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RJL's avatar
RJL
Explorer
Sep 07, 2017

strange tire question

My inside dual on the passenger side loses about 10 pounds of air as it sits. I have the tire valve extenders installed. Is it possible that it's just leaking out 10 lbs through the extender? Why is it just dropping 10 lbs?

18 Replies

  • i recently replaced a steel rim that was rusted on the inside and leaking thru a pin hole

    go to a tire shop, have the wheel pulled and tested in dunk tank
  • I replaced my standard valves with nice brass extended types and somehow, one of them developed a fairly fast leak...like yours. The extenders I installed are the type that are installed in the wheel when the tire is off. A trip to a local tire shop took care of it as they just had to replace the damaged rubber seal on the leaking air stem and all was good. Free too. Seems as though the original installer hadn't been too careful and tore the rubber seal when he tightened it down. It failed over a year later.

    Another time, cool evenings would often give me a very low tire in the morning, always found just as I was leaving town. After several delays at tire shops without finding the leak over several months of driving (intermittent air loss is frustrating), finally discovered with an immersion test early one cold morning that the steel rim had somehow developed rust spots...tiny holes all the way through the thick steel. Patched them with Eternabond, and two years later, that tire/wheel was still going strong with no leak. Sold the rig, and it's probably still OK.

    Also, a nail can cause a leak like that.

    Just three of many possibles. Good luck finding yours!
  • I had an aluminum rim that kept loosing pressure like that. Finally took it to the shop so they could check the tire for leaks thinking that I had a slow leak. A few minutes later they showed me the bubbles in the dunk tank coming from a rack in the rim and not the tire. Had to replace the rim.

    Might be worth checking however, if it is an inner and still factory configuration it is most likely a steel rim. The extenders would be the next place I looked.
  • RJL wrote:
    ScottG wrote:
    Are the rims aluminum?
    Sometimes it's porous enough that air can leak through.


    Yes on the rims.


    Is the inner one aluminum? Many times they'll run an aluminum on the outside and a steel on the inside.
  • ScottG wrote:
    Are the rims aluminum?
    Sometimes it's porous enough that air can leak through.


    Yes on the rims.
  • Are the rims aluminum?
    Sometimes it's porous enough that air can leak through.