Do all (nearly all) Maxxis tubeless ready tires leak?

[RebornRider]

Last night I replaced the rim tape (Stans) after thoroughly cleaning the rim with alcohol and then brake cleaner. I inspected the rim for flaws and found none. I installed a new Stans valve stem after carefully poking a hole in the rim tape with an awl. The hole was not bigger than the valve stem. I poured in 4 oz of Orange Seal Endurance and mounted a brand new Assegai. I did the "wobble wheel" thing to spread the sealant around both beads and sidewalls. After mounting the assembly on the bike, I spun the tire a bunch of times, both slow and fast spinning.

Last night the tire pressure was at 41 psi. 12 hours later it is at 39 psi. I do not see or hear any sign of a leak.

My point is that I've mounted many tires as carefully as I can, but every one has lost 1 to 2 psi between rides (roughly every second day). Either I'm doing something wrong every time I mount a tire, or Maxxis tubeless-ready tires will slowly lose pressure the way a rubber balloon loses pressure over a few days.

Do you guys have to add air every day or two to maintain your target tire pressure?

If you don't, what is your secret?

I'm used to car tires that might need topping up once or twice a year. This every ride thing with the MTB tires makes me think I'm doing something wrong.

 

[MadTurnip]

While you seem to have covered everything you did last night one other thing to consider is a 10 degree (5?) temperature change will affect the tire by 1 psi putting the last 12 hours into an error in measurement failure.

a 1-2 psi leak to me is to be expected. The rim tape needs to be perfect, the tubeless value airtight always and no imperfections in the bead.

Car tires don't have the tape and the value probably isn't removable?
Maybe the value core oring is letting air out?

 

[steve_sordy]

Car tyres are a lot thicker than mtb tyres for starters and also have a huge volume of air in there compared to mtb tyres. So a small leak will take ages to be noticed. But driver's organisations still suggest that you check your tyre pressures every week.

Lighter bike tyres will lose air faster than heavier carcass versions. I have witnessed a light tyre that was covered in soapy water that had thousands of small soapy fountains scattered all over the sidewalls. Then as the sealant slowly made it's presence felt they gradually stopped erupting. Yes, many tyre carcasses are porous!

I check my tyre pressures before every ride. I am used to having one or both tyres losing 1 or maybe 2 psi over a week. I do not see this as unusual. Sometimes I'll get a tyre that loses very slowly indeed, but it still loses air.
There are two reasons why I check the pressure before every ride:
1: To maintain the ideal pressure that I took time to establish. Plus or minus 1psi can make a noticeable difference. The tyre can lose or gain pressure as the temperature changes as well as through leaks.
2: To detect if I need to top up my sealant. Tyres that get punctures will lose a small amount of air before the sealant can stop the leak. I'm pretty sure that not all punctures are completely sealed. Well enough to keep riding, but not 100%. As the number of punctures increase, the steady pressure loss increases. And that is with plenty of fresh sealant! As the sealant quantity and quality declines, the loss of air increases. When I start to get more than 2psi over a week it says to me that it's time to top up the sealant. If I ignore this, I am likely to end up with a flat on the trail because there was no sealant left to do the job.

In summary, 1-2 psi loss is nothing to be concerned about.

If you are concerned about proper leaks, like the valve core leaking, then remove the wheel and put the edge of the tyre and rim under water. I have a water butt I can use, but a washing up bowl will do the job just as well. If you have a leak it will be quickly noticeable.

 

[mak]

Sounds about right to me, maybe a 1psi miss reading and whenever you check the pressure with a tire gauge I guess you loose a little between connection and disconnection .
Honestly I think you need to just ride your bike, I wish loosing 1 psi on my push bike tires required me concern, unfortunately life has other problems that need to be engaged .

 

[bigdaddy46]

Every tubeless bike I've had is a similar scenario, they just lose a little air and you check em every ride is the deal. Truthfully I think most of mine lose more than what you're experiencing.

 

[Gyre]

Do you guys have to add air every day or two to maintain your target tire pressure?

If you don't, what is your secret?

Well, don't run 41psi in a tubeless MTB tire for starters.

FWIW, I use a very thorough taping job with one layer of Scotch 8898 covered by an overlapping wrap of electrical tape. Finally, I cut a small 1cm square piece from an old road inner tube, poke a tiny hole in it, and fit the tubeless valve through that.

Still, it's necessary to check tire pressure every few days. It's not unusual to lose maybe 5-7 psi from one weekend to the next (Stuck being a weekend warrior lately).

I'm used to car tires that might need topping up once or twice a year. This every ride thing with the MTB tires makes me think I'm doing something wrong.

Yes, they're definitely not like car tires.

 

[RebornRider]

Thanks for your replies! Losing a psi or 2 is not a big concern, I was just wondering if I was making a newbie mistake.

41 psi was to seat the bead, you troublemaker!

I also check tire pressure before every ride, which is how I know that I need to add air before every ride.

 

[fenwick458]

I think it depends on the casing you have. I have Minions now with the EXO+ casing, can't say I notice the problem.
recently fitted WTB Nano and cross boss to my gravel bike, the side walls are so thin sealant seems to just leak through, they always go flat. seems very common I asked on forums and they are bad for it
few years back I had Schwalbe tyres with snakeskin casings, or the other thin enduro one I forget the name they keep changing them, and they used to seep through too so I always had to keep topping up every ride

 

[KeithO]

As long as the tyres aren’t losing any air during the ride then what’s the issue? just check before each ride and top up if required ?

 

[Doug Stampfer]

Maxxis do have the reputation of being weepy over time. I find it a bit of a faff having to pump up my tyres each week

 

[steve_sordy]

...............the side walls are so thin sealant seems to just leak through, they always go flat. seems very common I asked on forums and they are bad for it..........

I used to use a non-latex sealant because it never went off. But I stopped using it in the end because it would never seal the tyre walls of tyres that were not designated as tubeless. For those I had to use a latex based sealant.

 

[fenwick458]

I used to use a non-latex sealant because it never went off. But I stopped using it in the end because it would never seal the tyre walls of tyres that were not designated as tubeless. For those I had to use a latex based sealant.

had no idea there were different types ?‍ . I've always used Stans fluid

 

[Philpug]

I am having issues with my Maxxis weeping. Not happy with it. This is not the first ones I have had this issue with bit it will be the last.

 

[steve_sordy]

I am having issues with my Maxxis weeping. Not happy with it. This is not the first ones I have had this issue with bit it will be the last.

View attachment 65860

It will stop, may take a few days. If you are not riding, increase the tyre pressure and lay the wheel on top of a bucket for a few hours on each side. It never occurred to me that this might be a brand specific problem, I had thought it was a tyrewall weight issue. I have had this with some Continental tyres and some Maxxis tyres. It has never been an enduring problem, not for me at least.

I do know that latex based sealants do a much better job of sealing the sidewalls than the non-latex sealants, but they all work in the end.

If you otherwise like the tyre, it would be a shame to ditch it just because of that temporary issue.

 

[Waynemarlow]

Always use a latex based sealant as your first fill on a new tyre, give it a month and then put in the correct amount of a non latex sealant, the latex fills any porosity on the sidewalls.

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

mine pissed air through the sidewalls when new, I put loads of sealant and a couple of rides later they were fine, topped up the sealant and no problem since.