Any tire fixers out there?

[kaneohe]

One of our car's tires appears to have a slow leak......a few months ago, it seemed to be on the order of 1 psi/wk, slow enough that it was hard to know for sure unless you waited a month or so. Not sure but it may be somewhat worse now. Is that size of leak easy to detect so the fixer knows where it is?

 

[REWahoo]

Spray your valve stem with soapy water and see if it bubbles.

 

[MasterBlaster]

nail in Tire ?

One of our car's tires appears to have a slow leak......a few months ago, it seemed to be on the order of 1 psi/wk, slow enough that it was hard to know for sure unless you waited a month or so. Not sure but it may be somewhat worse now. Is that size of leak easy to detect so the fixer knows where it is?

I suspect that your valves are just fine.

Whenever I have a tire like that (losing air) it has always turned out to be that I picked up a nail. This has happened a number of times to me over the years. Some of them are hard to spot as the head of the nail can break off. In that case all you would see is a spot on the tire the diameter of the nail shaft (maybe 1/8-1/16th inch ? across). It would look like a little dot.

Go to any tire shop any tell them your situation. They can pull the nail and plug it for maybe $10-15. Many times they don't even have to take the tire off of the car to fix it.

 

[Alan]

Spray your valve stem with soapy water and see if it bubbles.

That's what my wife told me to do when she saw me spit on it last year when her car had a tire with a slow leak.

Further examination found a small but long nail right through the center.

PS
If you do find a nail, DON'T pull it out - use the [-]spit[/-] soapy water test.

 

[travelover]

Probably a small nail. DW's car had a tire that leaked slowly and I took it in and they found TWO nails.

 

[calmloki]

That's what my wife told me to do when she saw me spit on it last year when her car had a tire with a slow leak.

Further examination found a small but long nail right through the center.

PS
If you do find a nail, DON'T pull it out - use the [-]spit[/-] soapy water test.

what Alan said:
PS
If you do find a nail, DON'T pull it out - 'cause you won't have time to get to the tire store before it goes flat in the next two minutes.

Once again, Don Quixote had it right: "Don't stir it Sancho, you'll only make it worse".

 

[kumquat]

Check for a bead leak too, especially if you have alloy wheels.

 

[W2R]

Frank was picking up nails every week or two for about a year after Katrina, due to all the nails on the streets and our need to spend time in heavily devastated areas. Local tire repair places were very good about removing them and putting plugs in the holes. Just $6 each and it only took a few minutes.

 

[NW-Bound]

I once drove with a small leak for perhaps 6 months. Kept adding air to it. It got worse and worse until I couldn't stand it anymore and had it fixed. It was a construction staple, hence nearly invisible.

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks, all, for the help. I've been living w/ this for a few months; initially just to convince myself it was real. Now the last of the free air places seem to be gone .........the last place seems to have pressure but the tire psi doesn't go up; I asked in the repair place and they were nice enough to let me use theirs but then I felt like I needed to buy some gas. Will ask the oil changers to eyeball the tire Wed. Hopefully it will be as straightforward as a nail and not some mysterious hard-to-find thing.

 

[Walt34]

Some are so slow leaking that the only way to find it is to remove the tire/wheel assembly and immerse it in water. DW's car once had one that leaked one bubble of air every 20 seconds or so through a bad stem valve.

 

[samclem]

I've fixed tires myself with the simple "tubeless tire repair kits" (gooey tar-yarn that you jam into the hole with the provided tool). I wouldn't use such a tire for high-speed racing, but the repairs have often lasted for the life of the tire. Obviously, nothing is going to work on a sidewall or close to it.

 

[Nords]

Hopefully it will be as straightforward as a nail and not some mysterious hard-to-find thing.

They'll take the wheel off the car, submerge it in a tub of water, and start putting air in it. Around 45-50 PSI the source of the leak will be pretty clear.

They generally fix leaks in the tread but hesitate to fix leaks in the sidewall. I've had plenty of kiawe thorns pulled out of treads, but the ones that enter from the side can get expensive.

Hopefully this doesn't indicate a need to sweep out the garage floor...

 

[Koolau]

Now the last of the free air places seem to be gone .........

I gave up on "free air" and bought a really cheap (maybe $10 and I've seen them up to $20) air pump that plugs into the 12 v. access in the car. Has paid for itself when I find a tire deflated in the parking lot. Takes several minutes to fill a deflated tire, but if you haven't lost the bead, it works like a charm. Much better than changing a tire which only needs a plug anyway. I also carry a "Fix-a-Flat" aerosol can. Works for anything less than a blow out. 90% of the time, you still have to have the tire fixed within a couple of days.

 

[Payin-the-Toll]

Like samclem, I've fixed flat tires with the gooey yarn stuff and been quite successful. Most tire places will not do that anymore for radial tires, because the radial part could supposedly separate and be dangerous--radial tires are supposed to be patched from the inside. Have heard stories of tire guys wanting to kill people for using fix-a-flat because when you eventually take the tire off the rim it's nothing but one big gooey mess on the inside, especially the rim. 'Free' air went away around here about 5-10 years ago and is now 75 cents. Son-in-law bought me an air-compressor 2 years ago for Christmas, and I use that but it weighs about 40 lbs. and is a kind of a pain. Tires on my 97 mini-van are 7 years old, and the front tires (where all the weight is), need pumped up every couple of months. Rotate the tires and the fronts still lose air, while whatever tires on the rear never need air---go figure.