New tire will not seal.

[Fourdoor]

Hey guys,

Got some new tires installed on my 18's from T-sportline yesterday, and the tire shop can't get one of them to stop leaking. I have had these rims on the car for 35,000 miles without any leaks, so it shouldn't be a problem with the rims, and after being unable to get one of the new tires to seal they eventually put two of my old tires back on (so the diameter would match on both sides) and the old tire they installed is also leaking (but not as fast)... The frustrating part is that they can't find the leak even in a dunk tank. I figure that is because they dunk it and if it doesn't have a 1/8" hole they don't wait long enough to see bubbles from a slow leak. I guess it is possible that it only leaks when it has the car weight distorting the tire, but in that case they should be able to find it by spraying soap water on it.

Simply put, they really suck at finding leaks. I suspect that they damaged my rim in the bead sealing area either removing the old tire, or putting the new tires on, and that is causing the leak. I don't think they could have damaged it when removing the old stick on weights. I have not had the opportunity to examine the rim without a tire on it to look (feel) for damage.

I will pump it up to 50 psi later and try some home made soap water to see if I can find the leak that the "professionals" can't find.

Very frustrated right now, missed out on a doubletime OT day having to deal with this crap, and I already know the tire shop will deny damaging the rim.

Keith

 

[Fourdoor]

ARRRRRRRGGGGGG!

I figured it out when I went to bump up the pressure in the leaking tire before doing my soap water test and the F'ing valve moved while I was trying to screw in the tire pump!

I will look up the torque requirement for the TPMS sensors (probably a few inch lbs) and tighten the dang thing myself (and check the other three) and have them install my new tires on Monday.

Keith

PS: I am relieved that they didn't damage my tire or wheel, but ticked off that they couldn't find a leaking and physically loose valve.

 

[Fourdoor]

I couldn't find a definitive answer on what torque should be, ranging from 4 newton meters to 7 newton meters, so I went with 50 inch pounds (a hair under 6 newton meters). This has solved the leak and didn't damage the TPMS sensors, so I guess 50 inch pounds is a good number for future reference. The one that was leaking was literally not even finger tight (I got half a turn with my fingers before putting the torque wrench on it) and the other three ranged from "ok" to "very loose", now all of them are adjusted to 50 inch pounds.

Later,

Keith

 

[Fourdoor]

Final update!

Went back to the tire shop and they swapped on the new rear tires after I told them I had found the problem. Their attitude was "those shouldn't have been loose". Sorry charley, but when it literally takes less than 5 seconds per wheel to check the tightness of the TPMS sensors why in the hell isn't it standard procedure to check them? And it is beyond the bounds of stupid to not check them when a customer has an unexplained leak AND THE CUSTOMER ASKED IF THE TPMS SENSORS COULD BE THE PROBLEM!

So, problem solved and I drive off into a brand new day right? NOPE! While driving home a couple miles down the road I get kicked out of AP with a stability system warning. I immediately pull over into a parking lot and check the car, one of the lug nuts on the passenger rear is literally hanging on by 2 threads. One loose lug nut wouldn't cause a stability control issue, so rather than trying to make it home (I don't have lug nut socket and ratchet in the car) I turn around and head back to the tire shop while driving very carefully and putting as near zero lateral force on the car as possible. Get back and hand the lug nut to the guy at the desk and explain about the stability control warning and he being brilliant says "one lug nut shouldn't set that off" not realizing that this means the rest of the f'ing lug nuts are loose.

I physically watch them tighten the nuts on that side (one out of the remaining 4 was tight, the rest were snug, but not torqued) and watched them check the other side (all of them were tight).

I will break all 10 of the rear lug nuts loose and re-torque them myself later today.

If they had done it right the first time I wouldn't have missed out on a doubletime OT day at weekend pay rate for Saturday. If they had fixed it correctly on Saturday I woudn't have had to troubleshoot the problem myself on Sunday (time and a half OT day at weekend pay rate). All told, they cost me a boat load of money in missed overtime.

Never using that tire shop again! If it had been one issue, and they were able to figure out the problem I would have given them the benefit of the doubt, but they don't have any attention to detail, and don't listen when pointed in the right direction for solving the problem... the lug nuts were just the icing on the cake.

Keith