Aluminum Wheel - Slow Air Leak

Nov 24, 2008 5 Replies

Once again its winter in Minnesota and all of my tires or rims will frequently lose 10-20 lbs of air in 1-2 weeks. I've had them remounted a couple of times, but no luck. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Considering the age/condition of the vehicle (97 Avenger) I would be reluctant to purchase new rims (200.00+). Are there less costly ones (17 in. steel?) for this car. Thanks.


Have you tried lightly sanding the rims with emery cloth and then using some RTV sealer when they re-mount the tires? This usually solves the problem for 4-5 years.

Bob

My brother had this problem years ago with an American Mag wheel. I think they had to put in an innertube to fix the problem.

-KM

Buy a set of steel rims and put snow tires on them.

Use your aluminum rims and el-cheapo (and probably half bald) all season tires for spring/summer/fall driving.

Anyone who doesn't do that, and lives in the snow/rust belt, is an idiot.

I had a spare that did this. Doing the following will fix the problem:

1) dismount the tires. 2) thoroughly clean the bead area on the rims by glass-beading or use Scotchbrite, etc. 3) fill any large pits with epoxy (smooth any high spots afterward). 4) prime and paint the bead area w/ glossy enamel paint (clear will work fine). 5) remount the tires.

Mine didn't have any large pits, so all I did was glass-bead the bead area on the rim and paint it. It's been over 5 years and it hasn't leaked.

Bryan

did they clean off the white tarnish from the rims and use bead sealer a must with aluminum to seal tires to rims

JR wrote:

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