When I bought my car one of the rally wheels were off the car and it had a blown out tire on it (shredded with the bead still mounted). I don't know what happened to the wheel but I had a new tire put on it (five years ago)and over a few weeks of sitting it goes flat. If I drive it I doesn't lose air it seems. It also has a different tire on it than all the others if that makes any difference (Firestone, all others are Cooper).
I was just curious if maybe the rim is bad and that's why it keeps happening or would they know it's bad right away when the shop goes to balance it? Would the air leak out around the bead? One time when I was filling it after it was all flat there was moisture in the tire and it was bubbling around there.

Yes, you can definately have a leak around the bead or lip of the wheel.

Dirt, mud, rust or a number of other things can cause this. Take the wheel/tire off the car and dunk it in a tank of water and see if you can find the leak.

If it is in fact leaking from the bead, take it to a tire shop. If they are a competent shop, they will unseat the bead, try to and finish it off with bead sealer.

I've done this more times than I can count at work, and it works nearly everytime.


- Matt

Most tire shops with also take a wire wheel on a air tool and remove all the corrosion that builds up on the rim and then apply the sealer so it stays indefinetely.

Chris.

Originally posted by Chris R:
Most tire shops with also take a wire wheel on a air tool and remove all the corrosion that builds up on the rim and then apply the sealer so it stays indefinetely.

Chris. Yup.
I typed that in my response... but apparently I deleted it on accident... now one of my sentences reads horribly graemlins/clonk.gif ha, oh well.

But yeah, when I do this, I will take the tire off the wheel and use a wire wheel to remove rust and other large pieces of debris, then go back over it with a rag and cleaner fluid before applying bead sealer and reassembling it.

I had a pinhole through one of the spokes on my slotted mags that air was leaking from. Finally found it while the tire was off and covered it with JB Weld...damnedest thing i've ever seen, it didnt even look possible the hole could go from the inside halfway up the spoke...