Alum wheels and tires losing air

[backlash 1]

The commanding officer in my household has a 2000 300 M with alum wheels. We got tires the last time at WM and ever since we have had trouble with them loosing pressure. The car has been back in probably 4 or 5 times to have them re-do them, and they keep saying the rims are coroded.

I'm sick of airing up the tires every week or two. What can I do??? Can I use some of that flat fixer stuff to seal them up? Really don't want to buy new rims. This has been going on for almost a couple years now, HELP.

[jwhjr]

Someone will chime in about how to clean up the rims, but I do know that you don't want to just fill it with flat fixer as a solution. That would be only for a temporary fix, not a permanent solution.

[fishing tech]

The rims should have been cleaned when the tires were replaced. Aluminun rims do corrode so they should have used bead sealer when installing the new tires. I would not use fix a flat.

[Scott K]

Make sure the wheels are clean install some bead sealer and have them filled with Nitrogen. The nitrogen molecules in nitrogen are bigger and dont leak as easy, expect $4-5 per tire to fill them!

[Jeremy airjer W]

Don't use bead sealer!

The bead sealer when incorrectly applied (as it usually is)will ball up and cause the bead to leak. If they have already applied bead sealer it will need to be removed from the tire and wheel.

The best way to resolve the bead leak issue is to clean the bead with a wizzy (technical term ). Once it is completely cleaned of the corrosion from the bead area apply a thin (very thin) layer of grease. This will work way better than the bead sealer products.

If your aluminum wheels are chrome than you may be out of luck. They will corrode under the chrome plating and are very difficult but not impossible to clean. We typically tell our customers we will clean them one time if they leak again they will need to be replaced!

I have used the grease on all of my aluminum wheels as well as thousands of customers wheels with tremendous success!

[Scott K]

Your right airjer, I have seen thick hard clumps of bead sealer dried and leak! They do make a rubber compound sealer that will fill in small pits in the wheel if needed as a last resort! I havent seen one wheel comeback with leaks after using that stuff. But the normal black bead sealer if over applied may cause leaks after it dries and cracks.

[Shack]

Everything pretty much has been said, besides making sure valve cores are tight.

Are all the four tires leaking, or only one or two? This may not be the case, but since you said:

Quote:

2000 300 M with alum wheels

The rims them selves have been known to leak at the middle seam. If they are checking for leaks in the "dunk tank", ask them to check the middle seem, just inside face of rim. I have seen 1 or 2 leak this way, never all four in a short period of time before. I will add, when this seam starts to leak, it is shortly after a tire change. It might be the handling of the tire during the change that causes the leak.

Most likely, it is the bead leaking. I would try going to the dealer or Airjer's shop for a last shot.

[Hafnutz]

I've had the same problem on a couple of my cars. It's an easy fix if the wheels are aluminum. I dismounted the tires and went over the bead portion of the rim with a die grinder and a wire wheel to clean off the corrosion. An electric drill with a wire brush in it will work too. Didn't use any bead sealer, grease or anything else on them remounted the tires and the problem was gone. Many of the tire shops in the area will do this for you. Common problem.

[Jeremy airjer W]

You don't have to grease or bead seal them after you clean them but adding the grease will prevent the same thing from happening for at least the life of the tire. The wheel corrodes because the aluminum becomes unprotected from the elements. When you clean them more areas become vulnerable to corrosion. Adding the grease after cleaning will significantly reduce and slow down the return of the corrosion that caused the bead to leak.

[backlash 1]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. All 4 have been worked on already, now lately the two on the driver side have been giving the most problems. All winter the driver front had to be re-filled, now the driver rear is doing it again also.

I think i'll take these suggestions in and talk to the manager and see if we can hammer out something.