Fighting leaks with alloy wheels

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: cpayne5
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Traction
Just to add, to clean up the beads on 4 16 inch wheels, it is over 33 feet of surface area to deal with.


16 inches x 2 inches effective "depth" x 2 beads per rim x pi x 4 wheels * (1ft^2/144in^2) = 5.58 sq feet. How do you figure?


He meant 33 feet of linear bead, not literal surface area.


Aha! I thought too deeply into it.

 

[901Memphis]

I can't do any of this stuff myself, no tools for tire work or a place to do it.

Definitely not replacing the wheels with steelies, unless it gets really bad. Trying to not waste money if I can help it. Not only will I have to buy the wheels, then I will have to pay someone to remount and balance all 4 tires.

I'm going to first ask the tire shop about bead sealer next time I go.

 

[Oro_O]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
I hold on to cars for a long time, so I've repaired many a leak from corroded rims. My regimen is to dismount the tire with my Harbor Freight tire changer, sandblast the corrosion, and repaint the rim. This makes for a good long lasting repair. Burnishing the corrosion may work for a bit, but it's not for me.


That’s smart. I may have to start doing that in the future. Do the cheap tire changers work ok? What kind of paint (I saw epoxy mentioned earlier)?

 

[Traction]

A lot of tire shops just glob bead sealer all over everything, even when it's not needed with a un-corroded and a new tire. Just makes a big mess, and actually cause a bead leak. What I do when installing new tires is just buff the corrosion/old paint off, then install the new tire, and they won't leak again for a long time. If I'm fixing leaky beads on a used tire, I buff the wheel, and the bead seat of the tire with a 3 inch nylon wheel. Then I ONLY apply bead sealer on the tire, not the wheel. Per instruction's , it's supposed to only be used on the tire. Have to do a used set from a 96 Chevy truck on Monday, and it is not a fun job by any means. I'll Probably charge around $80. Slime will not fix a bead leak, and just makes a HUGE mess to deal with, when it gets splattered all over your clean equipment, and walls, etc. Discount tire is one in my area that will slobber bead sealer all over a near new wheel, and tire, while doing just a "free" flat repair.

 

[eljefino]

If you put bead sealer on the tire bead, sometimes it splats up onto the visible part of the sidewall and looks hokey.

I like to break beads but leave the tires on the rim, get down in the "sandwich" and slobber sealer on all three surfaces, (inner lip, outer bead, and outer lip) and pop them back up. To do what I consider a complete job I sand and paint the rims, mount the tires with normal bead lube, pump them up to 50 PSI while the lube is still wet, and let them sit. If they lose air I break them down and add the goo. This tries many peoples' patience and is hard to do in a shop environment.

Waste not, want not: Only painted the sealing surfaces, with black rustoleum glossy: (I suppose with aluminum you could use silver colored or a clear coat.)

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: Or
Originally Posted By: Kestas
I hold on to cars for a long time, so I've repaired many a leak from corroded rims. My regimen is to dismount the tire with my Harbor Freight tire changer, sandblast the corrosion, and repaint the rim. This makes for a good long lasting repair. Burnishing the corrosion may work for a bit, but it's not for me.

That’s smart. I may have to start doing that in the future. Do the cheap tire changers work ok? What kind of paint (I saw epoxy mentioned earlier)?

Ill have to admit the Harbor Freight tire changer is useful mostly as a bead breaker and for holding the tire up while working on it. It's the tire irons that are most useful.

For paint I used Rustoleum. For aluminum wheels I use a self-etch primer followed with silver paint.

 

[jjjxlr8]

I have seen OE wheels that are right at the low end or even below spec in the diameter where the tire seats. When the weather cools down and the wheels shrink slightly, it's enough to increase leaking.

 

[Traction]

Originally Posted By: jjjxlr8
I have seen OE wheels that are right at the low end or even below spec in the diameter where the tire seats. When the weather cools down and the wheels shrink slightly, it's enough to increase leaking.

This is true, when mounting new tires, some silently seat in place without a pop with very little air pressure. Then there are some that take 60+ psi to seat with a bang. Those fit much tighter, and probably less likely to leak, and corrode. I never see bead corrosion on German wheels with very tight fitting tires.

 

[Traction]

The set of old tires/wheels I re-sealed today, and it was a lot of work.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Traction
Originally Posted By: jjjxlr8
I have seen OE wheels that are right at the low end or even below spec in the diameter where the tire seats. When the weather cools down and the wheels shrink slightly, it's enough to increase leaking.

This is true, when mounting new tires, some silently seat in place without a pop with very little air pressure. Then there are some that take 60+ psi to seat with a bang. Those fit much tighter, and probably less likely to leak, and corrode. I never see bead corrosion on German wheels with very tight fitting tires.

Thats interesting. I have seen that too where they just slide on almost too easy. Makes sense that it could cause a problem.