hutchinson first brought out their road tubeless system, they were sponsoring Steve Bauer's cycling team. He told us that at the end of some races they discovered that some riders had suffered punctures but the sealant had done the job with only a slight pressure loss that the riders hadn't even noticed. In a tire that is designed for it, sealant is a good idea

Thanks all, the tire is back on the bike. I did find a way to remove the sealant residue and found evidence of three other leaks where the sealant had done its job. The hole with the tiny wire in it is the only potential source for the huge air loss this morning. Four patches and two ounces of sealant and we are ready to ride again.

:thumb:

You also could try some superglue on the outside of the tire to try to seal the punctures.

Thanks for the tip Leebo, I appreciate it. As alcjphil pointed out last week, the Sector 28 is a unique tire that can't be used without sealant. The weight of the tire has been kept down by reducing the amount of rubber in the tire which leaves it vulnerable to cuts and punctures. After finishing my ride on Sunday the tire started spewing sealant again so I am abandoning these tires after just less than 500 miles and going back to a 25cm tire.

Sorry to hear that you haven't enjoyed good success with the Sector 28's, I had been wanting to try them, but had held back because of the high price. I had also been disappointed by not having a good choice of wider sizes in tubeless. I have been using The Intensive 25 mm on my rear wheel and a Fusion3 23 mm tire on the front. For the life of me, I can't see any difference in size. Measuring the width of the tire carcass off the wheel, they are the same. The main reason I use the Intensive in back is that it is a longer wearing tire

If you still want to try the 28's after my experience I'll mail them to you the next time I pass through Montreal. I am going to try 25cm Fusion 3 on both wheels this time. The jump from 23cm to 25cm was fairly significant for me. The tires are due here on Wednesday so I am running my tubed 23's until I get them mounted.