Tubes in tyres ?

[jleyton]

I got my nice new Michelins a couple of weeks ago but then, the other day, I went to my car, only to find a flat tyre

No obvious nail etc so I pumped it back up and it held its pressure ....... for a couple of days. I've got a similar, but lesser, problem on another tyre.

So, it's a case of new tyres and old wheels which, I guess, just aren't sealing right. I could get the tyres off and clean up the inner rim, but there's no guarantee that that will sort it. Alternatively, I could do what we always used to do and fit tubes.

So, the question is, has anyone done this and has anybody got any advice, or warnings ?

Cheers

Julian

[pcoleman]

Hi Julian, most Tyre suppliers now wont fit tubes,when I asked why my local guy said it's because if a tube bursts you loose all the air instantly but a leak on a Tyre is gradual so you don't loose control, makes sense I suppose. I would go for having the wheels cleaned up in the rim to get an airtight seal.I had this problem on my road car until the wheels were blasted,refinished and tyres refitted now there's no slow deflation problem,on the car anyway

peter

[wilf]

When I had new tyres fitted, the fitter spent some time with a wire brush in a drill cleaning up the areas on the rims where the tyre beads sit. Reckoned he had had enough of folks coming back with slow punctures, and he now did it on all cars over a certain age. He certainly did move some corrosion off that area, and my tyres now stay up (except for the front n/s which has decided that staying inflated for three weeks is quite long enough, thank you very much).

[Princejohny]

Hey Julian, as you know the original alloy wheels are black painted inside the tyre area and the inner dished part, whilst the outer visible part is clear lacquered with black panels.
A lot of wheels have had the outer lacquer scraped off and the alloy polished. This looks fine but corrosion under the black paint raises bubbles and also forms corrosion pits, which allow slow punctures, where they exist on the tyre bead line i.e. exactly where it seals.
New wheels are expensive so I did mine myself, a couple of years ago and they've been fine.
Basically take off everything with paint stripper, wire wool and finer then finer grades of sandpaper. Finish off the shine with a metal polish.
Mask up the wheels,then spray the inner black just creeping around to the front,DSCF5596.jpgDSCF5597.jpgDSCF5598.jpgDSCF5604.jpgDSCF5605.jpg so that the tyre bead sits on paint and not ally.

I think the last sentence is the most important one. I've watched the Kwikfit/ATS boys merrily scrubbing away with wire brushes and painting on 'magic' alloy sealing gunge to no avail. The leaks always came back in a few months. Cheers Johny

[Princejohny]

And the final pics...DSCF5607.jpgDSCF5611.jpgDSCF5614.jpg
The paint was left for a week to harden before tyre fitting.

[4x4]

I just wire brushed my rims while the tyres were off, and then painted the relevant bits with black Hammerite Smoothrite. That was some years ago - and no leaks.......

[Jeff]

I got my nice new Michelins a couple of weeks ago but then, the other day, I went to my car, only to find a flat tyre

No obvious nail etc so I pumped it back up and it held its pressure ....... for a couple of days. I've got a similar, but lesser, problem on another tyre.

So, it's a case of new tyres and old wheels which, I guess, just aren't sealing right. I could get the tyres off and clean up the inner rim, but there's no guarantee that that will sort it. Alternatively, I could do what we always used to do and fit tubes.

So, the question is, has anyone done this and has anybody got any advice, or warnings ?

Cheers

Julian

Hi Julian,

My local garage painted some black sticky stuff to seal the bead after cleaning the rim, a bit like mastic but no mess and cannot be seen. Worked on one wheel but not the other

Jeff.

[Wendy]

I've got wires so have to run with tubes - finding somewhere that stocks tubes can be a challenge, and it's also worth noting that modern tyres are not particularly smooth on the inside and will chafe through tubes over time...

[V Mad]

I had a similar problem which I cured with a small amount of tyre inflator and sealer aerosol. A couple of short squirts then spin the wheel (go for a drive). Just enough to seal the rims. Worked fine for me.

[jleyton]

Thanks everybody for lots of good advice and comments

Just to pick up on a few points: I would have thought that, if an inner tube did suddenly burst, the air wouldn't really escape, surely it would just fill up the tyre and then, maybe, slowly leak out, like mine is doing at the moment.#

I had my daily car in at a dealer a few weeks ago and I mentioned the Stag tyres and they offered me a good price to fit and balance - I didn't think about the fact that they probably never see old cars and wheels and so I don't expect they did anything to the rim

Unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you look at it !) I've got a few events coming up in the Stag in the next few weeks so I don't really have the time to take it off the road and redo the wheels properly right now . Because of this, I might just try Chris' suggestion.

Hi Wendy - haven't heard you on here for ages. Hope the family addition is still allowing you time for the Stag

I'm very grateful for all the advice so far. Cheers.

Julian

[Kevin Garrod]

Julian, I would say that if the tube burst the air would leak out pretty quickly around the valve. That said when I had a blowout at 70mph in my mondeo a few years back it was remarkably undramatic. It happened just as I was approaching a contraflow and I ended up swapping the wheel in really awkward spot, which was no fun at all.

[MandM]

Hi Julian, I,ve just taken the tubes out of all 4 wheel put in by the PO, a good tyre fitter will get them to seal, just done 1500 miles still all ok, the tubes when remove had been rubbing on the tyre wall and were going to punture,.

Yellow M&M.

P.S Broken down Sunday, (Dirt in tank) but Don't tell martin

[Firept]

Julian.
Take it back to the tyre fitters they have as mention above some form of black sticky goo that seals the tyres. I had to get one of mine done and its fine now just need the other 3 doing now!!.
I like the idea of Chris's suggestion.


Paul.