Tire loosing pressure

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:48 am

One of my tires keeps on loosing pressure faster than the others....i just bought these 3 months ago from tire rack, they are kumho's ecstas 711 (lousy tires by the way, good tread wear, but NOISY)...i always find my rear driver side tire pressure lower than the others, i don't mean flat or anything, if i check pressure in all the tires they are usually around 35, except for the tire in question is usually in 20's range.... i took it to 2 different tire shops 3 times, they could not find a leak, and they suggested a bad valve so twice the valve was changed, but still yesterday i checked and the same issue was there .....

what the hell is going on? bad tire? bad rim? wouldn't something like that be obvious for a tire shop? i am so angry about this...

any ideas?

dblsg · Post by **dblsg** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:58 am

the best way to find the leak is to submerge the entire wheel/tire in water and look for bubbles.

refect · Post by **refect** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:40 am

dblsg wrote:the best way to find the leak is to submerge the entire wheel/tire in water and look for bubbles.

yup

you may have a very very small pin hole in the tire causing it. or maybe a bent wheel? i woud of said the valve stem, but since you replaced it twice it gotta either be a tiny hole in the tire or bent wheel

kornholio788 · Post by **kornholio788** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:57 am

as a tire tech either you have a pin hole in the tire a good way to find it is to fill the tire up with like 45-50 lbs of air then like fill up idk ur bathtub with water or something that u can dunk the tire in and look for bubbles or if u are lazier u can also take like 409 or some other spray cleaner and spray it on the tire cuz that will bubble too but dunkin it gives u a better chance of finding it

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:20 am

when the valve stems were changed, the tire shops did dunk the tire in a water tub.... they said the found nothing,,,,,,,

how would a bent rim affect this?

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:26 am

is fix-a-flat a good idea? or will it complicate this even more?

CA180 · Post by **CA180** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:05 pm

fix a flat is a very very very bad idea.... that stuff will throw off the wheels balance horribly, the only way to balance it after that crap is to take the tire off the wheel and clean the crap out of the inside of the tire... besides that, the chemicals will eat up the inside of your tire slowly.

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:23 pm

maybe the tire techs did not fill the tire up with a lot of pressure. I know when I was doing it, I could find leaks better when I filled them up to 45+ lbs of air. Sometimes, a slow leak was never noticeable without it. When you have a car sitting on the tire, it puts more pressure on the tire to force air out of a SMALL leak. When it is off the car, it won't leak; hence, need more air pressure put into tire.

Post by **jonnymopar** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:16 pm

Let it go flat. Then you can tokyo drift through exit ramps.

Rim could cause that easily. I don't know what rims you have, but I have stock chrome snowflakes. On one of mine, the chrome started lifting away very slightly under where the bead sits and it was just enough to allow a very small amount of air around it. I took the tire off and sanded where the bead seats and that cured this same problem for me.

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:14 pm

i have the 16" 00-02 Rt rims .......

SlvrACR · Post by **SlvrACR** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:16 pm

Then the rims could be corroded. Ask them next time to check for a rim leak and tell them to seal it.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:32 pm

I've had this problem before on the neon as well as other cars. If you cant find any leaks in the tire and the stems are good it's probably a corroded bead seat. Alloy rims like to corrode out and it lets minute amounts of air by over time. Normally they break the bead, clean the rim with a wire brush, add some sealer and it's fine after that. Not a problem with steel rims normally, but very common with alloy rims in salt infested Canada.

TomZ · Post by **TomZ** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:51 pm

You can check for a bead leak pretty easily. Lay the tire on it's side. Over inflate the tire. Make a mixture of soapy water, pour or spray the soapy water in the bead/rim area. Watch for bubbles. Flip the wheel over, repeat for the other side. If you find bubbles, have the tire broken down and clean the corrosion as said earlier. Bead sealer is a neoprene glue you paint on the tire bead area. While the sealer is still wet you re-install the tire. It makes a mess. Clean it up immediatly. At least that's how it was done in 1980 ( yeah, I know, most of you weren't even born then

) when I managed a tire store.

ewetho · Post by **ewetho** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 9:34 pm

If you have a bent rim the tire due to its construction when inflated forces itself to be round. If the rim no longer is then you have a leak which may no show up until loaded dynamically (ie driving). Heck if you watch nascar RCR was found with rims that had .003" cuts in the bead sealing area to allow the tire pressure to build more slowly and limit ultimate pressure. It was found to be a performance advantage but not outlawed in the rules so all the could do is tell RCR to not bring them back ever again. No Point No Found but DO NOT DO IT AGAIN. So if you have a ding it the bead seat area the same affect occurs. You may not have the problem sitting still at a rate to be found but you still have it and may just pump air out when the tire is hot doing 60.

As far as bead corrosion, that is a huge problem with aluminum rims. If you have it you must have it cleaned ans resealed using bead sealer. Notorious for loosing pressure when cold.

latief · Post by **latief** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:17 am

i'll take the wheel off this weekend, and maybe see what is going on.......

i'll let you know if i find something ......

thanks for the good input guys ....

latief · Post by **latief** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:02 pm

Update on this: found the problem as you guys said, corrosion damaging valve stem..... the shop cleaned it up, replaced the valve and it has been holding normal pressure ever since .....

thanks guys for the heads-up on the corrosion thingy!!!!!