Bead leak on winter tires

[JHZR2]

I bought a set of winter tires shortly after I bought my 2015 accord new. I was doing a lot of driving to upstate NY and rural VA.

I really have put hardly any miles on them. I didn’t even install them for years. This year I finally did, and two are routinely going flat. No signs of puncture, nor rot. Im guessing that letting them sit for so long at low pressure resulted in dust and dirt getting worked into the bead? I can’t see how else this would happen. The wheels were new and are not corroded.

The leak is fast enough. It will go, say, 40 to 10 overnight.

Replacement is tempting, but if it’s a bad wheel then I’m not sure that’s good money to swap the tires yet.

How can I determine the root cause??:

 

[supton]

Soapy water?

Edit: either way, I bet having them unmounted, then remounted, would fix. I think the shops around here use some bead sealer as a rule.

 

[Analog-1]

Soapy water should show were the issue is.

 

[JHZR2]

Soapy water?

Edit: either way, I bet having them unmounted, then remounted, would fix. I think the shops around here use some bead sealer as a rule.

Soapy water should show were the issue is.

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I wanted to figure out if it was dirt, corrosion (unlikely as the wheels were new and have seen less than 12 months of environmental exposure in total!), or the tire itself.

 

[supton]

Probably corrosion. That said, hit it with soapy water—and pop the the valve stem cap off, and spray that too. Maybe you might get lucky, and a new core would fix. Worse, a new valve altogether; might ge able to replace that without fully removing and rebalancing.

 

[Rand]

Find location of leak(s) with soapy water.
then dig into the why.. might require dismounting.

 

[dubber09]

It easily could be valve cores or valve bodies. Find the leaks.

 

[cheesepuffs2]

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I wanted to figure out if it was dirt, corrosion (unlikely as the wheels were new and have seen less than 12 months of environmental exposure in total!), or the tire itself.

Again, soapy water. Inflate the tire to regular full pressure, spray the tire and the bead with the soapy water, and you'll see bubbles coming from whereever the leak is, even if that's the bead. Otherwise nobody can tell you what it is over the internet without seeing it/doing this.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Soapy water or enough water in a deep bin, small kids type pool or bathtub. You might need to lay it flat so the soapy water sits along the bead or other places. This just needed new seals.

 

[JHZR2]

Well it’s actually this. The other side does have some kind of leak, or had one, because it was randomly at 0 psi the other day, but is now holding pressure just fine.
So I’m still perplexed, just not with this.

 

[Rand]

What are the dimensions for that? might be repairable with a patch plug if not too long a cut.
it looks too big for a repair on the surface but based on its triangular shape.. might be repairable.

 

[Marcozi]

I bet the other tire/wheel needs a new valve.

 

[JHZR2]

I bet the other tire/wheel needs a new valve.

It didn’t bubble with soapy water and pumped to 43.5 psi.

 

[JHZR2]

What are the dimensions for that? might be repairable with a patch plug if not too long a cut.
it looks too big for a repair on the surface but based on its triangular shape.. might be repairable.

The wide end of it that is the road side, is maybe 1/2”. It surely tapers to nothing. I’d take a patch. They’ll age out this year so just not going to zero overnight is ok.

 

[JHZR2]

Well it got fixed.

Out of convenience, went to Mavis first - the said too wide, they couldn’t read and plug, and they don’t patch, so new tire.

Went to Pep boys, they said they plug, plug patch, or patch depending upon damage. Tech indicated that it was a razor blade or similar metal, and only the point went through, so very small dimension. They said they always ream the hole, but only patched it.

When I got the tire I saw this:

So I could see the belts through the reamed hole.

I think I wish they hadn’t reamed it. But these tires aren’t long for the world anyway.

I took some self vulcanizing plug and forced it in. No idea if it will stay, but it makes me feel better.