bead corrosion | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

bead corrosion

Maybe someone here can give me some insight into this problem. The rims are on my Suburban, which is part of the question, because I haven't had this problem on my Ford rims.

Basically, they leak air (from 40 psi to 30 psi in about a week) from around the bead. The last tire shop I had try to seal them up said that the beads were so corroded that they couldn't fix them. These wheels are actually aftermarket rims, so I know they are less than 10 years old. As noted before, I don't have any trouble with the Ford wheels on my Explorer, and they are getting near 20 years old. I have a 2nd set of steel wheels for the 'burb that are probably pushing 30 years old, and they don't leak around the bead. Anyway, questions are:

1) Is this a common failure for wheels? More common for aftermarket wheels?
2) Is it a fixable thing, or will I have to replace the wheels?
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Usually, when people mention the "bead", they are talking about the section of the tire that encases a metal wire (and not the wheel). So are you sure its the wheel and not the tire?

Also, sometimes, if there's any debris between the tire bead and the wheel, or any small imperfection on the wheel (like a pit), it will slowly let air out.
 






Working in a tire shop i see this very frequently. It has a lot to do with salt mainly. If you go near the ocean it'll happen. and if you live up north where they salt heavily, it will happen eventually. however, it is a very easy fix, pop the tire off take a wire brush and scrape the bead down, put the tire back on and inflate back up. and you're golden. very easy fix, usually takes me about 5 min tops per tire.
 






Working in a tire shop i see this very frequently. It has a lot to do with salt mainly. If you go near the ocean it'll happen. and if you live up north where they salt heavily, it will happen eventually. however, it is a very easy fix, pop the tire off take a wire brush and scrape the bead down, put the tire back on and inflate back up. and you're golden. very easy fix, usually takes me about 5 min tops per tire.
In theory, the last tire shop did this the last time. Possibly they didn't put the full 5 min per tire to clean the rim up. Have you ever encountered a case where you couldn't clean the rim up and get it to seal?
 






Well occasionally it's worse then the standard clean up can get. and you'll need to put down what is called bead sealer(basically extra rubber) to get it to seal, i don't put that down the first time because if it doesn't need it it's a ***** to fix the next time around, and it doesn't always fix it. but yes it can get to the point where it is far beyond what a cleaning is capable of.

An easy way to see for yourself where it's leaking is:

1 get a spray bottle
2 fill the bottom 1/4 with soap
3 fill the rest with water slowly as to not foam it
4 put the top on and shake
5 when all the soap has been dissolved you've made a commercial grade leak detector (i kid you not ahhahaha)
6 take the rim off the truck and pump it as high as possible or 50 psi which ever comes first
7 spray it down and wait should tell you exactly where it's coming from

Hope this helps
 






I can second his instructions. I too work at a garage where I mainly do tires and that is what we do too.

Bead sealer is a magical thing:thumbsup:
 






Yeah, I've used the soap solution many times, and I can confirm that it is leaking from around the bead.

Will they "automatically" use bead sealer, or do I have to specifically request it? Does it add cost to future tire repairs like the use of "fix-a-flat" type products?
 






Don't use fix a flat, please just put your spare on.. that stuff is terrible for the workers. especially if the tire gets hot then when you pull the tire off you can actually pass out. I've had that happen to me.

And as for the bead sealer. you probably should just request it as a ground rule. because i know in my case, i don't put it on, but then again, i make sure to check it before i put it back on the truck, some don't do that. but all you have to say is, there is corrosion on my rims, if you could i'd like you to pull the tire off and wire brush down the beads and put bead sealer on. or something to that effect and it should get it done. and no there is no extra charge at a decent shop

Hope this helps.
Justin
 






Back
Top