slow tire leak..........

[rustynut]

Had to share this one with all you wood burners !
Had a slow leak in the wifes truck tire for the last week or so.
Aluminum wheels.
Plugged it in an old metal wash tub to see if i could determine where the leak was.
Looked like a rim leak/ not a nail.........
Now what ?
How do i get this tire broke loose from the rim?
ok, ok, now i've got an idea ???
Need some serious pressure
Been splitting wood for the last 11 months, cleaning up from 70 mph winds.
wonder if that splitter will pop that tire off the rim ?
You bet !
splitter in verticle mode, tire on the ground, piece of 4x4 between the wedge and the rubber & a bit of pressure from the ram.............
popped that tire right off
put a wire brush to it
wiped it off
coated the rim with a light bit of grease
popped it back on with the air pressure...........
now i cant tell you how this story ends but i'm hoping for something positive !
Rustynut

 

[ikessky]

Nice! I've got a slow rim leak also. I threw a can of fix-a-flat in it the other day and it seems to be doing well now. Eventually I'll use it as an excuse to get new rims!

 

[wood spliter]

That is a great idea Rustynut!

 

[thinkxingu]

Fix-a-flat usually causes a bubble or uneven weighting and eventually dries out and unseals which is why it's only temporary. If y'all ever have a slow leak, check out Slime.

S

 

[WES999]

I have used my homemade splitter , the kind that used a manual bottle jack to break a tire bead one time. Another way is to jack the car up take off the wheel and slowly lower the car on to the tire.

BTW I would use soapy water rather than grease to lube the tire bead.

 

[LLigetfa]

BTW I would use soapy water rather than grease to lube the tire bead.

The stuff that tire shops call "soap" actually isn't soap. It is a lubricant, an adhesive, and a sealer. Years ago a friend had some new tires put on his 'vet and when he picked up his car, he thought he'd burn a little rubber leaving the parking lot. Apparently the garage used real soap and so both tires popped off the rims. DOH!

 

[rowerwet]

aluminum wheels can have pin holes right through the casting, you would have to hold the tire under the water for a while to see the leak, steel wheels I have seen rust around the filler stem hole cause the leak.

 

[rustynut]

ok here's the update.
tire seems to be holding fine.
actually didnt use grease, it was Vasoli.....
Wasnt thinking about a lubricant though, but something to possiably put
the corrosion in check.
Just had to share that splitter dual usage with you all.
Anyone know exactly what they use in the tire shops ?
rn

 

[benjamin]

Monkey wrench makes a bead sealant that you can buy at Farm and Fleet in WI.

My favorite emergency bead breaker is a 4-6' piece of oak 2x10 set one end over the tire and 1" onto the edge of the rim, drive one wheel up the other end onto the tire, use a bar to pry the plank back, pulling the sidewall slightly away from the rim and dropping the plank on the tire. You'll still need to use the bar to pop the bead but it's very quick and easy.

 

[bogydave]

FYI:
Bead-eze is one product.
Never use any petroleum based product to mount tires.
It can chemically react with the rubber compounds in the tire & eat the bead & ruin the tire & wheel.
Vasoline is petroleum jelly, do not not use on any synthetic rubber, rubber or plastics.
(Learned it with a dive mask, used vasoline for mustache seal & the mask plastic got brittle & ruined the mask after a few months. use chap-stick )
"O"rings used with oil are a special "Buna-n" compound, like in hydraulic cylinders valves etc.

some info here about tires:
http://www.allbusiness.com/transportation-warehousing/485664-1.html

Blerb from above link:
"Petroleum oils and greases should never be used. These materials can chemically attack, soften and damage tire beads. Such materials have been used in the past as a combination lubricant/rust preventative, notably when steel wheels were manufactured with older coating system technologies that were subject to rust in some operating conditions.

However, nearly all steel wheels are now produced with modern, durable powder coat paint finishes, so supplementary coatings in the bead seat and well areas are neither necessary nor recommended.

Solvent-based lubricants should never be used, since they create explosive mixtures in the air cavity of the tire. This could result in serious injury or death. Plus, solvents may attack the rubber covering in the tire bead area. Equally, silicon based lubricants should be also avoided to minimize tire slippage on the rim."

 

[rustynut]

Bogydave,
Probable wouldnt have given it another thought about the Vas attacking the rubber.
The wheel is aluminum...... and i'll have a look at the auto parts for some of that Bead-Eze or something similar.
Thanks
rn
got to ask: Do you really need a mask for diving into all those snow banks ?

 

[bogydave]

Bogydave,
Probable wouldnt have given it another thought about the Vas attacking the rubber.
The wheel is aluminum...... and i'll have a look at the auto parts for some of that Bead-Eze or something similar.
Thanks
rn
got to ask: Do you really need a mask for diving into all those snow banks ?

No, it's for "Ice spear fishing"

 

[Tony H]

A couple things I found out about the rim leaks after dealing with several and talking with several tire and wheel folks.

There is a known issue of aluminum rim leaks the metal has very small pinholes from casting and is coated with a sealer from the factory on the inside. Over time this sealer wears off. GM wheels have a very high incidence of this and GM and ? sell a sealer made to recoat the wheels . I think they sell a cleaner also.
Keep in mind this is not the bead or the valve hole this is right thru the surface of the metal. You have to dismount the wheel clean off the old stuff with some special stripper and then recoat with new sealer and remount. Or you can do what I did on my van buy some used steel sport rims and take the al ones to the recycle center .
They say the worst thing to do with these or any wheel for that matter is fix a flat it is highly corrosive and will damage the wheels even more. I had a van the original owner has used it on one wheel (steel / chrome ) when my guy took the tire off it was a rusty nasty mess, took him an hour to clean and make it useable .
I hate slow leaks !

 

[ikessky]

They say the worst thing to do with these or any wheel for that matter is fix a flat it is highly corrosive and will damage the wheels even more. I had a van the original owner has used it on one wheel (steel / chrome ) when my guy took the tire off it was a rusty nasty mess, took him an hour to clean and make it useable .

My wheels are already a rusty nasty mess! Next time I need new tires, I'm going to get a set of alloy rims off a late model 1/2 ton and replace my old, rusty steelies.

Fix a flat is really only meant to seal the tire long enough to get you to a service station so they can fix the tire properly. The problem is, most people (myself included on more than one occasion!) see that the leak went away, so they never really get it properly taken care of.

 

[LLigetfa]

They say the worst thing to do with these or any wheel for that matter is fix a flat it is highly corrosive and will damage the wheels even more. I had a van the original owner has used it on one wheel (steel / chrome ) when my guy took the tire off it was a rusty nasty mess, took him an hour to clean and make it useable .

My wheels are already a rusty nasty mess! Next time I need new tires, I'm going to get a set of alloy rims off a late model 1/2 ton and replace my old, rusty steelies.

Fix a flat is really only meant to seal the tire long enough to get you to a service station so they can fix the tire properly. The problem is, most people (myself included on more than one occasion!) see that the leak went away, so they never really get it properly taken care of.

Slime does have a formulation made for tubeless tires that supposedly isn't as corrosive.

 

[rustynut]

have not heard of the alum rim leaking thru the metal - until now, but i'm not surprised.
Have experienced the Fix-a-Flat mess.
Did have someone suggest using Slime but figured it was probably about the same as Fix-a-Flat
at least as far as the mess. Now a noncorrosive formula sound better.
Problem was, my rim was corroded and I suspect leaking thru the corrosion.
Gonna see about completing that this weekend.
Thanks for all the info
rn

 

[Jags]

Uh Oh - my tire guy is not gonna be happy the next time I pull into his bay.