Tires Slowly Leaking Air

[Wyndru]

Recently, my tires started leaking air, all 4 of them. They are leaking very slowly, but each week I need to put about 15psi in them. I brought it to the shop, who cleaned the beads, checked the valve stem etc., but they are still leaking.

I called the shop, and they said that aluminum alloy wheels get "pitted" over time and begin to leak slowly, so I may need new wheels. Does this sound legit?

They are 2 different manufactured tires (front set are the winter tires), so I don't think that there is a common defect with the tires. It just seems strange that all 4 tires started leaking about the same amount of air at the same time.

 

[radioouman]

Yep, cast aluminum wheels are porous and they will start to leak eventually.

Chrysler had a problem with this in the 1990s and there wasn't much you could do to fix them.

 

[AMDMaddness]

Do your tires have those stupid bar codes that sit right on the bead and the outer edge of the tire? they should have removed those they are very commonly the problem

 

[radioouman]

Read this:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/4297504

 

[Wyndru]

Do your tires have those stupid bar codes that sit right on the bead and the outer edge of the tire? they should have removed those they are very commonly the problem

Not sure, I'll have to check, thanks for the suggestion, hopefully it's something simple like that.

Read this:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/4297504

Sounds like a decent fix if it is the wheels leaking, thanks!

 

[c3p0]

Might be time to look for a new shop.

c3p0

 

[KIAman]

Might be time to look for a new shop.

c3p0

Exactly, it's not difficult to find exactly where the leak is coming from, even if from the wheel.

 

[Pulsar]

Any porosity in aluminum can be repaired using a simple epoxy. This is how manufacturers correct defects in heads and other cast aluminum components because, as other other people have pointed out, porosity is nearly unavoidable in any cast component.

 

[Wyndru]

Might be time to look for a new shop.

c3p0

Yeah it's actually not my regular shop, it's Midas. I normally go to this small shop near my job, but the owner that runs it has been ill, and his son can't keep up with the service so they are really backlogged.

I always get the shaft when I go to these corporate service centers.

Oh well, thanks all for the info, at least now I know it can be fixed, and I'll take it back to my regular place once I can.

 

[lavaheadache]

I would also check your valve stems. They are prone to drying out around the base and you wouldn't know it unles you wiggle it from side to side