Why are my front tires flat all the time!!!

[alchemysa]

Actually if I was going to guess the problem I would guess that as it gets colder the metal shrinks affecting the bead. .

Thats sounds like a good theory to me.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I had the same problem with the tires on my Jeep leaking down in winter when I was living in Fort McMurry. Finally I took them to Canadian Tire and had them checked. They found no leaks but suggested that they take them off the rim, clean them and DRY them good. Claimed that sometimes water gets in next to the tire bead seat and when it freezes it creates a slow leak. Well they took the tires off, inspected everything, dried them and the rims with compressed air and used drylube to reininstall them Never had a problem afte that.

 

[jgrreed]

I had the same problem with the tires on my Jeep leaking down in winter when I was living in Fort McMurry. Finally I took them to Canadian Tire and had them checked. They found no leaks but suggested that they take them off the rim, clean them and DRY them good. Claimed that sometimes water gets in next to the tire bead seat and when it freezes it creates a slow leak. Well they took the tires off, inspected everything, dried them and the rims with compressed air and used drylube to reininstall them Never had a problem afte that.

Aaahhh, Canadian Tire..... is there anything they can't fix????

Was the pompous *ss below on the air when you lived up there??? For those of you that haven't ever seen him, he was a very smug 'character' on CDN tire commercials for about 2 years. The jyst of him was that he was Mr. Always Prepared with his new gadgets from CDN tire, and that his neighbors were all either grossly inefficient or grossly unsafe because of they were hand sanding their fence or forgot to get the new Mastercraft silicon wiper blades!!! Most of Canada HATED him, so much that Macleans magazine actually dedicated most of an entire issue to his pious attitude. He was getting hate mail, phone calls, etc!!! He's off the air now, thank God.

I've learned my one thing (actually 2) for today..... had no idea how to spell pompous or pious until now!!!

There's my little bit of Canadiana for you all today. Tomorrow...... "How we invented Basketball".

-Jer.

ps - We really did. Dr. James Naismith, 1891.

pss - Hockey IS NOT our national sport, Lacrosse is. Well, actually I just looked it up. In 1994 the government declared hockey as Canada's winter sport, and Lacrosse as Canada's summer sport. Who knew??? Drinking beer lasts all year.

 

[J_J]

I am going to add a little more to this thread. There is no way that someone can not find air leaking of a tire/wheel. It is only logical that if a tire/wheel is leaking air, it must be going somewhere. A good soapy water bath will find it. Even if it takes a couple of hours. If a tire leaks down in 12 hours, there is no way you can not see it. I have seen where a tire will not leak at 45 lbs, but will leak at 32 lbs. Maybe the high pressure sealed the bead better, or squeezing the nail embedded in the tire that you can not see. Who knows. Maybe the midnight air gremlins are up to their dirty tricks.

 

[Bedlam]

I agree JJ. Ive had stubborn ones that the bubble would barely pop out it would hang up in the tread and be hard to see but Always find the leak.I would suspect a rim leak myself by the sounds of it

 

[kthompson]

Is it possible different compounds react to lower temps more than other tire compounds and that some will "curl" in or away from the rim, giving you a poorer seal? I tried to decide if there seemed to be a trend along the colder weather people her compared to milder winters locations.

I know I like tubeless better if possible on tractors just for repairs. Especially when filled with liquid. Then it is not just tubeless who loose air or get slack. Noticed my M6800 rear tires were baggy this past Saturday. They are filled with water antifreeze and no sign of leak. But temp had dropped a good bit since I have used that tractor.

 

[studor]

JJ and Bedlam
You are both right -- someone could find the leak -- if you could duplicate the temperature drop and wanted to watch it overnight -- course you have to use anti-freeze cause ice won't work too well as leak detector fluid. As others have said it is usually the seal of the tire to rim, not a puncture. Materials expand or contract at different rates as temperatures change and unfortunately moisture (or crud) trapped between the rim and the tire will cause the seal to fail as the temp drops and the air pressure inside the tire changes -- and in the morning -- flat tire. You could spend a lot of time trying to find the leak -- or clean and reseal the rim to tire or put in tubes that do not require the seal to be as airtight. Just one of the joys of sub zero living. Of course if it is cold enough the tire is flat on the bottom anyway for the first few miles (ahh the infamous cold tire thump ).

 

[Egon]

Just like Studor says!

Come the cold some things get done different.




Slow leaks on tires in conditions that are as cold as Hinton has been experiencing are not uncommon. Usually they are rim leaks. If the rims are aluminum they may be even more prevalent.

This type of leak is hard to find as it only happens at cold temperatures. All those leak indicators are well frozen at those temperatures. The water bath would be quite solid.

You gotta take the rim and tire inside, separate them and then clean the rims real good. Next comes a sealant [haven't a clue on what type] and then have the tire replaced on the rim and fully inflated. Then the tire had best be left to sit in the shop so the sealant can cure a little.

Had two slow leaks like that on car tires this winter and our temperatures were balmy compared to Hinton.

 

[J_J]

NAPA sells a tire bead sealant, and I am sure several of the others also. Scrape, wire brush, burnish, tire bead sealant, usually does the trick for a while.

 

[Bedlam]

Ive used the bead sealer with good results, then being cheap I have been using the yellow stuff that is made to be put inside the tires from walmart. a liberal bead of that around the rim does well.
Another post here said they use RTV gasket sealer (form a gasket).This is what I'm going to try sometime seems like it would work just as well.
But a good cleaning and wire brushing of the bead seat is needed .