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Stop leak / fix a flat

That green slime stuff works pretty good but it slowly deteriorates over a year or two. There is other stuff so let us see what others recommend. If the bead and rim of your aluminum are leaking it needs to be taken to a shop where the will clean the rim edge and they have a really gooey glue to seal it. You can also put a radial tire tube in. If you have TPMS pressure sensors then you need better tires.
 
Jeff I put new tires on last fall they cleaned the beads put new valve stems in after cleaning the valve stem hole still they leaked . Took it back In a month ago they cleaned the beads and painted the rims with bead sealer a think black paint and still they leak. Dually tires don?t wear well when both tires don?t maintain the same pressure. So now I?m going to try something else
 
Did they do any leak test? That big old tub of water and watch for any micro leaks. You can also do this yourself but takes some time. A spray bottle with a heavy mix of soap and water. You need to remove the tires and do them one at a time. Try laying them flat and check the rims first. You could have a rim with a hair crack or a porous casting. Tires can have side wall leaks. Had a set of Firestone's that I had to top up every couple of weeks. Had another set that were perfect for several thousand miles and never a leak. Have also seen bad valve cores very slowly leak. This just goes on and on. Try that soap water first. Bet you find something really stupid somewhere. Air leaks just take perseverance to find but that soap water deal should find something. Even a tiny fizzle should show up. See if anyone else has an idea.
 
This won't make you feel any better, but I had a vehicle I could never get the tires to stop loosing air. Repaired, fixed, replaced tires, replaces stems, etc., never could ever actually get it fixed. Big deer finally ran out in front of me, totaled the car, and I got rid of it. But I never did put an end to the leaks.
 
That?s about how these wheels have been ! It?s only the back two the front two I had em check the air first time in a year and was right on 80 psi
 
If the rims are so bad that grinding the beads and using bead sealer didn't work, the only way to fix it is new rims or putting in tubes. Fix a flat just renders a once fixable tire unfixable, and makes it vibrate to boot. Slime only works in low speed tires.
 

How about cleaning with a fine flap wheel in your grinder? The problem is deep scratches, and bumps due to small gouges.
 
If it's leaking at the rim/bead area, clean off most of the corrosion and then apply bead sealer (available at most auto parts stores).
 
A tire shop doing truck tires should have a sealer/balance liquid, they use in commercial truck tires which I would use before using Slime in truck tires.

You need to be careful with pressurized inflation/sealants some have, or had, flammable propellants and have caused explosions and injuries when tires were being dismounted.
 
Get some steel rims. When I worked at the GM dealer ( 1999 to 2009 ) they had a product that really just seemed like silicone sealer they wanted you to smear on the bead area. IIRC it was part of a recall ?
 
clear coat
remove tire and sand the rim
get it warm
give it a few coats of acryllic clear spray
keep it warm till fully dried
then assemble and forgettit
 
Clean them up good with a wire wheel after the bead lip is clean there is a bead sealer I have used on some pretty rough wheels/rims and has sealed it up. I have gotten so I leave them overnight with the soap on the bead and sidewall. Then flip and go again. Checking the core and stem for leaking. I have also gone away from those rubber pull in stems for brass bolt type stems.
I also had a couple of wheels on an auger that the bead lips were terrible pitted. I used an epoxy on the wheel to smooth up the pits. Then sanded some to make it even after it dried. They have been on for a few years now. I think I also used the bead sealer on them.
I have also found if you mix a strong mix of dish soap and water put on tire laying down. Leave over night if it is leaking through the sidewall it will look like shaving cream on there. You should not have that problem with tires that new.
For a while every neighbor that had old tires off vehicles was bringing them by to dad SO i have a slew of old tires in various sizes. Half of them now leak through the side walls. Yup I can tube them and do some of them.
 
Around here disgruntled (sp) hunters will loosen valve cores so they just leak very slowly. This is a very hard thing to diagnose until you get a heads up that they are doing it. What I mean is a valve core will stay tight and never loosen on its own. I have found this on inner duell tires and spare tiers that are stored up under the back of a pick up truck. Just some thing to check before you go to all the work of removing a tire to check for leaks.
 
(quoted from post at 08:08:44 03/12/20) Around here disgruntled (sp) hunters will loosen valve cores so they just leak very slowly. This is a very hard thing to diagnose until you get a heads up that they are doing it. What I mean is a valve core will stay tight and never loosen on its own. I have found this on inner duell tires and spare tiers that are stored up under the back of a pick up truck. Just some thing to check before you go to all the work of removing a tire to check for leaks.
Click to expand...
ix A Flat is corrosion in a can. Last thing to use.!
 
"Clean them up good with a wire wheel after the bead lip is clean there is a bead sealer"

My tire store uses a black caulk, bead sealer, on new aluminum rims.
 
Clean the rim well. Use oil to seat the bead and your troubles will be over. May take a week to stop leaking but they will stop. I have done that for years. The oil softens the cheap Rubber of today?s tires. Soft rubber means a good seal. I have never had a tire wrecked because of it. I know some people will tell you NEVER put oil on rubber it will destroy the tire. Ha ha never had a tire blow on me yet. Usually run all my tires till they where to the steel. Even my old tractor tires have lasted longer than the tractor.
 
Diagnose the problem first. There is a product called "Leak Finder" that will foam up like shaving cream on a leak. If the bead is leaking you need to clean it and you need to clean the bead on the tire. Aluminum rims oxidize and create aluminum oxide, a white powdery substance , it is that substance that breaks the seal and allows the tire to leak. The valve stem will leak as well so need to be replaced and the stem hole needs to be cleaned with a round file or sandpaper. Bead sealer is a black tar like substance available at auto stores. Paint the bead sealer around the valve stem and insert the valve. Next paint the side of the bead on the tire and then go around the rim surface where the bead makes contact. I have done hundreds of aluminum rims that leaked and if you are carefull cleaning the rim up and using a good bead seal your tire won't leak , if it does you have a puncture somewhere in the tire. Incidentally all this procedure lasts about three years and you will find yourself cleaning up the rims again ! I stress getting the powder off the tire is as important as cleaning the rim.
 
(quoted from post at 01:45:44 03/12/20) What can I safely use in Aluminum rims to stop slow leaks
Click to expand...

Best success I have had;

-dismount tire from rim
-with rim rotating on tire machine I run a die grinder with a wire cup wheel over both bead surfaces then I put on a glove and apply a light layer of clear silicone to both beads and immediately mount the tire.

Works well on the miserable ones that only loose 5 PSI of air in 2 weeks.
 
So this is what?s been done so far . New tires the others went 45000 and you could see the air coming through pretty confident they?d have went another ten if they had equal pressure . New tires clean rims Clean valve stem hole with drill and brush . Still leaking remove tires and clean beads again with grinder And sandpaper disk apply black tire bead sealer reassemble still leaking . Will it help to remove tires again clean entire rim inside and paint entire inside of rim ? Didn?t mean to say I was thinking of using the spray type inflater product but couldn?t think of what to call tire sealer besides stop leak
 
It sounds like your rims are leaking..how old are these aluminum rims ? Try dismounting a tire and painting the entire inner surface of the rim with bead sealer. After all the work you have done are they leaking around the bead ? at the valve stem ?
 
I?ve had the truck 5 years and they came with it have the exact same brand rims on the front and they never lose a pound had em checked for the first time In a year and they hadn?t lost a single pound
 
Sometimes a new tire has a bar code on the bead that can leak. You could try to carefully cut the bar code off with a razor blade. Basically peel it off.
 
(quoted from post at 06:58:54 03/12/20) If the rims are so bad that grinding the beads and using bead sealer didn't work, the only way to fix it is new rims or putting in tubes. [b:da63a5009d]Fix a flat just renders a once fixable tire unfixable, and makes it vibrate to boot[/b:da63a5009d]. Slime only works in low speed tires.
Click to expand...
Fix a flat is the go to problem solver for drag slicks. Just sayin'.
 
(quoted from post at 05:52:21 03/13/20)
Find the leak before you fix it .
Click to expand...

Some leaks just can't be found.

I've had tires that leak down over time, but all the soapy water in the world reveals ZERO bubbles. Hold the tire underwater in a tub for hours, ZERO bubbles. Change the valve stem. Still goes flat. Add bead sealer. Still goes flat. By any test or repair that a professional tire man can perform, the tire has NO leaks, yet a month later, it's flat.
 
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