Porous Alloys?

[superscot 0]

Anyone else experiencing what seems to be porous Speedlines? All four tyres lose up to 8psi pressure weekly, which started a couple of years ago with one wheel and a couple of pounds pressure. Puncture and leaking valve checks drew a blank and replacing a couple of tyres made no difference at all. Any suggestions for a solution as I'm concerned that one or more tyres could suddenly lose all pressure? My VR6 must be one of the last, registered Jan. 1996 and is on the standard/original 5-spoke "star" style Speedlines

[Guest]

nopes, never heard of that.

 

first guess would have been puncture or valves, but you've checked them :-/

[craigowl 0]

I had this nuisance for a couple of years until I bit the bullet and paid for refurb for all four wheels - about £250 at a place recommended to me near Airdrie (Plains).

No loss of pressure since. Even after weeks.

The wheels were the original Solitudes on a June 1995 Storm.

 

Best of luck - and welcome to the forum.

[Guest]

odd that it should happen on all of them

[Jstar 0]

Same happened to me a few years ago with my valver wheels (don't know their name). Got them refubed and new tires and everything is now ok. I paid £60 a wheel about 4 years ago.

[chrishill 0]

check you have the new style wheel balance's fitted, not the old style clippy-on ones. Had this problem with my golf and thought I needed 2 new tyres, turns out as the clips age and corrode they can cause air to leak from the tyre, 20mins in a tyre place and some new sticky-on balances and it was all sorted. Otherwise as others have said it could be the rims of the alloys needing a refurb.

[DanA 0]

This was happening to mine too, i ended up getting them all refurbished £35 a wheel - Just hoping that's sorted it!!

 

http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41683

[Storm Warning 0]

Had this one or two of my Speedline 5 spokes and 3 of my BBS Solitudes. RCs so far have lost no pressure.

[bigpants baby 0]

just put some of that tyre sealant in there then your protected for any future punctures as well.

http://www.linseal.com

[craigowl 0]

bigpants baby wrote

just put some of that tyre sealant in there then your protected for any future punctures as well.

 

I spent £50 on tyre sealant, put it in all the tyres and still had some leakage.

[mbaker8v 0]

Its unlikely you have porous alloys, what usually happens is that the alloy starts to corrode around the tyre bead, which lifts the tyre slightly out of the bead and allows air to escape. Easy way to check is take one wheel off the car, and use a paint brush and washing up liquid to spread some foam around the edge of the tyre / wheel meeting point. Do it all the way round. If it is the seal thats leaking you will see bubbles. Try both front and back of the wheel. If it is the seal you dont need to get the wheels refurbished, just take them to your local garage, get them to pop the tyres off, clean up the inside of the wheel where the bead sits and replace. This is very very common on alloys, my local garage has just done 2 of my wheels when they put the new Eagle f1's on...

 

Hope that helps,

 

Mark

[craigowl 0]

mbaker8v wrote

Its unlikely you have porous alloys, what usually happens is that the alloy starts to corrode around the tyre bead, which lifts the tyre slightly out of the bead and allows air to escape. Easy way to check is take one wheel off the car, and use a paint brush and washing up liquid to spread some foam around the edge of the tyre / wheel meeting point. Do it all the way round. If it is the seal thats leaking you will see bubbles. Try both front and back of the wheel. If it is the seal you dont need to get the wheels refurbished, just take them to your local garage, get them to pop the tyres off, clean up the inside of the wheel where the bead sits and replace. This is very very common on alloys, my local garage has just done 2 of my wheels when they put the new Eagle f1's on...

 

Hope that helps,

 

Mark

 

Good post mark.

I did what you said - having owned cars for 37 years, I had no doubts this was the cause. (Disappointed that tyre seal was not infallible, though. You live and learn by experience.)

"Soapy bubbles" proved that the tyre/wheel rim area seals were not sound.

Guy at wheel refurb place said that too - it is extremely common.

I even had to replace steel wheels on Pugit 205 after 12 years for same thing.

 

Look no further, superscot.

[madscientist 0]

This was happening to my speedlines as well, got the back two done by a mobile guy and he ripped me off £30, but i went to a local tyre guy this weekend and he showed me it was leaking around the rim where it meets the tyre.

Took the tyre off and you could see loads of rust and crap that the last person had'nt cleaned/scrapped it off. He wire brushed it all off and put some sealant on and its fine now for £10

[Neil VR6 0]

Its unlikely you have porous alloys, what usually happens is that the alloy starts to corrode around the tyre bead, which lifts the tyre slightly out of the bead and allows air to escape. Easy way to check is take one wheel off the car, and use a paint brush and washing up liquid to spread some foam around the edge of the tyre / wheel meeting point. Do it all the way round. If it is the seal thats leaking you will see bubbles. Try both front and back of the wheel. If it is the seal you dont need to get the wheels refurbished, just take them to your local garage, get them to pop the tyres off, clean up the inside of the wheel where the bead sits and replace. This is very very common on alloys, my local garage has just done 2 of my wheels when they put the new Eagle f1's on...

 

Hope that helps,

 

Mark

 

This is exaclty what happened to my BBS G60 wheels. They used some wet and dry to make the surface where the bead sits nice and smooth. No probs after that at all. Only £15 per wheel too, much cheaper than a refurb!

[craigowl 0]

Neil G60 wrote

Only £15 per wheel too, much cheaper than a refurb!

 

Sure, I appreciate that. Some guys will be patient and do a good job, but with others I believe you can still have probs.

As my Storm had 10-year old original Solitudes I decided to go the whole hog. Might not have opted for that otherwise.

[jonrb 0]

The guys at my local Central Tyres are brilliant.

 

I buy my tyres from http://www.blackcircles.co.uk and have them delivered and fitted by Central Tyres.

 

On the latest set i was getting leakage so they took the tyre off, used a grinder / polisher to remove all the corrosion round the bead edge of the rim (as has already been mentioned) and used copious quantities of rim seal and put the tyre back on and balanced it with stick-on weights rather than the clip-ons. They then discovered the valve was leaking, so took the tyre off again and sealed the valve with some rubbery paint stuff and reassembled and rebalanced. That sorted it and they didn't charge me a penny, although I did give them some beer money.

 

Moral of the story is that if you have corrosion round the wheel and/or in the hole the valve sits in, you need to get it cleaned up. And make sure your tyre fitter uses rim seal.

[superscot 0]

Thank you all for your comments and help. Several options to consider but I'll go for having the rim seals checked first as it sounds as if that'll sort out the problem.

 

Thanks again, guys.

[StuartFZR400 0]

I always insist that they use stick-on weights with my alloys, as people have said that the clipons damage the wheel and cause corrosion.

 

If you have had these for some years, its likely that they have corroded over time (cleaning can be a pain), even slightly kerbed them. So as several people say, get the tyres off (for free normally if you promise to take them back for refitment) and refurb them your self if the damage is minor.

 

I used a light file then emory to get a perfectly smooth rim (lol) and then sprayed laquor as required. Avoiding creating any hollows/dips in the rim (both inner and outer edges). The tyre should fit perfectly.

 

Avoid kerbing the wheel at all costs. ;)