following on from a previouse thread,

i found out after i bought the car that the alloys aren't holding air properly, none of them, but some worse than others.

i thought it must have been slow punctures, and as the car had some cheap tyres on them, i swapped them for some continentals, but they are still losing air, a little better than before mind you.

ranges from 35-30psi across a fortnight being the best, to dropping from 35-under10psi, not good.

someone one here, greg i think said its quite common that the corrode on the bead of the rim stopping them sealing properly,

as some of the alloys are a bit scuffed anyway, i was going to get them powredcoated/refurbed.

is this worth doing, i.e am i taking a chance? being standard vrs alloys (17'') i would expect them to be descent quality and not be cracked, but is there anyway i can tell other than inspection?

cheers

Alan

p.s sorry for the long post

Sounds to me like the monkeys who fitted the cheapo tyres wrecked the bead, as you suspect. Assuming the refurb place can restore the smooth surface (essential on tubeless tyres, of course), then you should be fine - but I don't have any experience of refurbing alloys, so it's a big assumption. :ne_nau:

I have heard of porous / cracked alloys before on here, but I assume a refurb place would be able to rule that sort of thing out...???

hmmm, hoping its not that :(

Best thing to do is take the wheels off the car & dunk them a water to see if there are any bubbles . Also did they change the valves when you fitted the new tyres??

Might be worth whipping the tyres off and getting them to clean round the edge where the bead sits, I does get quite ****ty round in my experience, has caused me leaks in the past. There is apaste of some kind which they use to seal it, its like pooh brown colour(although I am colour blind so it may be green in reality).

HTH

I had this problem, Get a 3M scotch brite pad and rub all around the bead area to clean up. I left it spinning on the tyre machine and get loads of "soap" on before you pop the tyre back on. Should cure it

If it takes a fortnight to go down then dunking in water will not see anything (too little air coming out to cause a bubble in any reasonable timeframe), I assume that when they changed the tyres they also changed the valves? I only say this as I had a tyre recently going flat over a day or so (saw nothing in water) but had the valve changed (also meant the wheel was reseated) and all been fine now. I would not have though all your alloys would be cracked/porous so probably either valves or tyres not sealing on beads properly.

yeah i don't think the valves were changed when the tyres were put on to be honest.

think i'll take them somewhere else and see about getting the beads cleaned up a bit and the valves changed, see if that helps, i'd like to get the wheels refurbished anyway, but if i get that done first at least i should know if i'm refurbing a dodgey alloy or not...

Always worth checking the valves are screwed in tight.

Tyres on alloy wheels leaking around the bead is not uncommon because of corrosion on the rim. The usual cure is to break the tyre off the bead, clean the inside of the rim with a wire brush, and then apply tyre lubricant (I used to use Ru-Glyde when I worked in a garage) and re-inflate.

More often than not this cures the problem.......

Tyres on alloy wheels leaking around the bead is not uncommon because of corrosion on the rim. The usual cure is to break the tyre off the bead, clean the inside of the rim with a wire brush, and then apply tyre lubricant (I used to use Ru-Glyde when I worked in a garage) and re-inflate.

More often than not this cures the problem.......

Is there an echo in here

Is there an echo in here

Sorry M8, I didn't read the whole thread properly....

Sorry M8, I didn't read the whole thread properly....

:rofl:

Yours sounds way more technical than mine though

What you describe fits the symptom I had with losing pressure over a fortnight or longer. After several unsuccessful trips to the tyre fitters I decided to bite the bullet and refurb the wheels myself. As I am fortunate enough to possess a 5th alloy I refurbed the worst one by getting my new tyre fitted to the 5th wheel leaving a rim to refurb.

Bought wet n dry and the appropriate primer / paint / lacquer and £10 does a wheel.

See pictures.

Hope this helps you decide:thumbup:

take the wheel off and brush a strong solution of washing up liquid or other bubbly agent around the bead with the wheel laid flat, it will be clear if there is a leak.

also test round the valve.

I have seen porous alloy but it's pretty unusual.

If the wheels have been scraped round the bead lip area, it's easy for the corrosion to creep down under the bead of the tyre and it will never seal until it's cleaned off. My local tyre place use a wire brush and some orangy/brown rubber solution type stuff in those cases, works a treat

cheers guys, i've refurbed alloys before myself, bt whith a 4month old here now, i know i wouldn't have the time! lol even though i have a 5th alloy!

Might have a go at this over the hols. Keep me busy.