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Rim leak on Aluminum rimsRalph50 03-28-2009, 11:49 PM I have been to Discount tire 3 times for the same rim leak. They say there is no bead sealer for aluminum rim wheels. I called around, and (Google searched) to other local shops and they all said they can use bead sealer, 10 dollars per tire to seal and balance. Discount said the rims have corrosion and needs to be replaced, 300+ dollars. My solution, bought a tire de-mounter from Harbor Freight for 40 dollars and broke all the beads and put bead sealer on the tires and inflated. No more leaks!. I think if I ever buy new tires again I will pay the additional money to use the bead sealer at the install. Now for my question, is it acceptable to use an old fashioned inner tube in the tubless tire wheel system? inner tubes are 14 dollars at Autozone. This would certainly fix the slow leaks. These tires with low air probably have lost some of their life. I dont think I wll go back to Discount tire again. As the guy said at a local place, "D Tire knows that eventually you will get fed up with the air leak and buy new tires". Also, when I did break the bead on the one tire that was leaking there was some corrosion, what upset me was that D Tire only cleaned small areas of the rim not the entire rim, that is crazy to de-mount the tire and then not clean the entire surface. Yea they are ok with me sitting around their waiting area. HotZ28 03-29-2009, 11:25 PM Yeah, sounds typical some num-nut tire store employees! No need to use tubes if they don't leak. RahX 03-30-2009, 01:01 AM Tell em to wire brush the whole tire mating surface and use beadsealer, they're a bunch of lazy fking morons. And I would not recommend an inner tube for a radial tire. HotZ28 04-03-2009, 10:17 AM If cleaning the bead and using bead sealer does not fix the problem, then you may have air leaking out through the porosities in the cast aluminum alloy. GM has a published repair procedure for this problem: Inflate the tire to 40 psi or more and immerse the wheel/tire in a dunk tank. If you see bubbles, mark the rim with a grease pencil where the bubbles form. Then pull the rim out of the water & demount the tire from the rim. Scuff the (inside) of the rim area marked, with 80-grit sand-paper and clean with brake cleaner. Dry the area and cover it with a thin layer of silicone gasket sealer. Allow the silicon to cure for a few hours, and then remount the tire & balance. Any tire store should be able to follow this procedure. Good Luck! vBulletin®, Copyright ©2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
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