Porous Alloys

[Uncle Buck]

Has anyone else had problems with tyres going flat due to leaking Toyota alloys ? I'm stunned that a 4.5 yr old wheel is suffering from this, especially with less than 45k travelled & no kerb damage. It takes approx 5 days to go almost completely flat. This is after the garage looked at both tyre & rim & declared there was nothing wrong with either. They even fitted a new valve & resealed the bead. I doubt anyone local will be able to repair the wheel, so it looks like I'll be using the spare for a while ......

[SRsmithy]

this is very common with alloys weather it be a cheap rover alloy or a bentley alloy, its because the moisture in the wheel and the air that inflates the tyre gets underneath the lacuare that seals the paint and blisters which pushes the tyre away from the bead seat of the rim.

i see this at least 3 times aday at work and all we can do is wire brush the bead and put a sealer on the rim to stop this or have the wheel referbished

[cumbrialass]

I just put a similar thread on the RAV 4 section. I've the same problem with my 8 year old Rav. 2 wheels retain the pressure really well, the third loses a bit but the fourth is bad. I was advised to go for a refurbish.

[Uncle Buck]

I knew this was a problem on older alloys, but I'm truly surprised at it happenning on a relatively young wheel which is cleaned regularly & never been kerb damaged. I took it to another garage who said it was leaking from the bead & resealed it. Let's see how long it lasts this time ...........

[Jamesbelfast]

Believe it or not this problem is more common amongst dog owners or where dogs have the opportunity to pee against your wheels - the acid in the urine eats the protective paint. Also if the car has been driven on a beach won't help.

Ideally you need to remove the tyre from the rim wire brush or lightly sand the corrded area and treat with a couple of coats of brush-on hammerite - the sealant the tyre dealers use doen't fill the pitted areas whereas paint will. Good old Hammerite is much more corrosive resistant than most other paints.

I have seen this method of repair used on numerous occasions successfully.

[Soot1]

Use the tyre inflator/sealant to seal the wheel. The wheel and tyre will be scrapped when the existing tyre wears down so you might as well get some use out of it.

[Uncle Buck]

The rim has already been rubbed down & it made no difference whatsoever unfortunately. However ATS seem to have sealed the bead again, although it is off the car at the moment. I guess proof of the pudding will be when I refit it tomorrow. The tyre has loads of tread left, so I'm determined to get as much use out of it as safely possible.

[UK Republic]

I suggest you get some acid based aluminium etch primer to seal the bare surfaces because nothing will adhere to aluminium unless it is etched.

The primer itself should be enough to seal the surface, give it 1or 2 coats using a brush and try to ignore the bright yellow colour or you could paint it.

[Uncle Buck]

Thanks for people's comments. I think I'll investigate the cost of getting 2 wheels refurbed locally. Not much choice up here so I'm guessing it won't be cheap, but we'll see. Incidentally for those who've said Toyota Motorsport rims are expensive to replace, there's a guy on eBay just now selling 4 new Auris wheels for £320. A lot less than any dealer wants ......