Odd Slow Puncture - at rim

[WindyChuffer]

I had a slow puncture that I could not find. No nails / foreign objects etc. So I just kept putting air in. However it got progressively worse, to the point that air was noticeably coming out from by the rim.

I took the wheel to a local tyre shop, confirmed the leak was indeed at the rim and all they did was take it off, clean the rim and put it back on. And charged my £20 too.

Tyre is a Tourance and tyre and spoked GSA wheel has done less than 2K miles and is from an April 2011 bike.

Front Tourance tyre pressure has also dropped, showing same signs of rear and I suspect that too has a rim leak as well. Need to get that looked at too.

Why would the tyre leak at the rim? Is it because it was never seated properly at BMW? Why would it get progressively worse? I can't fathom this one out.


[2K is a shocking mileage in 6 months! But behold -the bike has done over ~6K in total but most of the miles have been with my other set of GSA wheels on which are shod with knobblies, having been used for the HUMM this summer)

Ta !
Mike.

 

[waterloo700]

Had the same thing with an alloy car tyre - stay with me cos the principle is the same.
I watched my local mechanic fitting a car tyre - he took the trouble to wire brush the inner face where the wheel and bead meet - then painted bead seal (which is a black bitumastic type paint) on the brushed surfaced before fitting the tyre. Took two of my alloys to him which had slow leaks - problem solved.

I never saw this attention to detail at the big (car) tyre centers.

Makes sense really - if the tyre and valve are ok the only other options are 1) porous alloy which is rare or 2) leaks at the bead.

 

[Schtum]

So these wheels have been sitting around unused for a while. Which position were they stored in?

 

[Beemerman59]

I had this once with a rear on my 1200GSA that I had fitted myself. I took the wheel off, rebroke the bead on both sides and cleaned both the rim and the bead up as best I could. I could'nt see anything wrong but when I put air back into it the seal was good. Everytime I change a tyre now I make sure I clean the bead and rim where they meet and am careful not to let any dirt get on them in the process. Been fine since after several more changes so I put it down to operator error.

 

[Taff]

... Why would the tyre leak at the rim?

Could they be rusty?

 

[WindyChuffer]

So these wheels have been sitting around unused for a while. Which position were they stored in?

Missionary.

 

[Schtum]

Missionary.

Hmmm.....it's unlikely that's what fucked them, then.....

 

[pinkytiff]

I had a slow puncture that I could not find. No nails / foreign objects etc. So I just kept putting air in. However it got progressively worse, to the point that air was noticeably coming out from by the rim.

I took the wheel to a local tyre shop, confirmed the leak was indeed at the rim and all they did was take it off, clean the rim and put it back on. And charged my £20 too.

Tyre is a Tourance and tyre and spoked GSA wheel has done less than 2K miles and is from an April 2011 bike.

Front Tourance tyre pressure has also dropped, showing same signs of rear and I suspect that too has a rim leak as well. Need to get that looked at too.

Why would the tyre leak at the rim? Is it because it was never seated properly at BMW? Why would it get progressively worse? I can't fathom this one out.


[2K is a shocking mileage in 6 months! But behold -the bike has done over ~6K in total but most of the miles have been with my other set of GSA wheels on which are shod with knobblies, having been used for the HUMM this summer)

Ta !
Mike.

Hiya, I had exactly this but with a Heidenau K60 front. Drove me mad for a while and it turned out not to be at the rim but where the bead seat is. A liberal application of bead sealant cured it for me.

 

[Steptoe]

Pikey dave had a leaky tyre. It was leaking from the rim, where it's welded together to form a circle. The weld was bad.

Take the tyre off and check around inside the rim.

 

[VAL. H.]

Pikey dave had a leaky tyre. It was leaking from the rim, where it's welded together to form a circle. The weld was bad.

Take the tyre off and check around inside the rim.

OOh! What did you do about that??? Paint it over? get it rewelded? or just pop in a tube?


I'm a firm believer in preperation. Clean everything up propperly and all should be well.

This normally works fine, however one of my campervan wheels had a slow puncture. So I popped it off, checked it thoroughly for damage and punctures, thoroughly cleaned the rim, even cleaned the old crap off the tyre bead and replaced the valve. Still bloody leakes


Val.