I have a front tire with a slow leak. It needs refilling about every week. I cannot find a nail or screw or damage to the tire. Would green Slime help? Any other solution?
Maybe the valve stem is bad.
good thought. what would be an easy way to check it?
Fill up the tire and then pour some soapy water on and around the valve stem. If bubbles form then that is your problem. You can do this to the rest of the tire too.
Are these alloy wheels?
Tester
During A Period Of Recent History Lots Of Chinese Junk Valve Stems Were Sold And Installed.
There has even been a recall.
Click this:
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2008/06/valve-stem-reca.html
Push the stems side-to-side and up-and-down while doing the soapy water checking. Sometimes the damned things will come right off if they’re really bad. Those are the “killer stems”.
i have tires with alloy rims and no matter how many times i have them fixed , down the road they leak again. to find my rim leak i take off the tire and put liquid dish soap around rim and stem – give it a little time and if you can bring it in to a warmer place it will show you the bubbles coming out of the rim. hope this helps a little. good luck.
A friend had a Mercedes tire which leaked down. A shop had recently worked on the wheel and tire. When I checked, the valve stem core was 1 1/2 turns loose. I used a bicycle valve stem tool to tighten the valve stem core. Ergo, no more leak-down.
That Actually Would Be The First Thing To Check.
The lug nuts would follow. Sounds like somebody was rushing, careless, or forgetful.
I picked up my car from a wheel alignment once, did a quick walk-around and saw that some of my lug nuts looked “taller” than others. That’s because they were just finger-tight started on the studs. “No problem” (right!), the guy came out and finished the job just in time for me to drive away. Nice!
What everyone says. Plus, if the tire has been plugged previously, do a soapy water test on the plug. I’ve had plugs hold tight for several years then start to leak a bit … more than once.
Why not take somewhere and have the wheel/tire assessed by a decent tire shop. The worst is likely a full remount/interior patch. A remount maybe needed to reseat the tire or replace the valve stem.
In my locale a place called Town Fair Tire does this work for $2.99 as a likely loss leader. I could not believe they patched, remounted and checked balance of my tire for so little. But I guess the alternative is the biz lead of selling tires.
Sounds like a great reason to have the tires filled with Nitrogen…
JUST KIDDING!!!
Take it to a tire shop. Every leak I’ve ever had was…a tire shop was always able to find it.
Valve stem is a good possibility. There was a rash of faulty stems a while back. MILLIONS were recalled.
yes. the car is a 2002 Ford Taurus with about 40 k on the tires/wheels. Tires still have a number of miles left on them.
I removed the wheel, inspected it for nails, plugs, etc; could find none. I put soapy water over the valve stem, where it inserts into the rim, over suspicious spots on the tire and could find nothing.
It is a fairly slow leak, requiring refilling the tire with air every 6 or so days. Should I put green slime in it?
Chinese JUNK, I’ve noticed alot of overseas rubber deteriorates the minute you open the package!
thanks to everyone for your suggestions. although I had inspected the tire, I did take it to a tire place recommended on the mechanics list, and they found a small nail along the edge of the tread. all fixed.
You’re Welcome. Thanks For The Update!
CSA
Good thing I read all the posts, a nail is usually the cause of a slow leak like yours. I would hate to say that after you found it.