# Alum wheels

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [May 8, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487 "2011-05-08T02:51:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@Jim](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Jim)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487/1 "2011-05-08T02:51:27Z")

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I have a jeep grand cherokee with 306,000 miles. The engine is still okay. No problems with compression. Having trouble keeping tire pressure. Time for new rims??? I see no bubbles when I submerge the tires … I just can’t keep tire pressure.

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**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487/2 "2011-05-08T03:37:44Z")

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How old are the tires? Could also be bad valve stems. But it is possible that your wheels are damaged. I’d find it unusual that all 4 got damaged at once, however.

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**Author:** ![badbearing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/badbearing/32/10683_2.png) [@badbearing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/badbearing)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487/3 "2011-05-08T17:30:25Z")

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Has to be leaking during rotation on vehicle. Id go with some steel wheels

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**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487/4 "2011-05-08T19:04:40Z")

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Pump the tires up to 50 psi and spray some soap solution on the stems. Salt gets into the area around the stem and corrodes the hole causing a very slow leak…Sometimes this can be cleaned up and sometimes not…

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**Author:** ![Goldwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@Goldwing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Goldwing)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487/5 "2011-05-08T20:55:48Z")

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Take off 1 of the tires and clean the inside of the wheel where the tire bead meets the rim. See if this helps. If it works, do this to the rest of the wheels. Corrossion buildup is probably causing this.

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**Author:** ![andrew\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@andrew\_j](https://community.cartalk.com/u/andrew_j)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/alum-wheels/64487/6 "2011-05-09T11:12:04Z")

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I have run across this and remount of tire can help.

In my area some tire chains fix leaks(properly) for free in the hopes it is not repairable. When I say properly they dismount the entire tire to plug internally instead of the old school hack of an external plug.