Porous wheel

Comfy Old Boots

Comfy Old Boots

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Hi,
2007 R1200 GS, 97,000 miles. Cast wheels

Lads, I'm losing about 10 psi every week and half / two weeks. Had the tyre reseated and the valve replaced. Had the wheel in the bath. No bubbles that I can see. I came across the idea of a porous wheel rim. Anyone any experience of this?
 
Hmmm. Always possible, I suppose but it would likely have been the case from the start. You only need to catch something small between the tyre and rim to provide enough space for air to get through. I know! :blast A porous tyre is probably more likely. With a slow leak you may have to leave it in the bath a while to see evidence. Interested in replies from others.
 
Pump the tyre up to 55 to 60 psi

support the front of the bike off the ground with a small trolley jack under bash plate*** and sit down on a stool or chair and have a trigger spray bottle of hot water and a few DROPS of fairy liquid in it so as you spray onto the tyre surface you will quickly see any bubbling

Then do the rim and then the valve Or any order until you are happy that you have covered all options The extra pressure Makes it leak and one of the Technicians jobs when the bikes arrive for PDI is to drop tyre pressures back down to the recommended from 60 ish psi




***Just jack it up till the rear wheel touches the ground and its actually very stable "but" the centre stand arm can contact first and make it a little wobbly So just put wood or slate or something under the wheel so you are confident it won't wobble when you start spinning the wheel
 
The wheel coating from factory is very tough but if the dreaded ally white powdery corrosion has got under it cos of a scrape during tyre fitting etc. it will tunnel it's way along underneath and possibly to the outside world letting pressure out in the process. That's my hunch anyway, if the tyre and valve are sound.

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
 
Do you have TPMS?

I've learned that the seal on these can be suspect... If you have them, I suggest taking a look

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk
 
Thankyou. Rim seemed clean when tyre was off. New valve. no TPMS!

I'll try the 60 psi trick soon.
 
Check the nut holding the valve tight to the rim. I had one leak there and I had to blow it up every day between home and Italy until I traced the culprit - a quarter turn and it never leaked again; it doesn't take much.
 
I had two tyres changed on my car a year ago,

When they popped the tyre off, they wire brushed the rim, and applied a black sealant/ glue to the bead area.

I inquired as to why, and they said that if you get any corrosion, wire brushing & sealing with a sealer stops any air loss , caused by age & corrosion

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/1843953105...W9LMhupkUFOi6B7GQ38qviWUIV86F_C0aAgQYEALw_wcB

https://www.tyrebaydirect.com/produ...d Sealer is a thick,Rim Seal for Alloy Wheels.

might be worth seeing if you can get a local tyre place to slap some on your rims before you refit the tyre

or failing that, you may have a split valve stem, only leaks when the valve stem flexes,
 
I don't have a locking nut on the valve stems. I wonder if that's it.
 
Nuts on valve stems tend to show TPMS.

It's normal rubber stem valves in nonTPMS as far as I know.

Try the washing up liquid in water thing, but if that fails, you can get leak detection fluid that gas fitters use, the slightest leak sends out big bubbles that foam like mad... It helped me find a suspect TPMS seal that I replaced and eventually had to resort to a little dab of silicone to finally get it to seal.

Good luck...

Roger.
 
I'm with Santa-2512 - probably just rim corrosion, allowing a tiny leak at the bead. Try some bead sealant.
 
Getting the tyre off again tomorrow to double check stuff and put some bead sealant on and check everything.
 
I've had a couple of sets of bike wheels with similar issues, I've used two solutions the first time I had the areas inside the rims blasted and then powder coated which works well , the second time I cleaned up the areas affected with a rotary wire brush then grit blasted them and did them first with acid etch primer spray and then a coat of gloss black paint.

Once the paint had cured on the wheels I got the tyres remounted and they are still fine 10 years on , the key to it is preparation .

If the inner rims are really badly corroded with bad pitting it is 50: 50 as to whether it will work but using a belt and braces approach i would get the tyre fitter to use the black brush on bead sealer (TopSeal or similar) as well
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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