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YOUR RESEARCHInteresting observation on slow leak in rear tire
Reported repair
Replace four tires...problem
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Leading evidence: 'Replace four tires...problem' (1 discussions report resolution; 0 report an unsuccessful attempt). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'chrome corrosion and flaking' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Replace four tires...problem' (1 discussions). For that action, 1 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. The most frequently reported fix is 'Replace four tires...problem', supported by resolution reports in 1 discussions. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Reported cause
I had both my rear wheels with slow leaks and it turned out to be chrome corrosion and flaking on the bead.
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed · Original poster
So checked the pressure this morning, expecting to find it another 5 psi lower, and...nope.
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Check any cracks (hairline) and get the tire remounted
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Suggestion
I would check the wheel very carefully, and perhaps take it to a tire shop, dismount and clean the tire bead area, check for any cracks (hairline) and get the tire remounted.
Check any cracks (hairline) and get the tire remounted
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Suggestion
I would check the wheel very carefully, and perhaps take it to a tire shop, dismount and clean the tire bead area, check for any cracks (hairline) and get the tire remounted.
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Suggestion
another easy way to check the beads is to put some dish soap diluted around 50/50 into a spray bottle and spray it around the beads and see if any bubbles form
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Warning: long winded tale below.
So, come home last night and discover my left rear tire looks really low. Sometimes when I park it in front of the house, I put the right tires up on the sidewalk because our road is rather narrow. So, I figure, maybe it just appears low because there is a little extra on that left tire.
Nope, tire is at 25 PSI. The night before it was at 45, so it lost 20 in about a day.
I check for nails/screws/scalpels etc, don't see a thing. I refill the tire to 45 psi.
Then just for kicks, I move the car off the sidewalk so it's got all four tires flat on the road, evenly dispersing the weight.
This morning, tire is at 40. So it's lost a little pressure, but not as fast as it was whilst parked at the angle.
Any theories based on this observation?
I thought the rim might be cracked, ran soap water over it, didn't find any cracks.
Hoping it is a valve stem, but maybe it is something with the bead, considering the shift in weight/pressure on the tire seemed to slow the leak?
Anyway, I know there's lots of awesome folks with tons of knowledge on this board, so I figured I'd share my story.
It most likely has to do with the way the pressure is distributed across the tire. If there is a pinhole leak it may be "more sealed" when parking flat than if the tire is on the curb. If you happen to park on a pebble or something in a particular spot on the tire maybe it'll go flat even quicker. Either way it's not going to fix itself so you should get it fixed asap before it really inconveniences you.
I had a similar situation with one of the air shocks on my Mercedes GL. Sometimes it would be flat after sitting for a few days, sometimes it would be flat after a quick run into a store. Depending on how the weight was distributed onto that airshock's bladder would determine how much of the pinhole was opened and thus affect the bleedout rate.
Cracked wheel (what size? The larger ones seem to crack more often), bad valve, leaky bead etc... the air is going somewhere. Depending one the position of the wheel when parked, it could be "sealing" a hairline fracture in a wheel... One more thing...Someone letting out air overnight?
Good luck figuring it out...
If you're committed to doing it yourself, a big old spray bottle of soapy water and a partner to idle the car back and forth while you keep the thing sprayed town to spot bubbles.
If you have a kiddie pool, pull it off, over inflate it at little, and hold it under water.
If you have a cigar handy and have a very well insulated / non-drafty garage: Tire off and inflated, blow smoke gently around tire. Look for vortices.
Do you have a swimming pool? They make excellent dunk tanks for checking slow leaks. If not, and you still want a DIY solution, send the wify out for wine, fill the bathtub up, and - viola! Custom tire dunk tank.
Fill the tire to 50PSI to get it flowing well, then dunk it and roll it around s-l-o-w-l-y and watch for bubbles. Low tech. Clean the tub when you're done.
Do you live in snow area by chance? I've had to fix 3 beads so far on my wheels due to corrosion interfering with a good bead seal over the past few years.
How old are your valves? Another one was a bad valve. Rubber was ever so slightly cracked and only visible if you bent the valve stem a certain way.
Both scenarios were non detectable by a dunk tank as it was very slow and often only occured when disturbed in a certain way.
Could be a bead seal leak
Are the wheels chromed?
I had both my rear wheels with slow leaks and it turned out to be chrome corrosion and flaking on the bead. I had a wheel repair ship fix them and they have been fine since
another easy way to check the beads is to put some dish soap diluted around 50/50 into a spray bottle and spray it around the beads and see if any bubbles form
"If you have a cigar handy and have a very well insulated / non-drafty garage: Tire off and inflated, blow smoke gently around tire. Look for vortices."
DUDE! I prefer a big spliff myself!
That way if you get some nice vortices going it's a mind blower!!!
So checked the pressure this morning, expecting to find it another 5 psi lower, and...nope. Didn't leak at all. Only leaks when I have it parked on the curb.
The downside to using an enormous joint in lieu of the cigar: If the wheel is off the tire to facilitate better visualization, you will find yourself with a problem: There's NO WAY you'll risk putting the tire on the car stoned, and when the munchies hit, you'll have no way to go to 7-11 and load up on Fritos and Ben and Jerry's. You might consider calling an Uber, but then you'd just be sitting in the car thinking, "I think he KNOWS, man! I'm freaking out! HE KNOWS!"
I will. I examined what I could with the wheel on and found a few interesting looking depressions, circular about the size of a quarter, but only raised in a half circle. Ran some soap water over them and no bubbles.
When you have the right tires on the curb, the outside of the left-side tires are being deformed more than usual and are being pulled away from the wheel; this is enough to allow some air to escape.
Imagine rotating my awesome Paint illustration of your wheel and tire cross-section - as you tilt the tire to one side, the weight will shift to the outside shoulder. In addition, gravity will cause the wheel to push outward; the rim will pull away from the outside shoulder of the tire, and you get your intermittent leak.
Unlike all other cars in the world, this is a well-known problem with Porsche cars only. No other cars in the world develop slow leaks in the tires except Porsche. It has well been documented and there will probably be a class action lawsuit against Porsche eventually. I find this to be an egregious safety related issue and I think Porsche has ignored the problem for far to long. Imagine, a world class performance car company and the tires leak! They also wear out and that should not happen. It's outrageous!!
On a side note - on one of my other cars I had a slow leak for a long time. Never could find it. It would trip the wife's car's TPS and she would freak out. Replaced all four tires...problem solved.
1) Yes, that is truly an awesome illustration.
2) I hadn't considered your hypothesis, but I hope it is a correct one. I have never had a car with such low profile tires, and didn't know this was a possibility.
Thanks for your input!
Reminds me of a good joke.
A pirate walks into a bar. As he approaches the counter, the bartender notices something strange about what's in the front of the pirate's pants.
Bartender says, "Uh...excuse me, but do you realize there's a steering wheel shoved down the front of your pants?"
The pirate replies, "Arrrrrgh! It's drivin' me nuts!"
Ummm...I totally get the theory, but, so the new rule is never park your car on an angle such as in a parking garage, never go around a corner because that puts the same forces at work, and it certainly explains why race cars with all the g forces going around the track end up with flat tires. Huh. Not.
I would check the wheel very carefully, and perhaps take it to a tire shop, dismount and clean the tire bead area, check for any cracks (hairline) and get the tire remounted. Sorry, tires don't just lose air because one side of the car is higher than the other, such as described in parking.
Edited because I don't want to sound like a jerk - I see it as a safety issue. One of my wheels cracked...the tire did not lose pressure but the bead area of the wheel was cracked. I'm not going to drive any car even second guessing what is beneath me. I'm suggesting having it checked out, then you will know for certain.
I agree with you, this is the wise thing to do I will give it a good look Saturday morning, and even if I don't discover any anomalies, I will probably still take it to the tire shop.
WOW if the tires will leak around the rims with a side load applied I guess I had better stop driving mine around corners.
OK now this is serious, well somewhat. I used to race FV and the low profile slicks would slowly leak because of the porous rubber compound. We would put about 1 tsp of Dawn dish washing liquid in the tire and it would seal it right up. Only Dawn seemed to work. True story.
But that was a FV race car tire and has absolutely nothing to do with the real world.
I would say get to your tire shop and have them checked out. I would not want a bead to blow in a corner.
Well, neighbor came over and we tried to take off the tire to check it for leaks.
As these "simple" jobs tend to do, it spiraled into a two hour saga.
The wheels are way over-torqued. So, trying to remove the bolts, the socket busted twice. Upon further inspection, all the wheels are probably on too tight, coupled with the fact they were sitting for a while.
Off to the tire shop to have the rattle gun get them loose, and re-tightened to an appropriate degree.
As long as you're not cornering for 8 straight hours, you're probably good.
I agree that there is some underlying issue interfering with the bead, and it's being exacerbated when the car is parked half on the sidewalk and half off. Maybe there's an imperfection on the outside rim; maybe something is goobered on the wheel and it didn't get cleaned off before the tire was mounted...
OP, are you saying the socket busted when you tried to remove the lug bolts? Holy hell, are they tack welded?
Find out what tire shop did the most recent work. Never go there again.
That's what I am saying, yup. My neighbor has owned several Porsches and he's never seen one with the wheels so tight. We stopped because we were afraid of breaking the head off a lug bolt (and we ran out of sockets, lol).
Def never going back to where those tires were put on. It was 100 miles south of here, anyways.
My rinky-dink Harbor Freight compressor and air gun can only manage about 100 lb-ft - so I can blast the nuts back on with the impact wrench and not worry about severely overtorquing the bolts. It's one of those very rare examples of owning sh** tools being more of a help than a hindrance.
Many years ago Sears overtorqued the lugs on my pickup so badly that I had to stand on the 6-foot section of fence post as a breaker bar. I successfully loosened most of the bolts and sheared off the balance.
What kind of socket did you break? Its really hard to break a impact socket
If you don't have a torque wrench, get one
The Harbor Freight once are often on sale for $10-$12 and they are fine for lug bolts. Would I rebuild an engine with one, no, but for general use they are fine
Of course, a higher quality one would be better (?)
For 996 and 986 lug bolts should be 96 ftlbs
On my son's pickup truck, broke several standard sockets and a four-way. Solution - 1/2" drive impact socket, 1/2" drive breaker bar, 4' length of steel pipe on breaker bar. A lot of pulling but got them loose.
Certain types of cracks or leaking bead seals won't manifest itself until under load.
That's what happened to me one time when I had some corrosion on my rim one time. The tire guy knew this and even if the dunk tank didn't reveal anything, he dismounted the wheel and used bead sealer and remounted the wheel which fixed the issue.
Another time was a cracked rubber in a rubber neck of the valve stem that was leaking ever so slightly and would only leak when the whole tire/wheel heated up to a certain temp.
I had two Polaris Ranger tires with slow leaks, one lasted a week the other a month, before going flat. I took them to get fixed 4 different times, at different shop, using bead sealer etc... Every body said they fixed it but none did. Finally had to just replace them and move on.
I never got around to dunking the tire myself, but that nail musta been a master of invisibility. Also had the shop loosen and retighten the nuts to proper torque.
