Eyes closed, a bottle in each hand, I find myself sniffing one potentially toxic chemical and then moving my nose to sniff the next. Getting lightheaded, I remain unsure if these chemicals are identical.
That’s the rabbit hole I found myself in when I decided to properly test a handful of products intended (or in theory, good for) removing stubborn dried latex tyre sealant from paint, clothes, and other components.
Perhaps decades in the making, the topic of dried tyre sealant removal is one that pops into my mind whenever I’m presented with a bike that wasn’t washed after a tubeless puncture. Easy to wash off when fresh, that sealant can form a stubborn rubber-like finish that’s resistant to the harshest of chemicals. Thankfully, there are some relatively new products that I’ve found to genuinely solve the problem, and so here we are, an edition of Threaded dedicated to the messy topic of dried sealant – whether it be on paint, clothes, or the inside of tyres.
Prevention is key
Prevention is always key. I feel like I repeat this in most editions of Threaded, whether it’s about removing rounded-out fasteners, undoing stuck threaded components, or checking for chain wear. It’s also wholly true for avoiding dried sealant stains.
Perhaps prevention isn’t the right term here, as that would imply not flatting or running tubeless in the first place. Rather, I’m more focused on preventing the in-process-of-sealing sealant spray from becoming a stubborn stain, and for that, quick action is required.
If you know you’ve just had a flat, and have some water in a bidon to spare, then a quick rinse is the best approach. Whether sprayed on your sealant-marked clothes or bike, it will almost certainly solve the problem before it begins.
Failing that, washing your bike and/or clothes as soon as you get home should do the trick, too. Whether it’s a sponge bath or the caress of a baby wipe, it should be enough. In my effort to test the efficacy of these tyre sealant removers, I was surprised to find that it took the sealant some 48 hours before it had dried onto paint in a stubborn way. You've got a window multiple hours wide for when a quick rinse of water will be a sufficient fix.
But what if you’ve missed that window and the sealant has dried? What if you’re a mechanic, dealing with someone’s bike that hasn’t been washed in 6 months while a slow leak has continuously spritzed Latex layers onto that seat tube and the finicky corners around it? And what about that dried sealant in the tyre? Well, that’s where my testing, and the rest of this article, come in.
The Threaded series is only made possible through the support of Escape Collective members. There are no ads, affiliate links, or weird kickbacks at play here, just pure independent and member-funded media.
As for me, I've had a passion for bicycling repair spanning over two decades, and it wasn't long into that journey that I became obsessed with the related tooling. It's now been a decade since I first started professionally reviewing tools intended for bicycle repair (and often covering tools that weren't originally designed for bicycles, but have proven to be wonderful).
If you survive through or just enjoy bicycle repair, then the wholly original Threaded series is sure to provide plenty of value.
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