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Thread: Leaking tires

  1. #1
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    Leaking tires

    I have problems with air leaking down in my 107 wheels with low profile Sumito mo tires. It's happened several times. It's like the air is leaking in spots where the edge of the tire sits against the wheel. It's gotten so that I have to travel with a twelve volt air compressor to pump up tires. Would using slime help to seal the tire edge.

  2. #2
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    2007 750i BMW; 2003 Z4 3.0 BMW; 2002 Lexus LS430;
    Slime is a temporary fix for a tire with a small hole. What you have described are defective tires - the bead should be firmly seated to the rim with no leaks - are the tires seated properly?

  3. #3
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    The cause is either a damaged tire bead,
    or damaged, corroded rim lip.

  4. #4
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    Although these tires, Sumitomo, All Season, 18 inch low profile tires are not what you consider top grade tires, I had Sumito mo 16 inch tires on 104 wheels with no problems. I bought the wheels off Ebay and had the 2 bad ones restored.. The restored ones are not giving me the trouble.

  5. #5
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    Looks like it's time to restore the other 2.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by MIKYZZ4 View Post
    Looks like it's time to restore the other 2.
    Yes it would seem so. The 2 I didn't restore looked brand new compared to the ones that were restored. At 150 a wheel, I was trying to keep my good deal a good deal.

  7. #7
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    Yes, I understand, would have done the same myself.

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    How old are the tires? I had a problem with an air leak that was traced to dried-out, 6 year old tires. Temporary solution was an adhesive of some sort the Germans use on tire installations.

  9. #9
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    FL
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    2007 BMW Z4 E85 3.0 SI
    @schwartzStock
    6 year old tires? Wow
    And you blame the wheel damage on the girlfriend?!
    My advice-> don’t paint your wheels till you get new tires!

    @Tombrhill
    How do you know the leak is coming from the wheel lips?
    1-It might be from the valve stems. Leaky old valve stems may cause a similar scenario and $20 fix maybe all you need.
    2-If the wheel lips are in fact the culprit tire techs usually deflate the tire, push down on the tire lip to separate from the wheel lip, brush the inner wheel lip with tire adhesive/sealant and reinflate the tire. This effectively stops any leak around the lips and buys time till wheels get repaired (unless there is a huge visible lip dent from hitting a pothole per say). You can do this repair yourself for the cost of the adhesive. Barge contact cement may even be good enough for this job If tire specific adhesive is too difficult/pricey to obtain.
    3-The tire slime will ruin these tires forever. It’s basically a thick liquid (rubber?)that goes in and dries unevenly (all drains to the bottom of the tire with gravity). This causes uneven weight distribution during tire rotation-> significant wheel shaking and balancing problems at high speeds. And it can’t be undone!

    The best way to figure out the source of your air leak is to uninstall the wheel and either immerse (while slightly overinflated with air) in soapy water or just squirt soapy water on each part and carefully look for bubbling.
    Last edited by tekoo; 11-08-2018 at 11:32 AM.

  10. #10
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    I have done all this. The tires are brand new from Tire Rack. The 1st time it happened I removed tire from vehicle and saw that it was leaking at bead. I had tire remounted. I had two more leakdowns . I've used car sparingly for the last month, always with my compressor in the trunk. Thank goodness I have not needed it. I can only think that the 18 inch low profile tires finally got seated against the wheel bead. I will travel with my compressor, and a spare wheel and tire for the time being.

  11. #11
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    Have you confirmed wheels are not bent(deformed)?
    Any corrosion on wheel lip area where it contacts tire bead?

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