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I have a 'new' 2nd hand car. It has alloy rims and 2 of the tyres loose about 5lbs of pressure each per week. The other 2 are much more air tight.
I had the car from a friend, so I knew about the tyre/rims in advance. The garage told her previously it is minor damage to the rims causing the leaks.
Anything I can do to slow down the air loss, or is it just a trivial something to live with?
Is it damage to the rims, or corrosion inside the rim meaning the beads dont seat properly? If it's damage I'd be worried that the damage was big enough to cause leaks TBH, if it's corrosion, it's not unheard of - you can get a tyre place to pull the tyres off the bead and clean the bead up. I have two rims that are flatspotted to the point where I'm uncomfortable with their use, and they hold air happily. Used to have an old rangerover that leaked due to corrosion, that went on for years but those tyres are a massive volume so a weeks leaking is bearly a couple of psi.
my wife's 72 beetle had this where the rims had rusted a bit.
my tyre fitter recommended a can of the 'instant leak repair' stuff from tyre weld (halfords etc sell it)
basically - it's like stans/joes - the latex sealant that plugs the gaps.
her tyre haven't lost air for 3 months now.
Put some Stan's in there. It works, apparently 🙂
its either;
1)leaky beads. break them and reseal.
2)slow punctures
3)porous alloy wheel(rare)
First, thanks all for comments.
I dont know if its damage to the rims or corrosion inside them, only had the car a couple of weeks and its also my first experience with alloy rims.
I dont know how good a garage she has gone to when having tyres changed - she has asked about the leaks a couple of times but she said the answer has always been a bit vaugue and uninterested.
I get the impression the leaks have been going on at least a couple of years, possibly longer. The car has been stood about a lot, doing very long trips in between sitting on a drive for 2 weeks or so at a time.
What makes you think its the rims?
I've had car tyres that only leaked when the hole was touching the road, i.e. the weight of the car was causing the tyre to distort enough to open up the hole, but only when it was at the bottom.
change of tyres did the trick.
Why not go to a tyre place and get them to check to leaks / damage?
Corrosion is quite common - either a refurb or sealant sorts it I am told.
I am open to it not being the rims - I dont actually have a clue, I have never encountered this problem before. I am only repeated what the garage told the prev owner about it being the wheel/rims.
She must have had problems with other previous tyre sets I guess as she is bright enough to work it out if these were the only set that leaked. 🙂