Truck tire leaking at bead / balancing weight

[sd455dan]

If your rim is aluminum it most likely has a clear coat. wheel weights will marr the finish and allow water under the clear coat and make it peel. You will only know when you remover the tire. buff up the rim with a flap disc in the areas bubbled up and remount. do not worry about sealers. I have also seen this happen with chrome rims. quality is so bad that chrome will start to peel in under a year. factory or aftermarket.

Yes but Already resolved

post 14
two and 1/2 months back.

5030 called it in post #5
on November 20th.

 

[WinterDeere]

Yep. Although the advice may still be appreciated by future searchers on this thread. In my case, I popped that side of the tire off the bead, sanded the area smooth with some fine (320 grit?) paper, applied bead sealer, and remounted. More than two months on, that tire has not lost any air, despite the winter weather that usually reveals all bead leaks. I've been checking it thru the TPS's almost daily.

 

[Javdunky]

I had a similar leak once and found that removing the internal balance beads and switching to external stick-on weights stopped the slow leak completely. Beads can mess with the seal.

 

[caver]

My tire story this week. The last two weeks I would notice a little out of balance up at highways speeds on my F250. I went to my property last week and on the return home suddenly had a bad shimmy around 63mph. At 71 it would mostly smooth out but around 63 it felt like the front end was going to shake apart. I talked to a guy I've known for a long time who runs a shop up in St Louis. He suggested tires. I had 47K on these junky Falkans. One tire was out of balance in both axis. So, four new Firestones and it's smooth as butter. Thankfully the front end is still tight and alignment checked ok. Truck has 157K on it. he did say my front shocks need replaced but I'll do that myself.

 

[LouNY]

I was pleased with the last set of Falkans that I had. I never get more then 40-45,000 on a set of tires. Between dirt roads, fields and gravel driveways they all seem to start getting stone bruise flats by that time.

 

[WinterDeere]

I guess I could update this thread, 18 months on. The sealed tire holds air better than any of the non-damaged wheels, now! Runner's bead sealer did the trick.

Per 5030's explanation, now I tell the dealer to ONLY use stick-on weights whenever replacing tires, but the damage to these wheels is already done. Do yourself a favor, and on any vehicle with aluminum wheels make a special request to use only stick-on weights, whenever you're having tires balanced. You can't guarantee the mechanic will actuall see or heed your request, but you can at least try to avoid this damage.