I'm trying to be nice to a little old lady (my best friends mom) who has what she has been told is a leaky wheel. This is a very nice little buick regal coupe with a 3800SC and it will come my way eventually so I'm trying to help her take good care of it.

Since so many guys here use the AlMg cast "mag" wheels on our rigs and mine has the 87 factory "turbo-style mags". So I wonder if any of you have heard of this, or experienced it. This car is about 8 or 9 years old and been well taken care of. But she is having a reoccurring slow leakdown on one tire/factory wheel. Her family have patronized Discount Tire for years. They tell her that that wheel has developed a "pore leak" in the casting and tried selling her a new set of wheels.

Have any of you run across this, a flawed cast "mag type" wheel that leads to a slow leak? Any way of sealing them? I wondered if that Fix-aFlat tire goup would seal it? we've told her to just keep checking the air every so often
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If it was me I'd see if I could find where it was seeping and then dismount the tire, clean it with a scotch pad and give the inside a thin coat of epoxy in the general area of the leak. (or even the complete inside other than the bead area.)

The leak seal might do it but it would be harder for it to get on the rim.

Take the tire/wheel off the car and if you can, put it in a tub of water. You don't even have to submerge the whole thing all at once, just a half at a time. See where the bubbles form at. My bet would be the bead seat, or a pinhole in the tire. Do this procedure and I garantee you will find the leak. Then let us know from there what you found...

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carpe diem

Ditto.
I've never heard of a "pore Leak". Saw a steel rim leak from a patch of rust once.
Check the valve, they can leak where they seat on the rim as well as well as the core. Also check inside the cap, make sure there is nothing in it.
If it is leaking from the rim, clean the rim seat with 220 sandpaper or wire brush, clean the tire bead with a stiff brush or scotch pad. this in most cases will fix a leak. If it still leaks from the rim put some brake fuid on a rag and lightly coat the tire bead, this will help the bead to seal. Don't use a hammer on an aluminum rim!!!

Rev

If I could spell better" I wouldn't have to edit!

[This message has been edited by the reverend (edited 01-12-2008).]

You have to clean the rim and the tire ,,Often there is grit embedded in the tire .jthe tire is most often the cause..Just find where the leak is ,it can be very difficult to stop a leak of this type,I recently encountered this on the latest fiero I purchased,use very fine sand paper, both surface must be smooooooth.this is a very common problem.. when you mount the tire check the bead all the way around,there is a rim mark all the way around the tire,, use water to locate leak,dry and mark..you do not have to dismount the tire..to separate wheel & tire, a couple of motorcycle tire irons excell at this!! find the leak or leaks force the tire away from the rim and place plywood or plastic between rim and tire to hold it out enough so you can clean tire area at leaks ,, take your time and do it right the first time(hmmmwonder who didn,t) feel the tire for grit.. clean with dish washing detergent,you must be thorough the first time..the grit is difficult to remove,, try not to break the bead but if you do or you dismount tire,use a rope to tighten down on tire surface ,squeeze it,so you can expand bead to go over rim lip.. this is a job that can add new vocabulary, so try not to break bead completely

[This message has been edited by uhlanstan (edited 01-12-2008).]

Tried a can of "Fix-a-flat"?

have al tube put in

You could also try some "Slime" tire sealant.
http://www.slime.com/category_3_Tire_Sealant.html
I keep this in my wife's car.
http://www.slime.com/produc...air_(SS-PDQ_06).html

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 01-12-2008).]

you can save your self some time and instead of a tube just fill a spray bottle with dish soap and water and just spray down the tire, on or off the car. you can do the inside of the rim to. With it beeing soap you dont have to watch it like a hawk let the soap do its thing then just go back and look for the big bunch of boubles. ITs what we us at the shop to find leaks. the problem with tire slime is over time it actualy can eat through a rim. trust me i have seen it happen. its great for a side of the road emergancy but i would not leave it in the tire. so id try and find the leak and fix it.

[This message has been edited by pontiacman63383 (edited 01-12-2008).]

i had an olds 98 with probably the same or similar rims

what happens on most of those rims is the metal of the rim starts to oxidize right where the bead of the tire seats on the rim. what you have to do is dismount the tire and take a die grinder with an abrasive fiber pad (cookie wheel) and polish that surface that the bead seats on until it it smooth. if you dont have a die grinder with those fiber pads then you could probably do it with some medium grit sand paper. i personally had this problem on my oldsmobile and i worked on an impalla that had the same problem. i bet the tire shop figures it is easier and more profitable to sell her all new wheels than to actually fix the problem as the tires all have to be dismounted and the rims need to be cleaned.

before you go sliming the tire or putting fix a flat in it take the tire off the car and lay it flat on the ground. then take some soapy water and spray it all over the tire especially around the bead. if you see the bubbles coming from the bead you need to do what i stated above. the bubbles may take a real close look to see because it is such a slow leak.

edit

[This message has been edited by Jrgicehc (edited 01-12-2008).]