Tire leakage problem :(

ak

Legendary Member
Joined
17 April 2000
Messages
2,787
Location
Northern VA
My rear right tire has been leaking constantly lately and has gotten worse day by day. Yesterday I finally figured out why...it turns out air is leaking out between the tire and the rim on the side of the tire. WTF! Does this mean my rims are bent? I'm not sure how it seals around the lip of the rims so I can't tell. I did scuff it a little while ago but only lightly so I doubt I bent it. Anyone has any idea of why it's leaking? What's the fix...do I need to remount the tire?? This completely sucks cuz I already have a hole plugged on my left rear already! now this.. what a luck...

ak


[This message has been edited by ak (edited 29 October 2001).]
 
It could be a damaged rim, a damaged tire, or just a tire that isn't mounted quite right.
 
I had a similar problem with one of my stock rear wheels. I brought it to my local Acura dealer and even though I wasn't the original owner, they said they would look into it (for free). They called me later that day and informed me that the leak was being caused by an imperfection in the rim itself. They had determined that they believed that the rim had a manufacturing defect in it and that they would return it to Honda for a claim at no cost to me! To my amazment, a week later, I got a phone call to pick up my new rim! Now, I didn't know it was a defect at the time I brought it in, so you could imagine how happy I was. My dealer told me that this imperfection was not caused by a hit or anything like that, it was simply a defect in the aluminum. So, I guess that Acura was just "saving face" and goodwilled me rim. Have your local dealer look at it. It can't hurt, right? Moreover, this prompted me to go out and buy after-market wheels which I wanted to do for a while anyway! Good Luck!!!
 
Are your wheels chrome plated, particularly from the dealer? If so, plating on the bead may be starting to flake off, leaving just enough of an invisible gap to constantly leak. A local tire shop was familiar with the problem and took care of it by grinding off the plating. After the tire was mounted back on, you can't even see where they did the work.
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Another problem may be a badly seated valve stem. Often times the grommets at the base of the stem don't sit right, and again, a slow leak develops.

Good luck.

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1995 NSX-T
1999 3.2TL
2001 Odyssey
1992 SC400

[This message has been edited by FuryNSX (edited 29 October 2001).]
 
I believe the previous owner did refinish the wheels with anthrasite coloring....the weird thing is, it's been getting worse and worse. Before it used to leak about 4psi per week, now it's 20 psi per day. hmm
 
Originally posted by ak:
I believe the previous owner did refinish the wheels with anthrasite coloring....the weird thing is, it's been getting worse and worse. Before it used to leak about 4psi per week, now it's 20 psi per day. hmm

20lbs a day? Gadzooks, I hope you aren't driving it like that? Take the wheel off and take it somewhere to be checked out before you ruin the tire, wheel, car, yourself, someone else, etc.



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The NSX Model List Page
 
Originally posted by lemansnsx:
20lbs a day? Gadzooks, I hope you aren't driving it like that? Take the wheel off and take it somewhere to be checked out before you ruin the tire, wheel, car, yourself, someone else, etc.


No I don't drive it like that
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Also the pressure doesn't seem to hover around 20psi but never less. It's weird. One thing though, the hole in my left rear tire left the tire at no pressure(when I was patching it) but the tire did not go completely flat at all. Those are some strong side walls!
 
Damn the dealer....all they could come up was "oh yeah, it's leaking bad..."!!! I told them that this morning, you know! Anyway, I'll probably take the wheel to somewhere else who can actually help me than state the obvious. My question is, in the case of bent rim(which I now suspect..
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) should I get it fixed or is it better to replace it? I sure ain't going to pay $700 for a rim, so I'll have to find a used one...but I don't think it'll be easy to just find one used rear rim...
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Any tire shop with a decent balancer can tell you if the wheel is bent. Don't trust anyone who thinks they have something to gain. In fact, if it's bent enough to be the problem you can easily detect it yourself by jacking up the car and spinning the wheel with a fixed-position pointer of some type close to the rim. If it really is bent, you can expect that tie rod to have suffered as well, and possibly more. Stock wheels are not easily bent, but what else happens depends as much on the angle of impact and what you hit, as does the velocity.

You may have simply busted the tire bead away from the wheel rim and now it won't re-seat. The older the tire (years not miles) and the dirtier the rim when it was mounted, the more likely this is. It may also have gotten worse as the temperature dropped and effectively made the tire rubber harder and less able to seat. Again, any descent tire shop can find the leak and if it's just the bead they can peel it off, scrub things clean, and put it back.
 
If it is the wheel (and BTW sjs's advice on checking the tire and the wheel first is right on), then it's worth getting it repaired. Transwheel has a facility in Elk Grove Village and does an excellent job with wheel repair. I've gone there in the past but I heard recently they don't deal with consumers any more, but any dealer or shop should be able to send it over there for you. Expect to pay around $150 or so.
 
Ooops, just noticed your problem is on the rear, so the concern still exists but with the toe control rod but it is somewhat stronger and less vulnerable then the front tierods. If it is bent, the alignment will be out. (but the alignment out does not necessarily mean anything's bent). The rear control arms are pretty tough, but again, so is a stock wheel.
 
thanks for the input. I'll probably take just the wheel to local tire shop(NTB or something). It just ticks me off because today was the only day that I could take my car to any place and I was counting on the dealer to at least figure out whether the rim was bent or not.
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Try these 2 things: 1). Replace the valve stem. 2) Inflate the tire up to 80 lbs of pressure to seat the tire to the rim, then deflate to it's normal pressure. The front can be inflated to 110 lbs and deflated to it normal pressure. Good Luck

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RON '97 RED/BLACK
 
Originally posted by RON:
Try these 2 things: 1). Replace the valve stem. 2) Inflate the tire up to 80 lbs of pressure to seat the tire to the rim, then deflate to it's normal pressure. The front can be inflated to 110 lbs and deflated to it normal pressure. Good Luck


Thanks for the advice, but may I ask why you think I should replace the valve stem?
 
I was told by the tire tech that the the point where the valve stem goes into the tire could be defective. He also advised not to tighten the valve stem cap too tight as it might press down on the valve and cause air leakage ( ? ).

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RON '97 RED/BLACK
 
I see. Well, I know for sure that air is leaking from the lip of the rim near the valve stem but not sure if it has any direct effect. I still haven't had the chance to get it fixed
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I've seen similar problems on another wheel, and it was due to some residue build-up found on the back of the rim lip, that pushed the tire apart from the rim, causing air to leak out. The fix was to clean the entire back part of the rim lip where the tire seats when inflated. Hope that helps a little.

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Richard
NSXTASY
 
I still haven't had the chance to get it fixed

Which means that right now, the pressure in the tire is... minus 120 pounds.
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Originally posted by nsxtasy:
I still haven't had the chance to get it fixed

Which means that right now, the pressure in the tire is... minus 120 pounds.
biggrin.gif

Actually, the pressure doesn't go below 20 psi or so..heh which sort of seems to make the dirty rim theory possible?
 
Well, I finally got my tire off the rim. First of all, NTB(National Tire and Battery) suck. I don't think they have any idea how to unmount performance tires off of 17" wheels. They scuffed the lip of the rim, and also tore the inside end of the tire which they tried to blame on bad initial mounting! But anyway, I think the leak was being caused by some dirty that got in between the rim and the tire...BUT, it turns out I have a bigger issue now. Apparently, on the inside there's major damage on where the side wall ends and where the contact patch begins. All around the tire, it looks as if I put a knife in there and scuffed it all around. It's like this only on the left side of the tire(meaning on the inside when the tire is mounted). I guess when I ran with less air pressure without knowing it, it may have damaged the tire...but I remember the tire pressure was about 30psi and I only ran like this for 20-30 miles. I can not believe that the tire would get damaged this badly just because the tire pressure was somewhat low. I'll have to buy new tire next year! that sucks
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I'll probably have to check the other rear tire as well as I may have run with lower pressure when I had a puncture and didn't notice it. Anyone seen similar damage to the tire? I'll try to post a pic of it sometimes when I get time.
 
Damage could be caused by unmounting the tire, actually. And it's generally unacceptable that they scuffed up the rim in un-mounting the tire. And you'd need a new tire anyway if they tore the bead. You should get them to pay for having the rim fixed (re-finished or whatever is necessary to remove the scuffing). Unless it's on the inside, in which case it's probably not worth the hassle.

-Mike
 
I'll probably have to check the other rear tire as well as I may have run with lower pressure when I had a puncture and didn't notice it.

For the NSX, Acura recommends that a tire that has been punctured be replaced, not repaired.
 
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