Hello,

I am a newbie.

I damaged my DNA Fat Spoke wheels by attempting to snug up any lose spokes. I was not aware at the time that the wheels were tubeless and turning the spoke nipples would tear the rubber seal on the inside of the rim.

I have a tube in the rear wheel because it would no longer hold air. I went ahead and put a tube in the rear. The front is leaking about 1psi per day. I plan to replace the front tire soon, and put a tube as well.

Unless there is a way to repair the rim seal.

I found 3m Super Sealant tape on Amazon. Many people are using it to turn a tubed spoke wheel into tubeless. I don't know if the 3m tape will stick to the existing rubber seal.

I also found the Outex rim seal kit on eBay. But, the



same question.

I don't know how hard it would be to completely remove the existing seal, but it looks difficult.

Or, just run tubes and chalk it up as an expensive lesson.

 

I don't see why you couldn't just use a piece of rubber or patch from a bicycle repair kit , as long as you clean both surfaces and use a good adhesive , you should be good to go .

 

As this is your first post to the forum, welcome.

Go to your local Home Depot or Automotive Parts store and get you some good black RTV in a tube, put a smear of it over the torn area, let it cure for 24 hours. Put it back together and all should be well.

https://www.permatex.com/products/ad...esive-sealant/

 

I was going to get a couple of spoked wheels converted to tubeless several years ago but I chickened out. Back then the only tubeless spoked wheels had special rims that had raised ribs with holes for spokes with 90 degree bends at the end. The use of rubber or other compounds was not at all common.

Given the down side of a failure, it might be a good idea to get an inexpensive tire pressure monitor system. Here's one example:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Waterproo...SABEgKAn_D_BwE

Wow that link was long, hope it works. If you get any sort of leak this might give you enough time to get off the road safely.

 

That strip is replaceable, and spoked tires have tubes.

 

I've seen it done, here's one process beats watching CNN lol

 

H-D has a replacement strip.

 

While sealing up a laced wheel to be air-tight is straight forward, the real trick is to maintain that seal when you have to turn the nipples to replace a broken spoke, or to re-true the wheel.

And laced wheels usually DO require this attention...

 

^^^ This...and certain spoked "tubeless" wheels leak at the valve stems as well. Given the risks as well as the hassles of dealing with air loss, I was told that if you're going to go spoked, run a tube, even with tubeless tires.

 

Dealers will put tubes in "tubeless" rims when changing tires unless you tell them otherwise.

Rim seal strips are replaceable. You can probably repair it but a new one would be a better choice.