Old tire leaking at bead

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted By: supton
Wouldn't a generous amount of bead sealer do the trick? [After dismounting and cleaning out any corrosion.]


Bead sealer is just a latch ditch resort to fix a problem. I consider it the same as running Lucas in the sump to fix an oil burning problem. Fix the problem, not the symptom.

If the bead of the rim and and the bead of the tire are not damaged and clean, it will not leak. If either one is damaged, it requires replacement.

 

[aquariuscsm]

The ultimate slow leak fixer,I didn't this many a time back in the day and it ALWAYS worked haha because I was always too cheap to buy new tires

 

[Garak]

What kind of car and wheels, turtlevette? With the taxis, we had a tire changer at the time. If there was a slow bead leak, we just dismounted the tires, gave the wheel (steel wheels) a wire brush and some Tremclad, and remounted.

 

[turtlevette]

Its the 76 vette slotted mag. I've got huge kumo 295s on them. The other side takes about 4 months to leak down. This side about a week.

The tires still look good with very minimal cracks. The tread is almost gone from too many power braking incidents. So I don't want to spend any money on them.

And its funny that the other side was going down about every couple of weeks then decided to slow significantly.

 

[Garak]

Darn, that's way too nice to be messing with Tremclad.

You might be at the point to just suffer with it until they get replaced, since they're close to the end, as you say.

 

[Kestas]

I've dealt with many rim leaks. Even though I live in a highly salted area, I keep cars until they are 15-20 years old. Every time I deal with a rim leak, it's because of corrosion at the bead seat. I remove the tire, sandblast the corrosion, repaint, and the problem is gone. It is fixed properly; anything else is a shortcut. Lucky I have access to a sandblaster.

 

[555]

I will probably get some flak for this, buy new wheels for the Vette. Older wheels could not be produced with the tight manufacturing tolerances of late and are not as round. What's the aspect ratio on those 295s? There is also metal fatigue to consider although many will argue there are other parts that endure more fatigue inducing events....and they're right.

 

[turtlevette]

To follow up. The silicone spray has worked. I had a leaking tire stem on the old suburban and a leaking bead on the vette and one can of silicone spray just a little at a time over months has swelled and rejuvenated the rubber in those areas and slowed the leaks to imperceptible pace.

 

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
To follow up. The silicone spray has worked. I had a leaking tire stem on the old suburban and a leaking bead on the vette and one can of silicone spray just a little at a time over months has swelled and rejuvenated the rubber in those areas and slowed the leaks to imperceptible pace.



Strange. Silicone should have no effect on rubber, that is usually the point of using silicone as it will lubricate without swelling. That is why only silicone grease should be used on brake rubber components.