I have alloys on the disco and the number of times I have to blow up the tyres..... well, I've lost count! I could do with taking the car in to have the tyres 're-sealed'... or whatever they do. Someone said it was to do with having alloy wheel, and that with alloys the tyres don't 'seal' as well and therefore go down more often (or something like that).
Now, I find it much more difficult to check and blow up tyres on the van because of the access to air pumps at petrol stations. If there is more of a problem with alloys, then why are caravan makers using alloy wheels on modern caravans? Now the information about alloy wheels and tyres could be wrong, but I would be interested to see if a) anyone else has heard this about alloys & tyres; and b) if it is true, why to caravan makers use alloys on caravans.
[P.S. there is no other problem with the disco tyres/valves etc]
Alloys corrode on their inside edges & cause air leaks, but not for a few yrs. When having the tyres changed alloys should be cleaned with emery paper on their inside edges if required. Steel wheels on older cars can also corrode & leak. I would have thought the corrosion is caused mainly by winter driving on salted roads.
I would say caravan makers use alloys purely for looks, I can't see any other reason really.
yes i have heard it a few times,reason i found in the past is alloys are a casting and as such are porous and leak to some degree.if you are worried i believe you can still get inner tubes to fit.not got alloys for the van but thinking about it.had same problem on our friends BMW plus cracking wheels did not help matters.do not like it myself but you could add one these sealers.
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Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 24/5/2010
Alloys corrode on their inside edges & cause air leaks, but not for a few yrs. When having the tyres changed alloys should be cleaned with emery paper on their inside edges if required. Steel wheels on older cars can also corrode & leak. I would have thought the corrosion is caused mainly by winter driving on salted roads.
That would certainly account for the disco tyres going down, and would give me the reason why this has not yet happened with the caravan.
So would you think that alloys corrode at a faster rate than steel?
If you bump a kerb or speed hump or the like the tyres can go down, the just the rims leaking but the tyre is ok. I dont know about the life of the tyre though!!
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Quote: Originally posted by michael on 24/5/2010
yes i have heard it a few times,reason i found in the past is alloys are a casting and as such are porous and leak to some degree.if you are worried i believe you can still get inner tubes to fit.not got alloys for the van but thinking about it.had same problem on our friends BMW plus cracking wheels did not help matters.do not like it myself but you could add one these sealers.
I have not found it a particular problem on the caravan, at the moment, but the car (which is a lot older) certainly has the problem. It just occurred to me that if it is a known problem, why on earth do makers of modern caravans take the risk.
It is a known problem but, as I said, provided the wheels are properly cleaned of all corrosion before new tyres are fitted you should have no ongoing problems. I would have thought this would be less of a problem on caravans because because generally they are not towed in winter.
Caravan tyres should be changed every 5 yrs regardless of wear so provided rims are cleaned there should be no probs. Porous castings are a separate issue, this would manifest itsself when wheel is new & wheel should be relpaced under warranty. Quailty control should pick up porous castings anyway.
DSB hi iam a a tyre fitter and yes the old disco wheels are very bad for said fault so what i recommend is if they are getting really bad a refurb ie sand blasing and powder coating but there is a much cheaper alternative find a non large tyre firm ask them if they use bead sealer large firms wont buy it ask for your ewheels resealing but watch them do it when we do it on such wheels we remove all the loose flaky paint with a da sander also leaving a nice clean finish to the in side edge of the rim where the tyre seals then add a coat of bead sealer for good measure but the most we see is that alot of places use bead sealer to reseal but do not remove all the flaky paint so it lasts a while then the problem rerturns sorry to go on my punctuation is appaling lol hope you find this of some use
Now, I find it much more difficult to check and blow up tyres on the van because of the access to air pumps at petrol stations.
Buy a footpump. After years of messing about with garage air lines and then plug-in 12v compressors I've bought a good quality footpump (one of the Michelin brand) which has an accurate pressure gauge built in. It's so good, I've stopped checking with my £20 tyre pressure gauge and rely on the pump gauge instead. The footpump's quicker than a 12v compressor for all but really big differences of pressure, and only then because I get tired while operating it!
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I have had this problem not on my van but on my motorbike (alloy wheels) rapid corrosion caused by the type of tyre soap used to fit the tyres. Two new tyres fitted early in the year, had to keep check on pressures. Near the end of the year I took the tyres off myself and was amazed at the ammount of corrosion, cleaned and polished the tyre seats anf refitted using cheap washing up liquid diluted a little, end of problem. That was three years ago, I check them often now and only find a couple of pounds out at the most.
Now, I find it much more difficult to check and blow up tyres on the van because of the access to air pumps at petrol stations.
Buy a footpump. After years of messing about with garage air lines and then plug-in 12v compressors I've bought a good quality footpump (one of the Michelin brand) which has an accurate pressure gauge built in. It's so good, I've stopped checking with my £20 tyre pressure gauge and rely on the pump gauge instead. The footpump's quicker than a 12v compressor for all but really big differences of pressure, and only then because I get tired while operating it!
I was just waiting for someone to suggest this.... and of course, you are absolutely right, Viggo. I too have gone through the 12v compressor stage - I have had several and the one I have at the moment is complete carp (excuse the spelling!! ). It may indeed come down to a foot pump, but I'm really not sure if my knees (discussing replacement knees at present) are up to the job. Could always enlist the help of our 12 yr old daughter??
Quote: Originally posted by simon23 on 24/5/2010
DSB hi iam a a tyre fitter and yes the old disco wheels are very bad for said fault so what i recommend is if they are getting really bad a refurb ie sand blasing and powder coating but there is a much cheaper alternative find a non large tyre firm ask them if they use bead sealer large firms wont buy it ask for your ewheels resealing but watch them do it when we do it on such wheels we remove all the loose flaky paint with a da sander also leaving a nice clean finish to the in side edge of the rim where the tyre seals then add a coat of bead sealer for good measure but the most we see is that alot of places use bead sealer to reseal but do not remove all the flaky paint so it lasts a while then the problem rerturns sorry to go on my punctuation is appaling lol hope you find this of some use
Thanks for that Simon. It's really useful to have that inside information. Next time I get tyres down, I will check this out.
Quote: Originally posted by D S B on 24/5/2010
It may indeed come down to a foot pump, but I'm really not sure if my knees (discussing replacement knees at present) are up to the job. Could always enlist the help of our 12 yr old daughter??
Of course, you have to be up to the job, physically. But surely 12 year old daughters have to be useful for something other than spending their dad's cash?
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Quote: Originally posted by D S B on 24/5/2010
It may indeed come down to a foot pump, but I'm really not sure if my knees (discussing replacement knees at present) are up to the job. Could always enlist the help of our 12 yr old daughter??
Of course, you have to be up to the job, physically. But surely 12 year old daughters have to be useful for something other than spending their dad's cash?
Viggo, do you have a single or double barrel and what is the advantage of one over the other - I presume the double one is better? If you had the double one, does it mean you pump it less times in order to blow up the tyre? - You can tell this is not my area of expertise!!
I've only got the single barrel. I find it takes about 20 steps - or pumps - to raise the pressure by 1psi, so it could be quite a work out if you are trying to raise it by 5psi or more. Having said that, there's very little resistance, and the pumping is easy. I would assume the double-barrel would be twice as quick, but might require twice the effort because there's twice the resistance. It's also (almost) twice the weight and size.
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Topic: Alloys and tyres
). It may indeed come down to a foot pump, but I'm really not sure if my knees (discussing replacement knees at present) are up to the job. Could always enlist the help of our 12 yr old daughter??
