Water build-up inside carbon rims with no drains

[musiclover]

I have purchased carbon wheels from China not so long ago. When purchasing I did not realise that you actually need to request manufacturer to drill drainage holes. Otherwise, it leads to a...

PROBLEM:
When I am riding in heavy rain water comes inside the spoke holes (or, possibly around the tubeless valve) and stays inside the rim. Main concern is possible corrosion of aluminium nipples.

SOLUTION:
???

1. An obvious solution seems to be to drill drainage holes myself. But there is a number of issues with that. I do not think it is the best idea.

2. I managed to remove water by rotating the wheel and pushing against the tubeless valve to a side thus creating enough opening for water to escape. But it is labour consuming and I am not really sure how much water is actually left there in the end.

3. I thought a good idea to prevent aluminium nipples from rusting is to apply a drop of lanolin onto the top of the nipples, but lanox spreads on the wheel creating a film and attracting lots of dust, plus I am not sure how much of that drop applied on the outside actually protects the internal part of the nipple inside the rim.

3a. May it be a good idea to apply some kind of a sealant around every spoke nipple on the outside to prevent water ingress? Silicone lube? Ceramic car wax or liquid?

4. How does one actually remove dust, dirt etc that finds its way inside the rim and is trapped there? Air compressor? If it is really powerful could it damage the rim?

PS access is a bit harder because it is a no hole tubeless rim, but I would not be removing rim tape after every rain anyway...

[alcatraz]

If i remember correct it doesn't happen every rain ride but when you submerge the rim long enough.

A 2mm hole right under the rim bed would solve that if it's a recurring problem. From my knowledge it doesn't happen that often though so I haven't drilled the rim.

[musiclover]

If i remember correct it doesn't happen every rain ride but when you submerge the rim long enough.

A 2mm hole right under the rim bed would solve that if it's a recurring problem. From my knowledge it doesn't happen that often though so I haven't drilled the rim.

It would have to be two holes.
It is hard to judge where exactly is "right underneath the rim bed" as you do not know the thickness of walls.
Besides, they usually use specific drill bits for that purpose. With normal bit and hand drill it would look fine on the outside but could explode the internal side inside the rim. You would have to be desparate to do that.

Any heavy rain creates puddles and you would have to submerge your rim to go over them.

[musiclover]

duplicate.

[jfranci3]

Just pull the valve stem out occasionally. No big deal. That or take the nut off the stem and vacuum the water out. You can also just put a hole in the rim bed and tape over it.

[musiclover]

Just pull the valve stem out occasionally. No big deal. That or take the nut off the stem and vacuum the water out. You can also just put a hole in the rim bed and tape over it.

I wonder if one could use compressor? It should not be able to create enough pressure to damage rim walls or nipple holes? It will not be a sealed system anyway...

[jfranci3]

If you take the tire and valve off, you can just get most of it out and let it sit outside over night or by a fan (any covection) to get the remaining. A little alcohol in these will take some of the surface tension off the remaining water and help it evap quicker.

If you don't want to take the tire off, you can remove the valve nut and put the valve into the tire. That will drain the tire, but give the water some place to go. If you do this while the valve is at the 6-o-clock position, it'll probably force most of the water out around the valve - i would then turn the wheel sideways before the tire loses most of it's pressure to keep water out of the tire since you don't want to remove it.

Check for loose spokes, becasue that is likely the culprit.

[Hexsense]

hmm, weird to see it happen to tubeless set-up too.
In my case, (internal) spoke nipple press against the rim hard enough that the water doesn't get in from there.

The main water ingress location is at the valve hole when I use regular tubed set-up (no valve nut).
The problem never occur to me when I use tubeless set-up which require rubber O ring and valve nut though. I assume rubber O ring pressed hard with valve nut just seal it.
Also, My Continental GP5000 (not tubeless) let water in around the tire bead too. But Goodyear (not tubeless) doesn't.
Schwalbe Pro One tubeless obviously don't let the water in and out.

[jesper2913]

I guess this problem only occurs when riding tubeless. If you're riding clincher, just remove tire and tube, and hang the wheel to dry.

Just saying tubeless isn't the solution to all problems.

[musiclover]

To clarify - water gets inside the rim, not the tyre.

[Hexsense]

To clarify - water gets inside the rim, not the tyre.

I understand. In my case, I use Veloplugs and not a rim tape. So water can get into the tire and then into the rim too.
But that's not the main source of water ingress (and only happen on my GP5000). The main source of water ingress in my case is at the valve hole.

[jfranci3]

Water does build up in the tires if they are leaky and you have variable humidity. The humidity stays and the air escapes. You refill the tire, repeat.

[jesper2913]

To clarify - water gets inside the rim, not the tyre.

I understand. But with clincher wheels, just hang the wheel to dry valve hole facing downwards.

[musiclover]

To clarify - water gets inside the rim, not the tyre.

I understand. But with clincher wheels, just hang the wheel to dry valve hole facing downwards.

Didn't understand that. If a wheel is in a bicycle, valve hole at the top (facing downwards) would mean water will be at the bottom where there is no hole?
I have let the water out creating a bit of a momentum and freeing the valve hole.

[jesper2913]

Didn't understand that. If a wheel is in a bicycle, valve hole at the top (facing downwards) would mean water will be at the bottom where there is no hole?
I have let the water out creating a bit of a momentum and freeing the valve hole.

Maybe it's the language barrier. English isn't my first language. Sorry if it's unclear.

I hang the wheel to dry with the valve hole positioned for the water to run out of the rim at the bottom.