New tires not holding air OEM 17' rim | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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New tires not holding air OEM 17' rim

Bozman

Member
Joined
June 24, 2009
Messages
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City, State
NJ
Year, Model & Trim Level
03 Explorer
Just had the dealership replace my tires with Goodyear Fortera tires and now the tires are all leaking air slightly. Brought back to the dealer and was told that the rims are badly corroded and will not make a perfect seal. They applied some kind of bead to the rim that is supposed to establish a seal. Unfortunately checked the pressure and it is still leaking slightly.

I have stock 2003 17' aluminum clear coat rims.

Any recommendations? New rims?
 



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How bad are the rims? It is possible they are too far gone. Corrosion is a real threat and if left unchecked, will damage anything, including rims. If they're not that bad, it could just be some newjack on the tire machine.
 






How fast a leak are we talking?

You might consider having them filled with nitrogen to help slow the leak.
 






well if you say you´ve got aluminum, it must have been some kind of acid or something else, cause Al. is not prone to rust, but..... i´ve seen body shops clean (wire brush, sandblast) the inner lip and the inside of the rim, prime it, fill it with some sort of epoxy (it wasn´t bondo or putty), repaint, and reinstalled. This was in a friend´s car, and that was 4 years ago, still no prob. He needed to balance the tires, since the added material shifted some weight in the rims, but it seems to have worked. Also ive seen aluminum corrosion in rims filled with aluminum weld, grinded, sanded, polished and painted. It all depends on your budget, cause maybe the price of a repair job might be about the same of new or used rims.
 






It seems unusual that they all would leak. I do have 4 take off oem ford rims that I never did use if you're interested. (I'm not trying to soliciting, so I hope this is ok with mod.) They look like split spokes and silver in color. Good luck.
 






Thank you for the quick feedback

Other then the usual scratched up clearcoat you cannot see the oxidized aluminum. A friend has the painted version aluminum rims from the Eddie Bauer and those things are oxidized all over the outside.
The leak is slow on all but one tire which lost 15 lbs in several days.
New rims are probably the way to go unless it corrodes again to provide the original seal:D

Well just spent over $700 on new tires so if I could find some newer rims that might be the ticket..
 






I have 4-17" rims off a Limited. Two have the chrome plating flaking off and two are good. PM for any more info.
 






Check the valve stems, it common for weather changes to expand/contract the rubber. I would take it back and have the shop show you "this corrosion". Wire brush plus rubber bead seal works if not terriable.
 






You would think that the valves would be changed after the second time it was brought in? It appears that the aluminum was poliched and you could see traces of the new bead so the corrosion must be bad if its still leaking.

I found someone local who has 4 new rims without tires so hopefully these tires can be transferred to the new rim without problems.
 






Check the valve stems, it common for weather changes to expand/contract the rubber. I would take it back and have the shop show you "this corrosion". Wire brush plus rubber bead seal works if not terrible.

I agree. Sounds like they told you a load of BS to me. Especially after you spent $700 on tires.

Whatever happened to "fix it right the first time"? The Ford stealership I worked at for 9 years strongly believed in that statement. That was one of the few good things I can say about that crappy place.:thumbdwn:
 






Picked up four used OEM rims that seem to be in good shape for $225

I don't see corrosion however the lips of the rims contain what appears to be dry crusted rubber from the old tire. I hope that I didn't just waste money on rims with the same problem.
The rubber comes off with a razor but I need to find a better way to remove it from every rim.
 






Try a fine wire wheel or a scotchbrite wheel in a drill. Usually works well.
 






I had my tires replaced and they were leaking too. I was kinda mad to find that they did not tighten the valves tight enough and they would back out and leak. A $5 tool from auto zone and I am all set now.
 






How fast a leak are we talking?

You might consider having them filled with nitrogen to help slow the leak.

I hope you are kidding. If not, you are an idiot.

On your new tires, there is a small sticker in the lip of the wheel. If not removed, it is a very common place for the tire to leak. Most places are lazy and leave this on. Make sure they removed it.
 






Going in this week to have them install the replacement rims. Picked up 4 OEM rims for $225. They needed some tlc but look like they are in better shape then mine.
I cleaned up all visible corrosion then painted the scuffed up areas to prevent it from happening again (on the inside of rim) Interesting that the valve holes were really corroded.

I will ask them to remove any stickers on the inside just to be safe.

Thanks for the feedback!
 






Done
Before taking the truck in I decided to spray some Windex around the valve stem…bingo that is where it is leaking. It’s not the valve itself but it’s actually where it seats. This is probably why it was still leaking even after they put the bead sealer on. (I asked them to change the valves originally and they did not and they would have seen the obvious corrosion)

Brought the truck in to have them swap out the leaking rims with the refurbished ones.
They tried to bill me for the swap out but I politely declined :)
(get everything in writing as this service writer originally said that they would cover the swap out)
Just set the tire pressure today in the cold weather
30 psi front
35 psi rear
Hopefully it will stay this time!

(thanks for the scotchbrite wheel TIP..it worked like a charm to remove the old crud)
 






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