# Tufo tire sealant for tubular tires blocks air valve?



## myhui (Aug 11, 2012)

This morning I found my tire's valve unable to take in air, even though it is slowly leaking out air so the tire was going flat fast. I use a Lezyne pump, so the external air pressure needs to be greater than the internal air pressure for the valve to open, and that has worked every time with this tire in the past. So I kept increasing the external pressure to 150psi and the gauge shows that pressure staying steady, yet the valve wouldn't open. I unscrewed the valve and put it back in several times with no improvement. I did put sealant into this tire about a month ago.

So I got a metal rod and poked into the air valve after I removed the pop out portion of the valve, thinking I'll poke through the sealant if that is the cause of the problem. Then I rotated the tire so that the valve was on the bottom most portion of the tire. Finally, it worked, and the valve and pump worked normally again.

Note that when it wasn't working, the tire had already deflated to less than twenty psi.

So ...

Do we need to keep the valve at the bottom of the tire when storing the bike if the tire has had sealant put into it?

Do we need to use the Lezyne pump with the valve at the bottom regardless of whether sealant has been put into the tire?


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## myhui (Aug 11, 2012)

The sealant is still in *liquid* form inside the tire. I confirmed that after I cut the tire and removed it from the rim. The Tufo double-sided tape was still tacky though, so I think the glue was still doing its job and had not dried out. I peeled it off the wheel carefully, like you would peel off a price tag from a toy, and it came off 100% with no residue.

What I learned from this is that sealant is only meant to get you home from a long ride. You're supposed to fix the tire for good (in this case that means replacing it) once you get home.

I managed to make mine last another five hours of riding at least, and that was lucky. If I had taken care to note where the puncture was and always rest the bike with the puncture at the bottom, conceivably I could have made this last even longer. But would you do that at every stop light and every rest stop? It gets impractical rather quickly.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

"Wheels & tires"...


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## mikerp (Jul 24, 2011)

myhui said:


> But would you do that at every stop light and every rest stop? It gets impractical rather quickly.


You should try this next time and let us know how it goes.


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## myhui (Aug 11, 2012)

mikerp said:


> You should try this next time and let us know how it goes.


I already did.

It lasted five hours of riding and several months of bike sitting idle.

Just my dumb luck, I guess.


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## myhui (Aug 11, 2012)

I just rode two hours on the new Tufo tubular tire I put on the rear and it worked fine. If I can find a chemical that neutralizes the glue on the Tufo mounting tape, I can probably change a tubular tire faster than a clincher tire. The slowest part now is to use my fingernails to scrape the glue off the wheel.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

If you can pull a tubular off a rim faster...

No. 

I will not reply to another one of your posts. No.


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## myhui (Aug 11, 2012)

cxwrench said:


> If you can pull a tubular off a rim faster...


You got me again! Maybe I bought the wrong size tire.


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