On my vintage car, had the front tires were replaced about 5/6yrs ago.
The right tire looses more air, as much as 5psi, than the left over time - is there a fix?
It still has pretty good tread. The car only does about 3k/yr
Okay, I am calling troll. Also a troll that can not spell.
This post was Flagged 8 years after it was made .
No, he is a regular here who sometimes asks fair questions.
There is a fix, but really the cheapest thing is to air up the tires right before you drive the vehicle. That will prevent damage to the tire.
The fix is to find the leak and repair it, it could be anything from a pinhole somewhere in the tire, a pinhole leak in the rim, a slow leak somewhere around the bead or a time stem or schrader valve leaking. Sometimes they are so small, they are almost undetectable.
How slow a leak? How much time is it over? Are the rims steel or aluminum? Aluminum rims can corrode on the bead and become porous. Chrome-plated rims are terrible for bead leaks. There is a bead dressing that can help.
Yeah there is a leak somewhere. You’ve got to air it up and put it in a tank and look very closely for intermittent air bubbles. Common places are around the rims, around the valve stem, or the valve core. Might even just replace the core for a dollar and see what happens. On my Olds I finally found a slow leak around the valve stem. My trailer tire had been losing air for years after it sat for a few months. Thought it was just a rim leak but when I finally really looked at it, there was a tiny nail in it. The nail itself sealed the leak mostly. Also had a perpetual leak on a lawn mower tire that persisted after putting a tube in. I replace the valve core and so far so good. So have a long careful look. There’s a leak somewhere.
If you live in a warm climate and have a kids plastic swimming pool, just fill the pool, pump the tire up (you could even pump it beyond the doorjam but not to the max limit), drop the wheel in the pool, settle back with a cup of coffee, and wait for the bubbles to tell you where the leak is.
If you live in NH, any shop can dip it in their leak tank. They might even find a nail.
Thank you @keith @BustedKnuckles @Bing @the same mountainbike
I appreciate your insight.
The car: 1987 Acura Integra low miles and located in California - has Acura aluminum wheel and Michelin tires .
There were a lot of good points to troubleshoot:
- pinhole somewhere in the tire, a pinhole leak in the rim
- slow leak somewhere around the bead or a stem, valve core or schrader valve leaking
- redo bead dressing
@VOLVO V70 - I fixed the spelling - I am surprised this bothered you - one of the online Univ I went to in midwest - they said do not worry about spelling mistakes in the discussions forum (equivalent to discussing verbally in a traditional class) - but certainly proof read when you submit assignments that are graded.
I will get to work on the tire/wheel soon.
Having tires continuously different in tire pressure on the front in fwd car can cause excessive differential wear when driving . If you just want keep adding air and not bother, I recommend you rotate tires to the rear. Of course, fixing the leak would be best. I would just take it to a shop. So you find the leak. Unless you have the right tools, you’ll need to take it some where to get it fixed regardless.
@sciconf , Don’t be bothered correcting your spelling. Life is too short.
@dagosa - I totally agree on both. I will get to exercise the warranty that they sold me when I bought these tires in the first place - to date I never used them.
Incidentally, while doing black Friday shopping, I saw a 4"-6" foot pump at Sears - I tried it and looks good as new - it was packaged as AA car product but never mentioned of using it on a car- I looked around the package for a photo of it being used on a car tire but didn’t find it - should I get this? I also have electric scooter (Zapino) sitting here needing batteries!