Brand new tires losing air every few days.
 

Hi all

I got a new set of rear tires for my e92 328i about a month ago. The reason was that a bulge came through on the sidewall of the inside of the tire(passenger rear). I think this happened because I park underground and their speed-bumps are bolted in but the bolts come up a little bit. I asked them to tighten them and they are pretty flush with the speed-bumps now. So after about 4 days with the new tires, one(rear driver) seems to be losing 10psi. So I filled it up and it happened once again. So last week I took my car into Kal-Tire(where I bought the new tires) and got them to take a look. I got them to replace the valve stems and double check every possibility. 4 days later I'm down to about 28psi. Could the wheel be bent? My wheels are plastidipped black and one thing the guy at Kal-Tire mentioned was that it could hinder the contact between the tire and rim. Does this make sense?
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Deepak

They could be right or just passing the blame onto you.
Spray the tire and the bead with soapy water and watch for bubbles. Where ever it bubbles theres the leak.
I would just take the car back and tell them to place the tire in a dunk tank and find the leak. If it is a leak at the bead, the bead on the tire could be damaged or there is debris between the bead if the tire and the rim ( your plastidip).
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I will take it in today and see what they say. A second opinion wouldn't hurt either eh

You could simply have a puncture in one of the tires. New or old, tires are still affected by the everyday crap left on roads. As mentioned, take the tire off and examine it both with your eyes and spraying water over it. Simplest solution before dealing with the shop again.

maybe your wheels are corodded. corroded? causing leaks from between the tire and rim. that or your plasticdip. i've seen some hella bent rims (i fix cars in richmond) and they still hold air

ive seen it where it leaks by the wheel weight if its a steel wheel/alu

also it might be the bead itself. if someone put sealer on it before. it may be stopping the tire from sitting properly.

The air's gotta be leaking from somewhere. Take a spray bottle full of soapy water and start spraying.

Possible culprits (most common to least):

-bead
-valve stem
-valve core
-tire puncture
-cracked wheel

I've seen all of them. If it's leaking from the bead (due to corrosion or debris), which is what I suspect, you'll have to get the tire removed, clean the bead with a wire brush or wheel and apply some bead sealing compound before the tire is reinstalled.

Ok so they found a 'pin prick hole" in the wheel. Estimated costs about $300 if they send it out for me. Any place you guys recommend?

where in the wheel?

Good question. I will ask them this evening when I pick up the car.

Is this a 1 piece wheel? If it's a 2/3 piece wheel, it could be leaking from somewhere else. Do you have a pic?

Unless it's a multi piece wheel, my issue is, it's almost impossible to get a hole like that out of nowhere. I mean it could be from a bad casting but for it to leak past the paint and all that is unlikely.

Anyways, if the leak is coming from the wheel, I'd seriously be concerned with its overall integrity. "pin prick hole" sounds so unlikely, that if it's in the middle of the wheel somewhere, my guess is, it's probably the beginning of a crack. If it's somewhere near the bead or valve stem hole, it's probably just corrosion or debris.

Here's a pic of the wheels i found on the internet. Mine are the same.

BMW 328i wheels after - Distinctiv_Detailing

Ok so 1 piece. Definately find out where exactly on the wheel the leak is coming from.

For shops, I would recommend Panther (Surrey) or Greens (Rmd).

Ok sweet! Thanks for the advice, much appreciated!

Cheers,
Deepak

np. post up how it goes