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I have a small cut in the rear tire on a road Mavic tubeless tire. Is there a way to patch this, or do I basically just have to buy a new tire?

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update

So I took the tire off the rim and saw that there was no pool of sealant inside, so I added more and aired it up, it plugged the leak after a little bit, and I've had it sitting with 100psi in it for a couple hours and it hasn't leaked. I'm kinda sketched about riding it, but also don't want to spend $80 on a new tire as this one only has a few hundred miles on it.

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  • Thank you - A set of rollers would let you get more usage out of the tyre without being out and about. A flat on the roller is less inconvenient.
    – Criggie ♦
    Apr 13, 2018 at 22:35
  • Why be sketched out. The sealant plug typically gets harder and more set in place over time. One set of tires over the last year self sealed 5+ (that I know of) punctures without any issues. Just ensure you add more sealant every 5-6 months to ensure you keep a pool in the tire. Worst that will happen is it simply reseals.
    – Rider_X
    Apr 13, 2018 at 23:18
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    If the hole is too big for sealant there are tubeless repair kits that use cord to plug the hole enough for the sealant to finish the seal.
    – Rider_X
    Apr 13, 2018 at 23:22
  • @Rider_X It's my first set of tubeless tires, guess its just lack of experience that has me worried. thanks!
    – XRBtoTheMOON
    Apr 14, 2018 at 0:06
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    It's such a small cut. If I were worried I'd be tempted to pull it off, scrape away the goop near the hole, and then place a small pre-glued tube patch (smallest you could find) over the hole. Allow the goop to cover it again.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Apr 14, 2018 at 3:21

2 Answers 2

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I think your short-term best option is to use sealant, and top it up every 3-6 months as per directions on the pack. This won't help a sudden blowout though.

Carry a cheap tube, tools and pump on every ride, and more tubes on longer rides (I carry one per 50 km planned.)

Booting on the inside won't help here, unless there was a tube installed as well.

If you enter any races with safety checks, they will probably fail the tire as a matter of course. In that case, just suck it up and replace.

Lastly - keep an eye on it too. Look at it every time you do the weekly M check and make sure its not growing, that you can't see cords or tube through the cut.

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    It is a good recommendation to carry a spare tube with tubeless setups. There might be some caveats though. (a) I couldn't mount my new tubeless tyres without plenty of help of some Schwalbe mounting liquid. (And I am embarrassed to admit a nudge by a tyre lever.) (b) it requires tools and lots of effort to remove my valves from my rims. Both might not apply for different material. However, one cannot assume mounting an inner tube is always possible. Best try it first before relying on an inner tube.
    – gschenk
    Apr 15, 2018 at 0:22
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[A photo would help] Is tire's cord actually damaged, and does air escape from the hole? If cord is OK, «'tis but a scratch». Use sealant to cure it, it is meant to plug holes several millimeters in size, and it should be there anyway for a tubeless setup.

If it is an actual hole, you can try using some sort of a tire boot, starting from those offered commercially and ending up with a multitude of DIY solutions e.g. a folded money bill. It is supposed to work with an inner tube. I do not think you will be able to continue using that tire in a tubeless mode.

Given that a road tire has very low air volume, any blowup after tire boot's failure will empty it in no time. Finding oneself with a missing tire while having speed of a typical road race's descent is not the brightest perspective. I would recommend retiring that tire.

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    hey thanks for the response! I added a pic and update
    – XRBtoTheMOON
    Apr 13, 2018 at 22:32
  • I'd replace that tyre or use it with a tube and a boot under the hole.
    – Carel
    Apr 17, 2018 at 8:40

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