some times the little repairs take a good deal of time and research when the cause should be obvious but at times is not!
I Went out to work on my car, and can,t..figure out why the front tires nearly flat, I pump it full of air, with the shop compressor and a week later its low,on air.
so I pulled the wheel off the car and soak it down with soapy water, looking for an air leak,figuring the leak should be obvious and not hard to find a trail of micro bubbles, and don,t find a darn thing, careful inspection shows no leaks and no nails or screws in the tire to account for the air loss, that usually only leaves an intermittent leak at the bead seal area that only leaks as the tire deforms as it rotates, or a leaking valve stem
so not wanting to put up with the stupid leak, and need to put air in the tire every week, I pull the tire , break the tires rim,beads seal and apply bead sealant and re-seat the tire on the rim and pressurize it back up to 30 psi, only then I notice a really small nick or micro slice in the valve stem, I test it but its not leaking, but as it might, yet Im just not trusting it, so I go off to the local NAPA to get a new valve stem, but before I go I break down the tire and remove the old valve stem to be sure the new replacement will be similar, as theres dozens of different designs and sizes
youll need a few tools, too work on tires ,and when I pulled out the old valve stem it was obvious that the seal area where it seals in the hole in the rim was nicked,slightly, in the rubber ,seal to the rim area around the base of the valve stem, not the rim it self.
Im guessing, it was the source of the slow leak but I never found the leak for sure yet.
So now we wait a week to see if I fixed the problem, Ive soaped the surface of the tire and rim and found zero bubbles, so this is a bit of a head scratch-er!
BTW watch this video, this is a really good tool to have
http://vimeo.com/49479556
http://tireplugger.com/
relate thread
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=7375&p=24947&hilit=bead+seal#p24947
I Went out to work on my car, and can,t..figure out why the front tires nearly flat, I pump it full of air, with the shop compressor and a week later its low,on air.
so I pulled the wheel off the car and soak it down with soapy water, looking for an air leak,figuring the leak should be obvious and not hard to find a trail of micro bubbles, and don,t find a darn thing, careful inspection shows no leaks and no nails or screws in the tire to account for the air loss, that usually only leaves an intermittent leak at the bead seal area that only leaks as the tire deforms as it rotates, or a leaking valve stem
so not wanting to put up with the stupid leak, and need to put air in the tire every week, I pull the tire , break the tires rim,beads seal and apply bead sealant and re-seat the tire on the rim and pressurize it back up to 30 psi, only then I notice a really small nick or micro slice in the valve stem, I test it but its not leaking, but as it might, yet Im just not trusting it, so I go off to the local NAPA to get a new valve stem, but before I go I break down the tire and remove the old valve stem to be sure the new replacement will be similar, as theres dozens of different designs and sizes
youll need a few tools, too work on tires ,and when I pulled out the old valve stem it was obvious that the seal area where it seals in the hole in the rim was nicked,slightly, in the rubber ,seal to the rim area around the base of the valve stem, not the rim it self.
Im guessing, it was the source of the slow leak but I never found the leak for sure yet.
So now we wait a week to see if I fixed the problem, Ive soaped the surface of the tire and rim and found zero bubbles, so this is a bit of a head scratch-er!
BTW watch this video, this is a really good tool to have
http://vimeo.com/49479556
http://tireplugger.com/
relate thread
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=7375&p=24947&hilit=bead+seal#p24947