Tubeless tyre maintenance: checking, topping up and replacing sealant

Short answer: tubeless tyre maintenance is mostly sealant care: check that the sealant inside the tyre is still liquid, top it up when it runs low and clean out what has dried. Stan's and Schwalbe both give their sealant 2 to 7 months of life, so check it every three to six months and before a long ride. A tyre that holds air can still have dry sealant in it.

How long does tubeless sealant last?

Tubeless sealant stays liquid for a few months, and the figure depends on whose bottle you bought. The makers' own figures:

• Stan's Original. 2 to 7 months on the product page; Stan's sealant support page gives an average of 2 to 6 months, with temperature, humidity, riding, storage and casing thickness as the variables.
• Schwalbe Doc Blue. Around 2,000 km or 2 to 7 months, varying greatly with ambient temperature. After that it dries into a rubber film or separates into "latex coral" and fluid.
• Muc-Off. Up to 6 months or more in temperate climates for the MTB sealant; 3 to 6 months for the Road & Gravel sealant.
• Peaty's Holeshot. Up to 6 months in a temperate climate, "and a lot of the time beyond".
• Silca Ultimate. 6 months, with Silca's replenisher added every 90 to 120 days to extend that to a year.
• Continental. No figure. Continental says sealant performance may decrease with time and advises replacing or refilling it at intervals.

The figures disagree because the conditions do. milKit's FAQ says sealant dries faster in summer heat, Stan's says a cooler storage spot is better for it, and sealant is used up each time it seals a hole. London's weather is mild, but a radiator in a hallway is not.

How often should you check or top up tubeless sealant?

Check tubeless sealant every three months and top it up when the check shows it low. The published intervals:

• Stan's: check or refresh quarterly.
• Muc-Off and Cycling UK (Dan Joyce): check and top up every six months.
• BikeRadar (Oscar Huckle, June 2025): top up every three to six months, and take the tyre off for a full inspection every 12 to 18 months.
• milKit: check after about 3 months; at least every 3 months for riders out several times a week, 4 to 6 months from one fill for occasional riders, and a full replacement before each season after a winter off.
• Schwalbe: once the system is airtight you do not necessarily have to refill, but check and replace the fluid before a competition or a longer tour.

Four moments call for a check whatever the calendar says. The first long autumn ride after a summer of short commutes; a bike that has stood for a month; a puncture that sprayed sealant; and a tyre that needs air more than it used to, because Hunt's road tubeless guide names dried sealant as a cause of pressure loss.

Write the sealant brand and the date on a strip of tape under the top tube, so the intervals above have a start.

How to check the sealant level in a tubeless tyre

Check tubeless sealant with a shake and then a dipstick through the valve. The shake tells you whether any liquid is left; the dipstick tells you how much.

1. Lift the wheel and shake it

Hold the wheel off the ground and rock it from side to side. Liquid sealant sloshes; silence means it has dried or gone. A slosh does not tell you whether 5 ml or 50 ml is left, so go on to step 2.

2. Deflate and remove the valve core

Let the air out with the valve at the top or the side. Park Tool's tubeless guide says to assume there is sealant inside and keep the valve away from the downward position, so the escaping air does not carry sealant out. Then unscrew the core with a valve core tool.

3. Turn the valve to six o'clock and dip a cable tie

BikeRadar's method: position the valve at the bottom so the sealant pools around it, push a cable tie down through the valve and read the wet mark. More than a centimetre of sealant on the tie and you are fine. Schwalbe gives the same test with a needle.

Where the valve has an insert, a fixed core or a blocked passage, lever a section of one bead off over a tray instead, which BikeRadar suggests as the way to inspect the sealant closely. What you find decides the job:

• Liquid above the centimetre mark and still milky. Refit the core, inflate and ride. Note the date.
• Liquid below the mark, or only a damp tie. Top up with a compatible sealant, as in the steps below.
• A dry film, rubbery lumps, or sealant separated into "latex coral" and water. Clean the tyre out and start with a fresh fill.
• Plenty of good sealant, and the tyre still loses pressure. Low sealant is not the fault. Our guide to a tubeless tyre losing air works through tape, valve and bead leaks.

How much tubeless sealant do you need per tyre?

Between 30 and 60 ml for a road tyre, 50 to 90 ml for gravel and 100 to 140 ml for a 29er, with the chart of the sealant you bought as the final word. Measure in millilitres with a syringe or the scale on the bottle.

Width decides the dose, not the "700c" on the sidewall: Stan's lists 50 ml for a 700x28 and 95 ml for a 700x50. Our bike tyre sizes guide shows where to read the width. The makers' figures per tyre, for a first fill:

• Road 700x25 to 28. Continental 30 ml; Peaty's 30 to 45 ml; Muc-Off 40 to 50 ml for 23c and 25c and 50 to 60 ml for 28c; Stan's 50 ml for 700x28; Schwalbe 60 to 90 ml for any tyre from 23 to 60 mm wide.
• 700x32 to 35. Stan's 55 ml for 700x32; Peaty's rule of 2 ml per millimetre of width gives 64 ml for a 32 mm tyre; Schwalbe 60 to 90 ml.
• Gravel 700x40 to 45. Continental 50 ml; Stan's 60 ml for 700x40 and 80 ml for 700x45; Peaty's 60 to 75 ml for cyclocross; Muc-Off 70 to 80 ml for 30c to 45c; Schwalbe 60 to 90 ml.
• 27.5 x 2.3 to 2.5. Muc-Off 60 to 75 ml for 26" and 27.5" tyres; Peaty's 70 to 90 ml; Stan's 100 to 110 ml.
• 29 x 2.2 to 2.5. Continental 70 ml; Schwalbe 60 to 90 ml up to 60 mm wide and 90 to 120 ml from 62 mm; Stan's 100 to 125 ml; Peaty's 100 to 120 ml; Muc-Off 105 to 140 ml.

Three adjustments to the chart:

• A new tyre takes more. milKit says a new casing absorbs part of the first fill, and Stan's troubleshooting page says porous tyres may need a refresh shortly after setup.
• Wide rims and extra protection. Peaty's says to add up to 30 ml for wider rim and tyre combinations or more puncture protection. Treat that as the ceiling: beyond it, sealant is weight.
• A top-up is not a full dose. Measure what is left and top up to the chart figure, not by it. Silca's replenisher schedule, as road.cc reports it, is 30 ml at three months, 45 ml at six and 60 ml at nine for a road tyre up to 30 mm wide.

How to top up tubeless sealant

Top up through the valve with the core removed, or through a lifted bead when the sealant will not pass a valve. The through-valve method leaves the tyre on the rim.

1. Prepare

Buy the sealant already in the tyre, or one its maker says is compatible (see mixing, below). Shake the bottle hard: Stan's says its sealing crystals settle, and Muc-Off says the same of its bamboo particles. Deflate with the valve away from the bottom, and put cardboard under the wheel.

2. Add through the valve

Remove the core and turn the valve to where sealant can flow in without pooling at the valve. Continental says 5 or 7 o'clock, not the lowest point; Muc-Off's road instructions fit the pouch at 12 o'clock and rotate the wheel to 6 o'clock to squeeze.

Push the syringe hose or pouch onto the valve and inject the measured amount slowly, the de-cored valve method Peaty's and Stan's both describe. If the plunger meets resistance, stop: a blocked valve or core is cleaned, not forced.

3. Or add through the bead

Some sealants are too thick or fibrous for a valve: Silca says its Ultimate Tubeless Sealant must be poured in and is not injector compatible, and Stan's says direct pour is a requirement for its Race Sealant. Lever a short section of one bead off and pour in the measured dose.

Park Tool's method is to rotate the wheel slowly so the liquid stays at the bottom while the open bead comes to the top, then press the bead back on by hand. Schwalbe gives the same pour-before-the-second-bead method. Keep the pool off the rim tape.

4. Refit, inflate and distribute

Refit the core and inflate within the lower of the tyre's and rim's limits; our bike tyre pressure guide covers choosing a pressure inside them. Rotate the wheel so sealant reaches every part of the tyre, as Stan's guide instructs; Park Tool adds holding the wheel flat and oscillating it.

Refit the wheel, squeeze the brake, and check the pressure before the next ride, as Continental advises. If a bead will not seat after a pour, our tubeless inflation guide covers seating.

Do you need to remove old tubeless sealant?

Not for a routine top-up: if the dipstick shows liquid and you are adding the same product, refit the core and ride, as BikeRadar's guide says.

Clean the tyre out when the tie comes out dry, when the sealant has turned to lumps, or when you change to a brand whose maker says to wash the old one out. BikeRadar's reason is weight: dried sealant only adds it. The clean-out:

1. Deflate with the valve away from the bottom, lever one bead fully off over a tray and pour the old liquid out.
2. Peel the dried latex out by hand. Stan's says a dry rag is sufficient for cleaning out regular sealant. A thin, even coating that is stuck fast can stay.
3. Look at what the sealant was hiding: glass or thorns still in the tread, cuts in the casing, lifted rim tape and a cracked valve seal.
4. Take the valve out and clean it, as Schwalbe and BikeRadar both describe.
5. Refit the bead, add a full first-fill dose from the chart above, inflate and distribute.

Do not scrape at the rim tape. Damaged tape is replaced, and our tubeless setup guide covers taping and valve fitting. Old sealant does not go down the sink: Thames Water's rule for chemicals, solvents and paint is the local refuse or recycling site, and the bottle's own disposal note applies.