I recently hit a deep pothole which caused the tyre to deflate (very slowly, rather like a slow puncture after a few hours standing). Assuming the tyre to be damaged, and it was rather worn anyway, I had it replaced.
The alloy wheel itself seemed undamaged, but the new tyre is also deflating at the same slow rate. Balancing showed no problem (work carried out at Micheldever).
Does this mean the wheel has a hairline crack? How does one check this short of x-raying it? unfortunately the car only has a space-saver wheel, so I'm keeping the alloy on the car at the moment, but am concerned about it failing.
Any advice welcome.
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try brushing water mixed with fairy liquid all over the wheel and tyre when fully inflated. or if it is off the car chuck it in the bath, look for bubbles they indicate leak and/or crack (be warned this will not make u popular with her indoors, especaily if she is in it at the time!!!!)
is the alloy corroded at all? did u watch the new tyre being fitted and notice and corrosion around where the tyre seats??
if it is the new tyre will not have formed an air tight seal over the corroded areas
there are a few options
1 buy an new alloy... expensive but you can be sure its right, if its cracked u aint got a choice in this, but if it is as i suspect only corroded the you can try the following
2 have the tyre removed and clean up and re-laquer the wheel
3 not so sure about this one but it worked on my rusty mini rims, have a inner tube fitted, you'll have to check with the tyre fitter to see if this is possible
4 inflate the tyre with tyre weld... not such a good idea but it'll get you home
5 ive heard of some stuff called 'sludge' or 'gunk..... developed for motorbikes. basically u put this stuff in the tyre before its fitted, its like runny snot lime green with cotton wool strands in it, it whizzes round inside the tyre and coats all of it, wherever it finds a leak some of it gets squeezed out and congeals sealing the leak. so the idea was u put this stuff in and you should never get a puncture. also it doesn't damage the tyre like tyreweld tends to do as it is water based so can be washed off if u need to remove the tyre later
most tyre fitters will refuse to repair a puncture in a tyre that has had tyre weld used in it (despite what it says on the can!!) cos they cant be bothered cleaning it out to get a good bond with the puncture patch. so only use in a dire emergency (eg wife or gf having baby in back of car etc etc)
regards
andy
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You should see a leak at that rate dunking it in water.
Don't put a tube in a tubless tyre though - tubed tyres have a smooth coating inside, tubeless don't and will abrade through a tube in no time.
Martin
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thanks for that martini
did'nt know that. my landy has tubes in all its tyres but they are cross plys and i think they are designed for it, aslo the wheel center is attached to the rim with large rivets instead of welds so they probabley aint air tight
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>>Does this mean the wheel has a hairline crack
No it may mean tyre wasnt sealed correctly when fitted..alloys are difficult to seal to tyre. Best thing to do is take it back to whome fitted and get them to sort it out
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Steve
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I D'd an alloy recently. This involved hitting a pothole at virtually zero speed, literally. Then driving well over 100 miles at motorway speeds, and the tyre suddenly deflating in the space of a mile. There was no crack in the alloy, it is simply mis-shapen, on the inner rim only.
The wheel was deemed not usable any more as a good joint could not be made along the bead.
New wheel was required I'm afraid.
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Thanks for the feedback. The alloy was in good condition, no corrosion.
If the rim was bent, wouldn't this have shown up when the new tyre was fitted and balanced?
I'm too far from the original fitter to take it back, but could try a local fitter. If they remove the new tyre to inspect the wheel, will it be ok to refit the same new tyre eventually, or will the beading be stretched with all of the on-off business?
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ps. Rate of pressure loss is about 5-10psi per day.
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If the tyre has been fitted and removed carefully, the beading will not have been stretched. There is a well in the central part of the rim to allow the tyre on and off without having to stretch the bead.
Immersing the entire wheel and tyre is a good way to show up even tiny leaks.
number_cruncher
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OK, did the water test and found a leak at the inner rim, no sign of alloy damage, will see what the local fitter has to say...
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A tyre shop will have a water bath somewhere, whether it be leaking due to puncture, faulty valve, poor rim seal etc.. this will show up and then a remedy can be devised.
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Thanks all.
Took the tyre to our local KwikFit, they removed the tyre and as suggested it was slight corrosion inside the rim allowing air to escape. Cleaned up with wire brush and refitted at no cost, seems airtight now.
Stu.
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I guess thumbs up to KwikFit then for doing a freebie on a wheel they didn't fit the original tyre to. Glad to hear it's solved.
Martin
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Hey Brill - its bin a while.........
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"Hey Brill - its bin a while........."
'Tis true, finished the Bentley Type R, now up to my eyes in Aston Martins...busy busy.
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