Thread: Will this work? Ghetto tubeless question.

I did it just like this and had no issues. The rims I used had a deep groove in the center of the rim so I put weather stripping in it. Then, I put the gorilla tape over it. I had to top it off for couple of days, then it sealed just fine.

Bumping this up because I'm having some issues with pinhole leaks that just won't seal.

I did the Gorilla tape rim strip on a DT Swiss M1600 wheelset. I'm using presta valves cut from old tubes and Conti Mountain King II 2.4 Protection tires. The beads seat nicely with a floor pump and a few soap bubbles to coax them along.
I'm using a homebrew sealant that's 1 part latex mold builder, 1 part Slime (the auto/atv version) and 2 parts RV antifreeze.

~48 hours of leaving the wheels on their sides with intermittent shaking, rotating ad flipping, plus a 90 minute ride mixed in for good measure and the tires still have some pinhole leaks in the sidewalls that just don't seem to want to seal.

So what's the culprit here? Tires? Or my homebrew sealant? If it's the tire choice, I'll go back to tubes. If it's the sealant, any thoughts on further additives to the homebrew mix to better deal with pinhole leaks? I've heard of some people using glitter or rubber bits/dust... is something like that the way to go? Or is there some step in the process I'm forgetting? Maybe just ride the tires more and keep airing up before the ride?

Lots of slime and lose the antifreeze. I sometimes add a bit of sawdust just to thicken the mixture even more. Slime really should work on those pinholes.

Originally Posted by radam

Bumping this up because I'm having some issues with pinhole leaks that just won't seal.

I did the Gorilla tape rim strip on a DT Swiss M1600 wheelset. I'm using presta valves cut from old tubes and Conti Mountain King II 2.4 Protection tires. The beads seat nicely with a floor pump and a few soap bubbles to coax them along.
I'm using a homebrew sealant that's 1 part latex mold builder, 1 part Slime (the auto/atv version) and 2 parts RV antifreeze.

~48 hours of leaving the wheels on their sides with intermittent shaking, rotating ad flipping, plus a 90 minute ride mixed in for good measure and the tires still have some pinhole leaks in the sidewalls that just don't seem to want to seal.

So what's the culprit here? Tires? Or my homebrew sealant? If it's the tire choice, I'll go back to tubes. If it's the sealant, any thoughts on further additives to the homebrew mix to better deal with pinhole leaks? I've heard of some people using glitter or rubber bits/dust... is something like that the way to go? Or is there some step in the process I'm forgetting? Maybe just ride the tires more and keep airing up before the ride?

The original Stan's valve stems were just that; a set of presta valves cut out of old tubes. I still have a set I got from him when he was just another poster on mtbr's SAVE SOME WEIGHT forum.

However

At about $10/pair, it hardly seems worth the effort. Also, the removable valve core is a big plus to me. It allows you to add sealant without breaking the bead.
The American Classic stems are nice and blingy.