New tires leaking- Tube them?

[Wee Hooker]

Bought a new leftover BM&T package last year with 5.30x12' galvanized rims. Tires are new with no dry rot or anything but I've been plagued by a slow leak in one and a a slower leak in the other. Boating time is short enough without havign to drag out the compressor with every trip. I was thinking of adding a tube to these tires to seal them for good. Thougts?
alternitives?

 

[clanton]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Green Slime, at your local auto parts store.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

They are tubeless tires right? All you need to do is break the bead and clean the rim in the area where the bead sits. Rubber cement applied in this area creates a good seal when the tire is inflated. Put some soapy water in a spray bottle and spray the tire and bead to see what/where the leaks are.

 

[Bondo]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

alternitives?

Ayuh,... Submerge the tire in a bucket of water,...
Find the leak,...
Fix the leak...

No more problem...

 

[shuswap119]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Hi wee,

If it is a bead leak you have you can try to break down the bead and lube the bead with a non-petroleum based grease. Please do not use rubber cement to seal your tire to the rim, it will harden and at some point you will have a fast leak. Most of those galvinized wheels have small sharp bits inside of them that will also give you a fast leak when they puncture your tube, most likely at 55 mph . If you trailer often it may pay to take them to the tire shop for a proper repair.

Regards

 

[DJ]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Clean the bead surface areas. As Bond-o suggested, find the leaks before you try to fix them. It may be as simple as a loose valve stem core.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Green Slime, at your local auto parts store.

Never ever do this unless you want an unbalanced tire and it won't help if the leak is the bead or the valve stem.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Rubber cement hardens? Hmmmm!

 

[northernmerc]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Most likely it's a leak between the tire and the bead. With steel rims, a vigorous wire brushing with a wire wheel on a grinder often helps. But with a galvanized rim, that may not do much. On the other hand, it likely won't hurt to try brushing or lightly sanding that part of the rim; doing so may get rid of lumps and bumps in the galvanizing that cause the leakage.

Someone suggested using a little grease on the bead, and that also may help.

 

[robert graham]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Wheels on my rail buggy are aluminum and tended to leak air around the rim/bead area, my tire guy just broke the bead, went around it with rubber cement, put it back together, no more leaks at all for 2+ years! Easy fix! Good Luck!

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Definately NO to the Fix a Flat/green slime tire killer. Your tire will be unrepairable in the event of a real puncture.
Fix it right. Get them remounted and balanced with new valve stems, should do the trick. In the highly unlikely event of a pin hople leak in the rim (usually where they weld the outer) you can wire brush and paint the inside of the wheel with Rustoleum/enamel to seal it. You will see some wheel manufacturers do this (more commonly with aluminum wheels) as part of the manufacuring process to avoid future warranty claims.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Thanks for the input. I have NO IDEA where /how they are leaking. Parked the trailer in the water once for a few hours and still didn't see a bubble. The leak is that slow. Thought the tube idea might give me double protection but now realize that a catistrophic leak/blowout wouldn't be a good thing. I don't trailer often, and do carry a spare, but do trailer long distances and/or extended highway speeds. I just don't need the worry and /or lost time. I'm going to pull them both and bring them to my tire guy to have them remounted profesionally.
Thanks

 

[Silvertip]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Is anyone here old enough to remember when inner tubes were "vulcanized". Rubber cement was used in that process and it did not harden. It is even used in some cases when plugging tubeless tires.

 

[MRS]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

I had the same problem with my old trailer drove me crazy for a year. I have a tray for mixing cement in filled with water pulled wheels and set in the water was a pin hole in the rim. Did not see it at first but turned wheel over and finally saw tiny trail of bubbles.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Soapy water or even window cleaner sprayed on the tire works on even tiny leaks. Bubbles appear readily.

 

[ezmac]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Spray some soapy on the valve stem. A leak can very easily be there. Pump the tire to 40 psi and spray the whole tire including the wheel itself. Soapy water and 40 psi will find your leak however small it is.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Update to an old thread:

I tried the soapy water trick and then even a dunk to look for the leak and found nothing after watching for several minutes. I was going to pull the tires off the rims and reseat them but decided to try Ride-on product instead. Ride-on is designed to seal the tire and prevent flats for up to 3 years. Motorcycle guys swear buy it so I bought a motorcycle kit for my 12-5.30 tires ( $27 off Ebay) and installed it in about 10 min. Tires are rock solid for weeks now and I'm fealing better about making a 800 mi round trip tow next week.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

Just make sure if you ever have to get those dismounted that you warn the tire guy. They hate having stuff like that come flying at them when the pull the valve core or break the bead.

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

And he'll tell you he can't fix them anyway. Nothing sticks to the inside of a tire filled with that stuff. Virtually impossible to clean properly to patch.

 

[Rscardina]

Re: New tires leaking- Tube them?

I use to use Palmolove soap for the bubble testing and then the sealing at the rim...

It worked great.. I recall my tire having a slow leak and after bubble testing it was clearly at the rim...so i let some air out..greased up the rim iners with palmolive dish soap... pumped her up and she has been holding ever since...

I'm not sure if soap and rubber have issues over time but for now it works and works well..

Good luck with the 800 mile pull.....