Alloy Wheels

[simon]

All of ours had proper treatment for the corrosion. Still didn't last long though.

[lindsayt]

What do they call proper treatment? Did you see them with the file on your rims?
Was it done by a skilled and experienced technician?

Your wheels are only 7 years old. Mine have been 9 to 19 years old on the cars I've had.

For the rear tyres on my Volvos, fitted by my prefered supplier, they've been good for 4 years / 40,000 miles without losing pressure (within a tolerance of less than 2 psi loss per 6 months).

[jack]

I hear what you say, however no amount of filing cures a cracked rim.

And, yes, they did clean the bead thoroughly and apply the creamy stuff (that's actually a lubricant/type of soap to make fitting easier), lots of black silicone bead sealer (went everywhere - you can see it on the rims in my photos above) plus green slime sealant in the tyre itself.

Still didn't stop the rim leaking air.

[andrew Ivimey]

But as you say - cracked rim. No one else was - we just have shitty rims.

[jack]

…we just have shitty rims.

Where do I start...?

[lindsayt]

I hear what you say, however no amount of filing cures a cracked rim.

And, yes, they did clean the bead thoroughly and apply the creamy stuff (that's actually a lubricant/type of soap to make fitting easier), lots of black silicone bead sealer (went everywhere - you can see it on the rims in my photos above) plus green slime sealant in the tyre itself.

Still didn't stop the rim leaking air.

Yes, but I've not spotted anything from what Simon has told us that indicates he has a cracked rim.

I'm confident that my local place where I get my tyres from would infom me if I had a cracked rim. In which case I'd have the option of getting the wheel repaired or replaced.

In all my years, miles and cars of driving I've had 1 cracked - basically broken rim. After I hit a sharp pothole at 50mph. It broke the shock absorber, put the wheel out of true and cracked the wheel. I got the wheel repaired, welded and bent back vaguely into shape as a get-me-by till I sourced a replacement wheel. It didn't leak after the repair.

I've had loads of annoyingly leaky tyres from tyre fitters being lazy and just slamming new tyres onto old wheels without cleaning the mating surface properly. And by loads I mean about 50% of the tyres fitted by average joe tyre centres.

[jack]

You often won't know if you have a crack as it may well be under corrosion and flakey paint.

The only way the crack in my wheel was located before stripping was by ultrasound checks.

They can be difficult to see even when exposed.

[lindsayt]

You often won't know if you have a crack as it may well be under corrosion and flakey paint.

The only way the crack in my wheel was located before stripping was by ultrasound checks.

They can be difficult to see even when exposed.

I've never had a hidden / invisible crack in a wheel. Maybe because I've mostly owned Saabs and Volvos?

If I had a wheel that was losing pressure after the inner rim had been cleaned, I'd take it back to my local place and ask them to look at it. I've had a few nail and screw punctures. If it was still leaking after cleaning the rims, checking the wheel was true, checking for no tyre punctures, replacing the valve, I'd then suspect a hairline crack.

It's simple trouble-shooting technique. Starting with the most likely causes and the cheapest to check and fix causes for the type of wheels I drive on moving to the least likely and most expensive.

[jack]

I've never had a hidden / invisible crack in a wheel. Maybe because I've mostly owned Saabs and Volvos?

This is on a Volvo v70 D5. Just sayin' (see the photos above)

As I'm still +ve on COVID, I haven't been able to pick up the repair yet so car is still on the stupid skinny spare.

[pre65]

I've never had a hidden / invisible crack in a wheel. Maybe because I've mostly owned Saabs and Volvos?

This is on a Volvo v70 D5. Just sayin'

As I'm still +ve on COVID, I haven't been able to pick up the repair yet so car is still on the stupid skinny spare.

When I had my Volvo S60 D5 (lovely car) I had four new tyres fitted, and all four alloy wheels (genuine Volvo OE) were out of round to one degree or another.

Took a wheel into a local tyre depot this morning to have a tyre fitted (Jeans Agila). ATS was my preference but they had no "slots" till Wednesday !!!!!!

I had a chat with them whilst waiting about leaking alloy wheels. Seems Jap wheels are worst, and diamond cut wheels when the lacquer deteriorates. They didn't seem to have much of a problem with tyres they fit.

[jack]

60 quid later... Very shiny wheel that doesn't leak.... (welded, made true,powder undercoat, powder top coat, lacquer coat,balanced)

PXL_20230123_110243220_copy_1008x756.jpg (197.39 KiB) Viewed 7225 times

PXL_20230123_110225056_copy_1008x756.jpg (185.66 KiB) Viewed 7225 times