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Making a wire wheel tubeless?

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SkinnedKnuckles said:
Actually, I did that about 9 or 10 years ago, and it's worked pretty well. There was some experimentation to get it right, though.

Clean all the spoke pits with mineral spirits, then acetone to get all oil outta there.

Use a good quality silicone - I really like the Locktite Ultra 'Stick & seal'

Don't "slather". The silicone just needs to cover the spoke end. You don't want the silicone to protrude out of the spoke pocket - if it does there's a good chance the tire bead, when mounted, will disturb the seal.

I did this with new wheels that really shouldn't need adjustment, and have been through 1 tire change. I have no idea how it might work on older wheels. Be prepared for a few leakers - get a big C clamp and a couple of pieces of wood to get into a tire if need be. After all those years I have 1 wheel that loses 1 psi pressure every 2 weeks and can't find the leak. The others hold.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing happen to me and after many tries to find it, it was a new tire, the side wall had two very small leaks due to a manufacturing defect. They gave me a new tire at no cost. PJ
 
Since this got resurrected, I've been trying to figure out...why would you want to make a wire wheel tubeless? Wires need to be adjusted regularly, and gooping up the spoke nuts would seem to make adjusting difficult, if not impossible. Can someone explain an advantage?
 
I have the wire wheels that Moss sells, Not sure who makes them. They came set up to be run tubeless. I asked a trusted classic car mechanic, he says he had installed several sets, with good results. I have been running tubeless wire wheels for 3 years, no problem. The Moss wheels have what appears to be a silicone "band" of some kind that covers the spokes. (it is the same technology used for tubeless bicycle, and tubeless motorcycle tires, and yes both of those do exist.) I don't think it would prevent the tightening of spokes, although I haven't had to yet. Anyway, so far so good. As to the question, why run tubeless? Cost? Weight? Because I can? I tend to use things in the way in which they are designed. Moss tells me they are tubeless wheels, that's how I run em!
 
Spokes seemed fine the last time I checked them. I probably have 3000 to 4000 miles on the wheels. (My speedo is inop, so that is just a guess.) I take the wheels off the car every spring, and look for loose spokes. All seems fine. I don't drive really hard. Rusty is a cruiser, not a racer!
 
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