hohieu Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Salted roads are catching up with my alloy wheels. I've been suffering with a slow leak from my rear right tire. Air valve is fine and there are no punctures in the tire so there must be some corrosion along the bead of the of the tire preventing an airtight seal. Any ideas about how to break the bead away from the rims so that I can sand the rims smooth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 You'll probably have to have a tire shop do it. Every since they went to the tubeless tires with the safety rims back in the late 70's I don't think a regular tire iron will do it, and it would just mess up your alloy rim. I had a leaky tire on a steel rim, took it to the tire shop and they put some type of glue or sealant or something on the rim to seal it. I was skeptical, but it doesn't leak any more so I guess it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LosDiosDeVerde86 Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Salted roads are catching up with my alloy wheels. I've been suffering with a slow leak from my rear right tire. Air valve is fine and there are no punctures in the tire so there must be some corrosion along the bead of the of the tire preventing an airtight seal. Any ideas about how to break the bead away from the rims so that I can sand the rims smooth? yeah. you're not doing it. get a shop to do it or rent a backhoe and use the arm to press the tire off the rim. the only thing about that is that you won't have a tire after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinnhedd Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Take it to a shop and have them clean it up with cookie or a wire brush. Most shops will only charge to balance the tire once they are done since it only takes like 5 minutes, and it is only like $10.99 for the balance. Salted roads are catching up with my alloy wheels. I've been suffering with a slow leak from my rear right tire. Air valve is fine and there are no punctures in the tire so there must be some corrosion along the bead of the of the tire preventing an airtight seal. Any ideas about how to break the bead away from the rims so that I can sand the rims smooth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hohieu Posted January 24, 2006 Author Share Posted January 24, 2006 Okay, thanks all. I have broken the bead on motorcycle tires with a large vise, but it sounds like I'll need to take this problem to a shop. I wanted to do it myself as I doubt whether a shop will do a thorough job of taking off all the corrosion. Oh well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyewdall Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Okay, thanks all. I have broken the bead on motorcycle tires with a large vise, but it sounds like I'll need to take this problem to a shop. I wanted to do it myself as I doubt whether a shop will do a thorough job of taking off all the corrosion. Oh well Have them dismount the tire, then take both parts home and fix it yourself, then take them back in and remount them. I can't recall for sure, but I think it was $12.50 for a mounting and balancing, and $3 for a dismount when I took in my own tires and rims last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstwagon Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Salted roads are catching up with my alloy wheels. I've been suffering with a slow leak from my rear right tire. Air valve is fine and there are no punctures in the tire so there must be some corrosion along the bead of the of the tire preventing an airtight seal. Any ideas about how to break the bead away from the rims so that I can sand the rims smooth? I agree you'd be best to take it to a shop. I had the same problem with the alloy wheels on my Trooper and I had a independent shop do it for $10.00/ wheel including balancing. The fix lasted about a year before they started leaking again. The guy warned me before he started that once the corrosion starts, no fix will be permenant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skins Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I take a different angle that the others on this issue. Alloy wheels microscopically crack over time. This can lead to the releasing of air through these cracks. If you have a shop that inflates tires with nitrogen have them fill it up. You may notice that the problem will go away. Costco (the wholesale store) uses nitrogen to inflate their tires in most areas. It is no secret that nitrogen is used in tires for NASCAR, airlines, and NASA. Larger molecule=no leak or slower leak...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 [...]If you have a shop that inflates tires with nitrogen have them fill it up. You may notice that the problem will go away. Costco (the wholesale store) uses nitrogen to inflate their tires in most areas. It is no secret that nitrogen is used in tires for NASCAR, airlines, and NASA. Larger molecule=no leak or slower leak...... Air is about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and the remaining 1% mainly argon with carbon dioxide and some trace amounts of other gases. So if the nitrogen tends to remain behind while the oxygen leaks out, just topping off a low tire a few times would leave it filled mainly with nitrogen, and the leakage should slow dramatically. Unfortunately, I've never seen evidence of that when dealing with micro-cracks or corrosion-caused rim leaks. Nitrogen is typically used for other reasons, and most of them are of debatable value for automotive application. As to the relative size of nitrogen versus oxygen (the other primary component of air, see percentages above) molecules, a periodic table or other data might shed some light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green96GT Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Nitrogen is typically used for other reasons, and most of them are of debatable value for automotive application. What are the other dubious reasons - inquiring minds want to know! I had this discussion with guys at work the other day, and we couldn't figure out why a shop would advertize nitrogen inflation. What's it supposed to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcspeer Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Buy the manuel tire changer from Harbor Freight, it's around 40.00 dollars on sale. mount it with some sac cement just a few bags in a hole then bolt it to the cement and you will be able to do all kinds of things with your tires. It works great I wouldnt want to be without it. Okay, thanks all. I have broken the bead on motorcycle tires with a large vise, but it sounds like I'll need to take this problem to a shop. I wanted to do it myself as I doubt whether a shop will do a thorough job of taking off all the corrosion. Oh well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OB99W Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 What are the other dubious reasons - inquiring minds want to know!Air has a variable moisture content ("humidity"). Oxygen can cause (amazingly ) oxidation. So, using unfiltered/un-dried air can lead to some eventual damage to the inside structure of a tire or rim. Most tires on passenger vehicles will wear out, or fail due to road hazards, before those things become an issue. If there's concern about moisture, an air compressor can be fitted with a "dryer". In addition, a filter might be useful if compressor oil getting into the air (and tire) could be a problem. Nitrogen is relatively inert. It also doesn't migrate as readily through tire rubber. If a car owner keeps reasonable tabs on inflation pressure, that probably isn't a major advantage. I've seen claims that using only nitrogen limits increase of tire pressure with rising operating temperature. That's not likely to have much of an effect, since volume expansion with temperature increase is independent of which gas, and air is 78% nitrogen anyway. The advantages of using nitrogen might make more sense to the military and airlines. Maintenance will be a bit lower, tire failures have greater consequence, etc. On the other hand, using only nitrogen to inflate passenger tires won't hurt anything, and might be beneficial in some cases, so use your own judgement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Salted roads are catching up with my alloy wheels. I've been suffering with a slow leak from my rear right tire. Air valve is fine and there are no punctures in the tire so there must be some corrosion along the bead of the of the tire preventing an airtight seal. Any ideas about how to break the bead away from the rims so that I can sand the rims smooth? It is also possible that the alloy wheel is pourus. That happens on occasion, and i dont know if there is any way to fix that aside from replacing the wheel. Just something else to watch out for. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 It is also possible that the alloy wheel is pourus. That happens on occasion, and i dont know if there is any way to fix that aside from replacing the wheel. Just something else to watch out for. nipper I've heard of this before and thought there was a sealant applied to the entire inside of the rim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggywerewolf Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 It is no secret that nitrogen is used in tires for NASCAR, airlines, and NASA. Larger molecule=no leak or slower leak...... I'd imagine part of the reason for inflating tires with pure nitrogen in these cases is due to the high risk of fire in these applications, and the element's low reactivity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flash Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 My '97 outback has leaky tires too. I have no punctures or leaky valve stems. I dismounted one of them and and sanded the bead and sealed it with professional grade products. It still leaks. I don't know what the story is. If air is leaking through the rim, Subaru is dissapointing me because I've had several GM vehicles with alloy wheels which were much older and more corroded and never leaked through the aluminum. The second theory is it leaking through the tire itself. They are Sears Michelin WeatherHandlers. Age unknown because they came with the car. I've owned it for 3 years/50k. They are probably getting old and crusty and there is light dry rot cracking. I'm too cheap to get new ones since they are still legal, but when I do, I will be curious if it fixes the problem. Salted roads are catching up with my alloy wheels. I've been suffering with a slow leak from my rear right tire. Air valve is fine and there are no punctures in the tire so there must be some corrosion along the bead of the of the tire preventing an airtight seal. Any ideas about how to break the bead away from the rims so that I can sand the rims smooth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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