Tyre Problem Goodyear

[jemjem]

Hello  I have a 2016 Fabia III 1.2 TSi 90 Ambition styled, special edition

I'm hoping someone could help me please?

I had fitted, 4 Goodyear Efficient Trip Performance 2 (size 215/45 R16 90 V XL FP) tyres in May 2022.  I had winter tyres on from October and put the Goodyear's back on in April this year.  Since the changeover,(from complete tyre and wheel to complete tyre and wheel)  the rear back tyre has been continually losing air.  

 

After taking it to the garage, the mechanic struggled to find a problem but decided perhaps a certain spot was it, so I painfully watched while he fixed it by stabbing a big hole in it and filling it with a repair strip.  It's still losing air!

 

I was always told by the Skoda garage to put 2.2 air in the tyres.  When I put air in the tyre deflating, I checked all tyres and they were over 2.5.  I mentioned this to the garage and they said they inflate to ECO level these days.  So, puncture allegedly fixed, they inflated all tyres again.  But when I went to the put air in the repaired tyre again, (it was about 2.2) I checked all the others and the other three were 2.7 after I'd asked for 2.2 because it's only ever me driving the car without passengers.  

Is it possible that for the tyres I've fitted that they've been over-inflated?  

 

I'm concerned because I don't pass a garage on my way to work - (I live in the countryside).  Skoda has always done the changeovers.  

 

Do you think the back tyre needs replacing now?  If so, would I have to change the back pair?  My winter tyres will only be good for one more season, after which I'll switch to All Season tyres.  I paid almost 450€ for the tyres and a further 80€ to have them fitted, (female) and I don't want to by another two, only to have to buy another four next year.

 

Would it be best to go to a tyre specialist perhaps?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

[Ootohere]

Go where the staff are not incompetent.

 

EDIT, i see you have complete wheel / tyres sets for summer & ones for winter, so below in brackets not relevant.

(Taking tyres on and off the same rims for winter can mean handless tyre fitters messing up the beads.

Which is why many places will not do that. )

 

The place that as default inflated to ECO is a place to be avoided. What muppets.  Inflating to get a tyre on the bead is one thing, but there are reasons for recommended pressures for the load carried.

The place you go is a dangerous one, or that staff you talk to are. 

 

?

Where new valves fitted when the tyres were changed?

Edited 29 May, 2023 by toot

[ApertureS]

2 hours ago, jemjem said:

After taking it to the garage, the mechanic struggled to find a problem but decided perhaps a certain spot was it, so I painfully watched while he fixed it by stabbing a big hole in it and filling it with a repair strip.  It's still losing air!

Take it somewhere that has a clue what they are doing.

 

Its really simple to inflate a tyre and place it in a bath completely submerged to find the leak. Chances are the valve stem or wheel bead has some corrosion causing an imperfect seal.

Why would the mechanic repair something that he cant find a hole in? And if he thinks there is a tyre defect that hes tried to repair then thats even worse!

[nta16]

On my wife's UK Mk3 Fabia we tried running at ECO pressure but found it too hard (on 185/60 r15 tyres) so went back to 2.1.

 

Inside the fuel filler flap are the Skoda recommended pressures.

 

You need to check the tyre pressures when the tyres are "cold" and use a gauge that is reasonably accurate, different gauges may give different readings so best to stick to one to use and it is not usually those on pumps or possibly at many petrol stations and garages in my experience, or the staff are slap-dash with their use.

 

For decades I have carried a manual foot pump and separate accurate pressure gauge in the boot of my cars (most times instead of a spare wheel and jack and brace but that upsets some so much, my choice I survived 30+ years like it).

 

The XL on your tyres may give a firmer feel to the ride.

 

It' is best to change tyres in sets of twos (for same axle) or better still in sets of four (usually means rotating the tyres to get more even wear front to rear).  Consult your Owner's Manual for tyre rotation, if you do not have the paper printed copy you can get a fee pdf download  from VWSkoda. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models

 

In the UK we have business that specialise in selling and fitting tyres that can also repair them.

 

[Carlston]

10 hours ago, jemjem said:

Hello  I have a 2016 Fabia III 1.2 TSi 90 Ambition styled, special edition

I'm hoping someone could help me please?

I had fitted, 4 Goodyear Efficient Trip Performance 2 (size 215/45 R16 90 V XL FP) tyres in May 2022.  I had winter tyres on from October and put the Goodyear's back on in April this year.  Since the changeover,(from complete tyre and wheel to complete tyre and wheel)  the rear back tyre has been continually losing air.  

 

After taking it to the garage, the mechanic struggled to find a problem but decided perhaps a certain spot was it, so I painfully watched while he fixed it by stabbing a big hole in it and filling it with a repair strip.  It's still losing air!

 

I was always told by the Skoda garage to put 2.2 air in the tyres.  When I put air in the tyre deflating, I checked all tyres and they were over 2.5.  I mentioned this to the garage and they said they inflate to ECO level these days.  So, puncture allegedly fixed, they inflated all tyres again.  But when I went to the put air in the repaired tyre again, (it was about 2.2) I checked all the others and the other three were 2.7 after I'd asked for 2.2 because it's only ever me driving the car without passengers.  

Is it possible that for the tyres I've fitted that they've been over-inflated?  

 

I'm concerned because I don't pass a garage on my way to work - (I live in the countryside).  Skoda has always done the changeovers.  

 

Do you think the back tyre needs replacing now?  If so, would I have to change the back pair?  My winter tyres will only be good for one more season, after which I'll switch to All Season tyres.  I paid almost 450€ for the tyres and a further 80€ to have them fitted, (female) and I don't want to by another two, only to have to buy another four next year.

 

Would it be best to go to a tyre specialist perhaps?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

Swap the wheel with the slow leak with a spare wheel.

 

Then don't put it back on the car until the slow leak is sorted out.

 

It doesn't help that you are using 215/45R16 tyres fitted to 7Jx16 ET46 rims, because cheap steel rims aren't available in this size.

 

If you had 185/60R15 tyres, you could have purchased a cheap steel 6Jx15 ET38 rim and swapped the tyre with the slow leak over to this steel rim.

 

185/60R15 fitted to a 6Jx15 ET38 rim is one of the standard tyre and rim sizes on the Fabia MK3.

 

One of the benefits of using 185/60R15 tyres compared to 215/45R16 is that they are a much cheaper tyre size.

 

Edited 29 May, 2023 by Carlston

[Ootohere]

@Carlston Not everyone with an issue with tyres / punctures need or want smaller wheels or narrower tyres than their vehicle has. 

[Carlston]

1 hour ago, toot said:

Not everyone with an issue with tyres / punctures need or want smaller wheels or narrower tyres than their vehicle has. 

 

The OP may need to purchase a new rim if that's what is causing the slow air leak, ie. a damaged or corroded bead area on the rim. However, as you can see below, the 16" option is far more expensive than the 15" option.

 

The speed of the air leak isn't affected by how fast the car is driven, how many miles the car is driven, or what load is carried in the car. The tyre will lose air at exactly the same rate whether the car is used or isn't used, and whether it's heavily loaded or unloaded.

 

For example, if a car tyre's air pressure goes down from 35psi to 32psi in two weeks, how much the car is used or how many passengers the car carries is totally irrelevant. The air pressure will still go down from 35psi to 32psi after two weeks.

 

Some people incorrectly think that a car tyre will only lose air if it's driven. They say, why has my car tyre gone down when I haven't driven it much. They don't realise that a car tyre loses air pressure all the time, and that the rate of lose of air pressure isn't affected by how much they use the car or how fast they go or how many passengers they are carrying, etc.

 

Fabia MK3 7Jx16 ET46 alloy rim (about £150 each)

https://eshop.skoda-auto.cz/cs_CZ/alu-kola/c/alloyWheels?q=%3ApriceAsc%3ArimDiameter%3A16%22%3AcarType%3AFabia%2BIII%2B%282014%2B%29&text=#

 

Fabia MK3 6Jx15 ET38 steel rim (about £37.50 each)

https://www.oponeo.pl/felga-stalowa/vw-w7760#22523336

 

Edited 29 May, 2023 by Carlston

[Ootohere]

A new rim is not 4 smaller rims and 4 tyres. 

?

Are you on commission?

 

@Carlstonyou never tell us where you are in the world or what you drive or do for a living?

Do you buy take offs and resell them?

 

PS

Some peoples tyres lose no readable amount of air between each time they adjust pressures or check them.

Some cars sit for years going no place and the drop in pressure in the tyres is minimal. 

But that the real world and not what some wish to have anyone beleive.

 

 

Edited 29 May, 2023 by toot

[Carlston]

29 minutes ago, toot said:

A new rim is not 4 smaller rims and 4 tyres.

 

I'm not suggesting that the OP purchase four new tyres and rims.

 

I have simply pointed out that due to having an expensive wheel size, ie. 215/45R16, fixing the problem won't be as cheap as it might otherwise have been if a less expensive wheel size had been used.

 

Edited 29 May, 2023 by Carlston

[Ootohere]

If they did not have a 2016 Fabia but a 2006 Fabia it might be on 14" wheels and cheaper still.

But they are where they are with what they have. 

[nta16]

As we know some owners prefer to swap from the fashion of oversized wheels and tyres, from the factory or option when new or previous owners changes, to smaller sizes to be more functional on real world roads and often give better comfort.  Not everyone realises that the larger wheel and tyre size is often just fashion and that there  are alternatives if they want them.  Those that want the fashion sizes will stick with them and ignore any information that they can do otherwise.

 

The other week I saw a male Estate Agent wearing some shoes with really long pointed toe (cap) and thought it must be some extreme style but a couple of days later I noticed a bloke on telly reading the news had some and the bloke doing the weather so it must be the latest fashion for shoes I expect which is fine but these shoes wouldn't be very functional in other professions.

 

I can remember wearing stupidly wide shoes when I was young (though the fashion suited me as I have wide feet anyway).  😄

 

Edited 30 May, 2023 by nta16

[Ootohere]

215/45r 16 hardly a fashion statement.  That was Skoda kidding people that the cars revised platform from the MK2 Fabia had a wider track.  Also a wider body because of the Tornado line. 

[jemjem]

Hello and thank you hugely for all your responses.

 

The car arrived from factory with aluminium wheels and tyres of a different size (I'm no longer sure what they were).

 

The winter tyres which were fitted to steel rims at Skoda, read 185/65/R15 and they're still the ones I'm using.

 

The summer tyres now fitted to the aluminium wheels, which were deemed suitable for my vehicle and fitted by tyre professionals are size

215/45/R16 V (and it says on the tyre, 'not to be fitted to a 16.5"rim)

 

I can't check the size of the aluminum wheel absolutely correctly because the tyre is fitted but the diameter of the aluminium wheel, facing is 17", which probably really means 16?

 

Last year using the summer tyres, I didn't encounter a problem at all and they were correctly stored.

 

I haven't ( used the car since putting the pressure back in all four tyres to 2.2 on Sunday, (it's now Tuesday) and I'm about to go out, so we'll see.  I have done and inspection this morning and the tyre does seem very tight to the edge of the aluminium rim, more so than the others but I don't really know.  That said, as I recall, the summer tyres I bought Goodyears Efficient, were supposed to protect aluminium rims to an extent.

 

I'm hoping that I didn't put the wrong size tyres on?

 

Thank you for any further suggestions

 

 

 

 

[jemjem]

22 hours ago, toot said:

Go where the staff are not incompetent.

 

EDIT, i see you have complete wheel / tyres sets for summer & ones for winter, so below in brackets not relevant.

(Taking tyres on and off the same rims for winter can mean handless tyre fitters messing up the beads.

Which is why many places will not do that. )

 

The place that as default inflated to ECO is a place to be avoided. What muppets.  Inflating to get a tyre on the bead is one thing, but there are reasons for recommended pressures for the load carried.

The place you go is a dangerous one, or that staff you talk to are. 

 

?

Where new valves fitted when the tyres were changed?

 

[jemjem]

Hello Toot

Thank you for your response

I went to an official Skoda garage.  And I wasn't happy with the ECO setting.

When the professional tyre company fitted the summer tyres in May last year they fitted with new valves.

When Skoda changed re-fitted the winter tyres and re-fitted the summer tyres, I'm not sure if they changed the valves again.

[nta16]

I think you might be getting a bit mixed up with sizes because of the silly mix of imperial and metric.  The wheel rim width (in imperial) may well be show on the inside side of the wheel.

 

XL tyres and normally for extra load, heavier vehicles perhaps load carrying passengers or commercial loads like vans, can be small car sized vans.

 

Some links to perhaps help explain.

 

https://www.performancealloys.com/tyre-sizes-information

 

https://haynes.com/en-gb/tips-tutorials/beginners-guide-wheel-sizes

 

https://tiresize.com/comparison/

 

Edited 30 May, 2023 by nta16

[Ootohere]

XL Tyres were fitted to Mk2 Fabia vRS or Monte Carlo including TSI's as standard.  All of 105 ps.  205/40 R 17's/

 

Mk3 came in 15",16", 17" and even the option from the factory of 18". 215's on 16 & 17" ones. 

 

 

Edited 30 May, 2023 by toot

[J.R.]

2 hours ago, nta16 said:

I can remember wearing stupidly wide shoes when I was young (though the fashion suited me as I have wide feet anyway).  😄

 

Clown!

[skomaz]

13 hours ago, Carlston said:

 

I'm not suggesting that the OP purchase four new tyres and rims.

 

I have simply pointed out that due to having an expensive wheel size, ie. 215/45R16, fixing the problem won't be as cheap as it might otherwise have been if a less expensive wheel size had been used.

 

 

You say that but on every single thread about wheels or tyres (and even some suspension threads) you go on about putting smaller diameter wheels on, regardless of what is actually being asked - it seems a bit of an obsession of yours...

[nta16]

3 hours ago, toot said:

XL Tyres were fitted to Mk2 Fabia vRS or Monte Carlo including TSI's as standard.  All of 105 ps.  205/40 R 17's/

Right, thanks, so the XL not just for the extra weight of German cars and additions to VRSs and Monte Carlos but to reinforce the rubber  band 40s against 105ps, plenty of margin for enthusiast owners. 😄  Wonder if someone retired early after setting up that supply deal, I'm surprised they didn't make them dedicated with code letters added and only that make and code of tyre to be fitted.

 

[Ootohere]

Skoda / VW Group fit any old crap from their major suppliers and when the cars were not correctly aligned on the production line or just for right hand drive they blamed the Tyres but continued to use those same brands.

 

There was a decade plus of 'Pulling to the left' threads.

The solution that Skoda / VW had when owners really did not let it rest was to fit tyres that were XL. / Reinforced sidewalls.

Usually the Pirelli Zero Nero. 

 

So XL tyres not just for extra weight when you read the bumff but common for that use  & reinforced sidewalls certainly did not stop many a 205/40 R 17 tyre get destroyed. 

Margins for enthusiast owners even Granny or Grandad racers.

Edited 30 May, 2023 by toot

[Carlston]

6 hours ago, jemjem said:

I haven't ( used the car since putting the pressure back in all four tyres to 2.2 on Sunday, (it's now Tuesday) and I'm about to go out, so we'll see.  I have done and inspection this morning and the tyre does seem very tight to the edge of the aluminium rim, more so than the others but I don't really know.  That said, as I recall, the summer tyres I bought Goodyears Efficient, were supposed to protect aluminium rims to an extent.

 

I'm hoping that I didn't put the wrong size tyres on?

 

Thank you for any further suggestions

 

The first part of dealing with a slow air leak is to find where the air is leaking from, by first removing the wheel from the car and submerging it in water to check for air bubbles.

 

If it's a very slow air leak the forming of bubbles will be quite slow.

 

When you find the air leak, it's important to mark both the rim and tyre where the air leak is coming from. This is because you can't be sure if the air leak is caused by a problem with the rim or the tyre. Usually it's the rim that causes the slow air leak, but I have seen tyre beads crack quite badly. So it's also possible that a faulty tyre could cause a slow air leak.

 

You could also take a photo of where the air leak is coming from.

 

Edited 30 May, 2023 by Carlston

[J.R.]

I had one which for may years tyre fitters could not find the leak in the water trough, they kept removing the tyre, rotary brushing the bead contact area and refitting the tyre with loads of schmoo and it would still go down.

 

I was at the point of having the alloy wheel refurbished when a knowledgable guy did the same water bath test but tweaked the valve from side to side, the brass core was no longer bonded into the rubber outer but it would only leak when twisted, the centrifugal force from high speed running was pushing the valve stem outwards.

 

I had a similar thing on my removal trailer, it had very old inner tubes under not so oldish tyres, when it was parked up fully (over)loaded for the journey next day I heard a pop and a whoosh of air, the brass core had shot out and lande some 50m away, had it not happened then I would have been on the M23 and at cruising speed within 2 miles of my home for it to have caused a major accident.

[jemjem]

On 29/05/2023 at 20:02, Carlston said:

 

Swap the wheel with the slow leak with a spare wheel.

 

Then don't put it back on the car until the slow leak is sorted out.

 

It doesn't help that you are using 215/45R16 tyres fitted to 7Jx16 ET46 rims, because cheap steel rims aren't available in this size.

 

If you had 185/60R15 tyres, you could have purchased a cheap steel 6Jx15 ET38 rim and swapped the tyre with the slow leak over to this steel rim.

 

185/60R15 fitted to a 6Jx15 ET38 rim is one of the standard tyre and rim sizes on the Fabia MK3.

 

One of the benefits of using 185/60R15 tyres compared to 215/45R16 is that they are a much cheaper tyre size.

 

Hello Carlston

I've just checked the specs of the new vehicle from the purchase and it came with 16" Antia Alloy wheels, size 215/45 -R16 H, and the Goodyear tyres are the same size, except I bought 90 V instead of 86H, which were very limited in their availability and cost a lot more if you could find them.  I can't remember the make of tyres which were fitted new, but I think they were Firestone.  They last a very long time, over 60,000km.  I think I'll get the valve changed on that tyre.  It is a bit looser than the others.

[jemjem]

11 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

 

I was at the point of having the alloy wheel refurbished when a knowledgable guy did the same water bath test but tweaked the valve from side to side, the brass core was no longer bonded into the rubber outer but it would only leak when twisted, the centrifugal force from high speed running was pushing the valve stem outwards.

 

 

Thank you;  That's a good idea.  I'll get that changed.  Can it be done on the spot?