recurring flat tire

[old doors fiji]

hey all,

 

ive had a recurring flat tire on my front driver side. i got new tires this summer, and the old front left would always go flat. now it's happening to this one. it seems to be a slow lead. what do you think the source is? a slightly bent wheel? or something else?

 

thanks

 

the car's a 98 legacy gt w/ goodyear eagle f1 all-seasons that have maybe 3k on them.

[Bbc84]

I just read about this in a Popular Mechanics Magazine, and they did a little article about Car troubleshooting, and soemthing like this was mentioned.

 

It seems if its an alloy wheel it could be air leaking through some spots in the rim itself.

 

Heres a link to an older article about it.

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_to_central/automotive/1272071.html

[Maddie08]

I had this problem... hairline fracture in the rim can slowly leak out air that can take anywhere from a day to a week or two to go flat. If when parking you put weight on the crack/leak it'll open up and drain quickly.

 

Good luck.

[meier motor sports]

hey all,

 

ive had a recurring flat tire on my front driver side. i got new tires this summer, and the old front left would always go flat. now it's happening to this one. it seems to be a slow lead. what do you think the source is? a slightly bent wheel? or something else?

 

thanks

 

the car's a 98 legacy gt w/ goodyear eagle f1 all-seasons that have maybe 3k on them.

 

 

it could be the scrader valve in the valve stem leaking. it could be the valvestem sealing around the rim itself leaking. could be a rim leak where the rim starts to corrode and build up basicly rust inbetween the rim and tire and that pushes the tire away from the rim and you get a leak there. could be a bent rim. could also be a cracked rim. could just be a deffective rim. iv seen where air actualy leaks from the center of the rim itself. like where the spokes meet the outermost portion of the wheel. or you could have picked up a nail or maybe you got a bad tire.

[JoeFromPA]

One of the cheapest and easiest ways to fix/prevent this in MOST instances, and which should be done when new tires are installed anyway, is to:

 

1. Use high quality valve stems (don't go to a shop that uses 50 cent asian valve stems, make sure they are using a high quality german unit)

 

2. Make sure the shop is using a thick, greasy, rust-inhibiting lubricant on the rim when mounting a new tire. It makes mounting easier, creates a better seal, prevents rust, and helps to actually prevent leakage through hairline cracks/porous alloy.

 

 

FYI: About 2 years ago I was adjusting my tire pressures at home. My drivers side rear valve stem failed.....the schrader valve stayed in after I took the tire pump away from it. Leaked all the air out. So I said "Ok, might as well finish on my driver's side front".....valve stem failed there too.

 

I took a close look at the valve stems....they were re-used. The inside of the stem was dirty on both that failed, whereas the other sides were clean.

 

Mounting tires is like doing an oil change. Incredibly simple to do, incredibly simple to screw it up.

 

Joe

[Tsquared80]

Make sure you keep the tire inflated as consistently as possible, too, while you figure this out. Letting it deflate a few psi, then re-inflating, etc, etc, will cause the sidewalls to wear faster and will eventually lead to a blowout. I had a nail in one of my STi tires and I just wanted to get one more month out of it before the winters went on, but the constant inflating/deflating caused a blowout while I was filling it up with air. Knocked me on my ass and my ears were ringing for a few minutes.

[LongHiway]

Had the same problem and on a '98 OBW. It took like 3 trips back to the tire shop - they did it for free. This sounds unimpressive but they spent some time really preparing the rim. Walla, no problems and the tires stayed inflated.