My Mum has a Clio which she only uses very occasionally. The rest of the time it is garaged (near the sea). Last year we found that all of the tyres were going more or less flat in the space of a week!
We took the car to a tyre dealer and he spent a whole day buffing the rims to remove rust. He reckoned the tyres were losing air at the rims. At first, this seemed to do the trick.
This year, however, we are right back to square one! Leave the car for a week and 3 of the tyres go from 30 psi to flat!
Any suggestions?
Is it still legal (sensible?)these days to fit tubes to tubeless tyres?
Would a new / good secondhand set of rims be the answer?
How about the stuff you can inject into the valves to seal punctures? Is that only for a 'get you home' solution?
Has anyone else seen this phenomenon with a Clio or anything else?
Graeme
|
|
Sounds very similar to the problem I used to have with the Tipo. The rims would rust, leading to a slow puncture. It was usually a 15 minute job for the garage to grind them down and reseal the tyres, but was a pain. I was told it was due to poor quality steel used in the rims. One possibility may be to paint the rims with a good quality rust inhibitor, but I'm not sure how well this will work. The other option I can think of would be to get a set of alloys.
|
I suspect the salty atmosphere may have something to do with it. You don't say whether the Clio has alloys, but in my limited experience they would probably be worse - corrosion easily sets in, especially where balance weights have been clipped on the rims, which is why alloys often have stick-on weights. Valves may perhaps have dirt in, but you can easily pick up some used valve cores for nowt at the local tyre depot to replace the ones in your valves (screw them in with the slot in the end of your tyre pressure gauge).
|
|
|
|
Saw exactly the same thing with a Mk2 Metro (with those annoying double walled tyres). That turned out to be just rust inside the rim, and was sorted with just a wire brush and twenty minutes work.
Could it be that the rust removal was a bit too enthusiastic? Failing that, would it be possibly to get some sort of rim liner, much the same as the whitewall inserts you used to be able to get? That might give a slightly better seal.
|
They are ordinary steel rims - not alloy!
Graeme
|
Graeme,
I'm not sure how you can stop the tyres deflating, unless you ask the tyre depot to seal them with the stuff they use on alloy wheels -- usually a bright orange paste. This stops air leaks between the rim and the tyre and probably also helps stop corrosion.
What I AM sure about is that you should not fit tubes inside tubeless tyres. One reason is that a tubed tyre can deflate dangerously quickly when it gets punctured whereas a true tubeless tyre will usually deflate slowly enough to ensure you don't lose control of the car.
|
I have always understood that is a bad or even dangerous idea to fit a tube in a tubeless tyre. The surface of wheel between the rims is not manufactured smooth and the inside surface of the tyre is not smooth. This can cause chafing of the tube and will eventually end in a puncture. I have heard of places attempting to buff the inside of the tyre to try to get round this. I would not entertain messing about in this area.
I experienced a puncture with a borrowed trailer and am convinced the tube in the tubeless tyre suffered from chafing thus causing much aggro.
Sorry I have no suggestions apart from calling our favourite tyre company Micheldiver who may offer some advice.
|
|
|
|
Upto a few years ago,any tyre shop would put a tube in for you!!;are tubed tyres still made? because if they aren't how do the people with cars from before rhe 60's manage as many rims were not suitable for tubeless due to the design and manufacture?
|
|
|
|
|
My Mum has a Clio which she only uses very occasionally. The rest of the time it is garaged (near the sea).
Is the car parked up more than it's used? What will eventually happen is that the tyres will go mis-shaped due to being left in one position all the time.
We took the car to a tyre dealer and he spent a whole day buffing the rims to remove rust. This year, however, we are right back to square one!
Did he respray the wheels afterwards, or just remove the rust and refit the tyres? If the latter, that could be why you're back to square one. When this happened to the alloys on my previous Cavalier, I removed all the corrosion around the rim and then resprayed the inner surface of the wheels with Smoothrite, and never had any further problems. The Smoothrite Silver was also a near perfect colour match. OK, I see you've mentioned they're steel rims, but they still should be repainted.
Is it still legal (sensible?)these days to fit tubes to tubeless tyres?
Only I believe if the tyres are no bigger than 13". Can't be fitted to anything bigger as the profile would be lower and has something to do with overheating.
Would a new / good secondhand set of rims be the answer?
Yes, but make sure they're well sprayed up beforehand.
How about the stuff you can inject into the valves to seal punctures? Is that only for a 'get you home' solution?
Yes, most definately a "get you home" measure, as well as being an absolute nightmare for the tyre fitter when it comes to changing the tyres.
|
|
|
|
Graeme, If you put higher pressures in all the tyres, you can check the valves, buy using a brush and soapy water to check for any leaks from the valve. Or you can use ultraseal in your wheels,it does work very well, and also gives you an extra 40% of tyre life as well. (iam Beesmart)
|
|
Have the garage check for rust around the valve stem hole as well. I had an old Renault 5 that had a puncture, dropped the wheel off for repair and when I returned I was told the wheel needed replacing. I could hardly believe it but there was enough rust for the wheel to be U/S. I suppose it's unlikely all 4 would be like that though.
|
|
|
|
