Removing Tubeless Sealant From Bib Shorts

Welsh boy wrote:

Latex is the answer. Latex inner tubes, they solve all the hassle that goes with this tubeless lark. 

still using them in your car?

Last thursday, bit of foliage stuck to my front wheel, stopped, pulled it off, air started escaping, moved the hole to the bottom for a few seconds, gave the wheel a couple of spins then carried on riding no issues. didn't even need the pump. 30seconds instead of seven minutes changing a tube.

tubeless is pretty hassle free, even more so with mudguards which would keep any spray away from clothes or frame.

wycombewheeler wrote:

Welsh boy wrote:

Latex is the answer. Latex inner tubes, they solve all the hassle that goes with this tubeless lark. 

still using them in your car?

Yes, but my car tyres run about 33psi and dont have liquid latex in them to try to seal them when they puncture, your comparison is silly and is not comparing like with like.

michaelsmith22 wrote:

Actually, Some new cars don't have spare tyres in lieu of extra boot space. They come with a can of sealant that will 'get you home'. 
 

My one experience of using said sealant was that it was useless (hole was too big) and - in direct relevance to this thread - I got it on my trousers.  I ended up just binning them.

Car tyres don't seem to be a thin or as light as most of our bicycle ones.

Car tyres would seem to be able to resist our weak British thorns too, but for me, when not using my tubeless set up, they can be proper ride ruiners.

I would guess if alcohol works, then so would dry cleaning fluid - always presuming it doesnt eat lycra as well....

hawkinspeter wrote:

Isopropyl alcohol can dissolve latex/sealant, so you could try that. I've used it to clean up sealant on a frame, but not clothing but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Be careful with it though as it's flammable (inflammable) and the fumes are an irritant so limit your exposure to it. You'll probably need to be careful that you don't ruin any rubber grippers on the shorts too.

As an aside, it really hurts my head that flammable and inflammable are synonyms. 

Steve K wrote:

As an aside, it really hurts my head that flammable and inflammable are synonyms. 

Are you coming unravelled? Or ravelled?

michaelsmith22 wrote:

Thanks for the comments everyone. Isopropyl alcohol seems to be the concensus of opinion, so I may try it on a small patch first. My only concern is that it is on the pad area too which is built up of multiple layers of padding (which I suspect may be glued, or hopefully heat bonded) and I don't want it to disintegrate. Not sure why I didn't think of it sooner, but I will contact the manufacturer and report back here. 

M

I'd be worried that anything that can dissolve sealant might not be too kind on the lycra fabric either. I'd try it first on an old worn out pair of shorts.

Ammonia might work as a milder alternative if it's in a tricky area.

Brake cleaner. Don't know what it's made of but it's easy to find, cheap and seriously effective at cleaning all sorts of stuff (grease off the wife's favourite carpet...etc). Pretty innocuous too, though I wouldn't drink it (unless I were Father Jack) and VERY flammable (+1 for the flammable/inflammable conundrum)

Brake cleaner is mainly isopropyl alcohol as it evaporates without leaving residue.

Tends to be isopropanol.

It's quite an effective solvent and not too harsh.

When needing to clean things at work, I have a ladder of solvent, water, 70% Ethanol, 100% Ethanol, Methanol, then Isopropanol and if is still not shifting the tops is Acetone, which is one of the most effective, but harsh and will disolve some plastics, the brittle sort are the most suceptible, clear polystrene being an example, which is the main makeup of stripettes and universals or bijoux.

Though from Methanol up it's best to use in the fume hood.

I believe that the science would suggest that they are moving up in degree of polarity.

One of the more effective home cleaners, especially to get rid of the sticky from labels is lighter fuel, the non aerosol type used for rilling Zippo type petrol lighters.  Stinks though.

You've just made me look up if there's any difference between isopropanol and isopropyl alcohol. It's the same stuff with 2 common names along with a third less commonly used name: propan-2-ol.

Wish my work had easy access to 70% ethanol.

I think the -ol denotes an alcohol the iso- and the -2- are the same thing in that it means the -ol (OH) group is in the second position.

We make the 70% ourselves, using our big bottles, winchesters (2.5l) of (mostly) duty free Absolute Alcohol.  It works as a cleaner, but as a whole we use it to get rid of bacteria.