[jmlo96]

Hey gang,

I need some other thoughts about a tire loosing air. I have a tire that keeps loosing about 10 psi a week (not on my Cruze on our 2009 Legacy.)

My friend at work cleaned up the bead on the aluminum wheels, put bead sealer all the way around, and we put brand new OEM TPMS sensors in the wheel. Before the tire would go flat in a few hours. I could not see any punctures in the tire.

Anyone have any ideas? Maybe its a problem with the tire?

 

[jblackburn]

Dunk the whole wheel in a bucket of water and see where the air's coming from. Most tire shops do this to find a leak. I suspect the wheel itself may have a crack in the casting somewhere.

 

[jmlo96]

Dunk the whole wheel in a bucket of water and see where the air's coming from. Most tire shops do this to find a leak. I suspect the wheel itself may have a crack in the casting somewhere.

I'll have to try that. I didn't even think of the wheel itself having an issue.

 

[snowwy66]

How old is the tire? Did the valve stem get changed also when it was torn down for bead sealer?

Old rubber can leak also and you'll never see the leak. Although 10 pounds a week should bubble something up.

I don't know about the states you all live in but around here. Once in a blue moon a story is aired on the news about an accident and recommending to NOT be using tires over 5 years old. I"m not even sure if tire shops even screw around with em anymore. I tried to get a new tube in my motorcycle a few years back and had to buy a tire also. Course, the bike was 10 years old with original tires.

 

[jmlo96]

Thanks @snowwy66 for the advice. The valve stem got changed with the new TPMS sensor. I'll have to check the date on these tires. I'm pretty sure they are about 3 years old. I was kind of wondering if maybe the tire didn't vulcanize correctly since its just a cheap Uniroyal tire.

I bought this car off my cousin and I had to rebuild the engine and a few other things so I don't know much about its history. This will just have to get added to the list, lol. Apparently Subarus right around 100k need a lot of work.

 

[jblackburn]

Apparently Subarus right around 100k need a lot of work.

A very true statement...

My coworkers 2012 Forester is going through the same drama.

 

[jmlo96]

A very true statement...

My coworkers 2012 Forester is going through the same drama.

It's a shame because they are pretty nice cars and super easy to work on, but taking it to a shop is gonna be way too expensive for the average person.

I will say I have been incredibly impressed with how every OEM part seems to be available for a 10 year old car. Can't seem to say that about GM.

 

[snowwy66]

No thanks needed. I just threw out a suggestion from what i seen a lot of in my wrenching days. Like @jblackburn suggested. It could be the rim also. Let us know what you find.

 

[Blancmange]

Yeah, I just wen through the same issue with my Malibu wheel. It was leaking for a year and I couldn't find the problem.

I eventually determined that it was only leaking when it was very cold outside. This lead me to believe that it was the rim and that air would only escape when the metal contracted.

Sure enough after close inspection I found a very small crack on the rim. The rim had been repaired once so I just replaced it.

No more leak. Hope this helps!

 

[obermd]

Thanks @snowwy66 for the advice. The valve stem got changed with the new TPMS sensor. I'll have to check the date on these tires. I'm pretty sure they are about 3 years old. I was kind of wondering if maybe the tire didn't vulcanize correctly since its just a cheap Uniroyal tire.

I bought this car off my cousin and I had to rebuild the engine and a few other things so I don't know much about its history. This will just have to get added to the list, lol. Apparently Subarus right around 100k need a lot of work.

One of the OEM tires on my 2012 ECO MT did this - lost about 5 PSI per week. I finally got tired of it and replaced all four tires.

 

[jmlo96]

So update, as of right now the tire has been good so far. Part of me wonders if it has been the extreme temperature changes. It has been going between 10-60 degrees here in PGH.

I did look and the tires were manufactured at the end of 2016, so all good there.

Pretty much I'm just going to keep monitoring it and if it gets worse I'll have it checked for leaks.

 

[obermd]

Take a close look at the tire in question. My bad tire had an excessive number of surface cracks, which indicates the rubber was deteriorating.

 

[ChevyGuy]

I wouldn't overlook the most common problem - nails. Especially in back tires. I had one that was losing about that much (32 down to 22 pounds in about 4 days). Took it in and got it patched. All's good.