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I think my rims are leaking air, price check - how much for fixing it?

fleshconsumed

fleshconsumed

Diamond Member
My tires are losing pressure, some worse than the others. The worst one on driver's side up front will go from 35psi down to 20 in 4 days max. I keep pumping it up, but it's getting tiring fast. I've changed the valve core since it was cheap and I thought it might help - it didn't. So that leaves either the tire or the rim. These are 12-13 year old original OEM aluminum alloy rims that came with the car. So I'm thinking it's probably corroded rims. I'll be taking car to a shop, does anyone know what's a fair price for fixing corroded rims for better tire seal?
 
The shop I go to fixes this stuff for free when mounting and balancing. So I'd guess $15-25 per wheel/tire combo. If it's a stem that's bad that can range from $5-30 per wheel/tire.
 
If you are dropping from 35PSI down to 20PSI you have a puncture somewhere in that tire. It may not be very noticable to you, but a good tire shop should be able to find the puncture and repair it. If it is the rims, then whichever wheel has the trouble, needs the tire unmounted, the rim cleaned on the inside, then bead sealer applied and the tire remounted and balanced. They would also change the valve stem. For most shops it would be about $20 per wheel.
 
new wheels cost starting ~$100 for replicas, so i sure wouldn't pay more than that.
 
I have GM factory aluminum wheels on the 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix and they have been through many winters on NJ road salt. The finish is shot on one of them and about 8 months ago the left rear had a slow leak. Bead sealer took care of that problem.
 
went through this ages ago on my olast car.
Brought it to a shop, they fixed it for 20 bucks for one wheel. That was back in the 90's.
 
Most of the time it's not the rim, just the seal. Re-mounting the tire should do it and most shops will do it for about 15-20 + parts for each wheel.
 
There's actually a really easy way to find out exactly where (and how much) the tire is leaking. Get yourself a generic spray bottle (something like this) and mix some liquid dish soap with water into the bottle. I use a 1:4 soap:water ratio but it doesn't have to be exact. Inflate the tire to proper pressure, then soak the entire tire with the soapy solution. Leave the valve caps off and spray solution on the end of the valve as well so you can see if the valve itself is leaking. Wait a little while and you'll start to see soap bubbles forming anywhere there is a leak. If you don't see anything in a few minutes, walk away and wait 20-30 minutes or so. That will give time for evidence of a slow leak to show up, and the soapy water will make the bubbles last long enough to find the leak(s).

If you don't see bubbles anywhere on the tire, roll the vehicle forward or back a foot or two so you can get soap on the part of the tire that was contacting the ground, or if you are doing the test with the tire off of the car, flip it over and soap up the back/inside side of the tire as well.
 
When I finally got rid of my last car, I was losing around 15psi per day due to the rims being way past their prime. 90's factory alloy rim.

Having gone through this, some notes:
You might be able to save time and aggravation by asking around for places that specialize in rim repair\resurfacing.
Most tire shops will write it off as a bad bead or something that they will basically charge you $$$$ to throw sealer at the issue. what will happen is that you will be fine for a few days or weeks and then the leaks are back to what they were before. They will do minimal inspection and do their best to get you out the door.
Some tire shops will try the old "just grab something" around the shop and smooth it out technique. they do the water test, yank the tire and try and smooth out the surface where it was leaking....THEN slap on a bunch of bead sealer and hope it goes away. the intentions are good. The issue is the competence is not.


What you want to do is find a shop and then locate the old guy at the shop. Let them know that you have a issue a slow leak and you think it might be a corroded alloy issue. At that point they will pull it, clean it up and inspect the entire rim. Not just the spot where its leaking. I'm not sure of the latest and greatest technique but I think it may be sandblasting followed by polishing with a certain types of compounds. If done properly the rim should be good for the long haul. On my old car the only rim that wasn't leaking was the one I had repaired years earlier.
Depending on the cost and current condition of the rims, you should also keep an eye on local salvage yards and craigslist.
Tons of peoples give up OEM rims for cheap.
 
pauldun170 said:
When I finally got rid of my last car, I was losing around 15psi per day due to the rims being way past their prime. 90's factory alloy rim.

Having gone through this, some notes:
You might be able to save time and aggravation by asking around for places that specialize in rim repair\resurfacing.
Most tire shops will write it off as a bad bead or something that they will basically charge you $$$$ to throw sealer at the issue. what will happen is that you will be fine for a few days or weeks and then the leaks are back to what they were before. They will do minimal inspection and do their best to get you out the door.
Some tire shops will try the old "just grab something" around the shop and smooth it out technique. they do the water test, yank the tire and try and smooth out the surface where it was leaking....THEN slap on a bunch of bead sealer and hope it goes away. the intentions are good. The issue is the competence is not.


What you want to do is find a shop and then locate the old guy at the shop. Let them know that you have a issue a slow leak and you think it might be a corroded alloy issue. At that point they will pull it, clean it up and inspect the entire rim. Not just the spot where its leaking. I'm not sure of the latest and greatest technique but I think it may be sandblasting followed by polishing with a certain types of compounds. If done properly the rim should be good for the long haul. On my old car the only rim that wasn't leaking was the one I had repaired years earlier.
Depending on the cost and current condition of the rims, you should also keep an eye on local salvage yards and craigslist.
Tons of peoples give up OEM rims for cheap.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying you're wrong or bad or anything, but when I looked at having a set of rims blasted/polished (restored like you're talking about) it actually ended up cheaper to buy new rims. And I mean _new_ new, not used. 😱
 
dave_the_nerd said:
I'm not saying you're wrong or bad or anything, but when I looked at having a set of rims blasted/polished (restored like you're talking about) it actually ended up cheaper to buy new rims. And I mean _new_ new, not used. 😱
Click to expand...
Not surprised at all.
The thing that would suck if it just 1 run with the issue while the rest are fine. When I say fine, I mean a bunch old ratty rims that hold air.

The more I think about it, I think it ran me 90 back when I had it done in 1999 for one rim to be fixed.
 
What make & model car ? We can look up replacement rims prices for you. Or just check your local salvage yard. In most cases, you can get a rim for around $50 or so
 
Should be dirt cheap to fix. Throw a polisher on a pneumatic die grinder and just smooth it out. That's what all the Michigan shops do anyway since we all have rims that corrode yearly.
 
FYI to update the thread. Took the car to a shop, they said they see the air leaking between the tire and the rim just as I suspected. They're going to grind corrosion down and put some sealant on the rim. Going to cost me $70 for two wheels. Will have to wait a few days to see if that works.
 
A tire shop should have a water bath they can submerge the tire and wheel in. Just had one fixed that was loosing about 8 - 10 pounds ever two weeks. They found it was leaking on the inside rim, dismounted the tire, buffed the alloy wheel, remounted and balanced, problem solved.

Oh and they did it for free since I bought the tires there.
 
fleshconsumed said:
FYI to update the thread. Took the car to a shop, they said they see the air leaking between the tire and the rim just as I suspected. They're going to grind corrosion down and put some sealant on the rim. Going to cost me $70 for two wheels. Will have to wait a few days to see if that works.
Click to expand...

Any luck?

Side note in case anyone has to deal with cracks in their wheels: I had cracks in two of the knock-off rims that I attempted to have welded at two different occasions (Rota's; came with the car from previous owner). That didn't last long. I highly recommend against welding aluminum if it comes to that as it likely isn't going to hold very long. Even the shops I went to said it probably wouldn't hold. One did it anyways for $30/wheel. Completely not worth the 2 years it lasted after that and ended up salvaging those and getting a new set of wheels anyways.
 
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