Older Rims Leaking

lexxus · May 14, 2004

Flat tire this morning. Thought somebody let the air out. Not so. The bead was leaking. The tire man(I've been going there for a few years) said that older chrome rims have this problem. He took a wire brush to the bead to clean it up, and then spread a sealer all around. He said that there is actually a company dedicated to exchanging rims because of this problem. You give them your old leaky rim, and they give you a new/redone rim(for a charge of course).

It strikes me that folks who are thinking of jumping in and buying an older car, even a low mileage car that has been well-maintained, might want to save up and get a newer model. Mine is a 92 SC 400 that I just bought about six weeks ago. I paid 8200, but now I have close to 9500 in the car. I'm not unhappy, but I suspect that since this is an older car, it's going to need some attention here and there.

jzz30 · May 14, 2004

as does any car of that age. you have to watch out for rubber parts and hoses, rubber parts include suspension pieces, motor, tranny mounts...get the idea right? as for the rim deal i didnt know that the chrome kind of flakes out after ageing...new rims maybe. :D

Sadistic · May 14, 2004

It isn't just Chrome that does that. It's any rim. Most any rim that has been mounted for an entire life of a tire, is going to need cleaning after the tire is taken off. Moisture gets inside tires, and will begin to corrode the wheels. There's nothing you can do about that, and really should have no bearing on if you purchase a vehicle or not. As for using sealant. They goop so much of that stuff on when you mount any tire. It's like a black rubber compound called Bead Sealant. No big deal :)

Theodore · May 16, 2004

aluminum also builds corrosion on the inner part of the rim, might wanna get that checked and cleaned. Happened to my factory Maxima rims, kept gettin slow leakes.

Hain · May 16, 2004

That might've happened to me. I just got a flat on the 300 the other day so I put on the spare. i'm gonna take it out to get it fixed today, so I'll see what the problem was. When i took it out I didnt see anything stuck in the tire(nails, etc.)..

If that's the case, how long would just having it cleaned and resealed last me? I've still got the stock rims, but probably going to fix up the sc in a few months, so probably new rims. I've got a 95 btw, and it needs a major tune up, but you know how much those cost.. <_<

Sadistic · May 16, 2004

Cleaning up the rim can actually last a long time. Your leak could also be from the valve stem. Those are a throw away item each time you remove a tire from a wheel. Any reputable tire place will clean up your rim and replace your valve stem each time the tire is removed from the wheel.

As for your tune-up comment. If you can do the tune-up yourself, you can save a LOT of money. I'm not sure how much a dealership would charge. I'm sure it would be probably in the 700 dollar range, but cost on the parts is one 7th of that, if you can find a good deal, and it's only about 4-5 hours of work book time. The biggest part would be to get everything out of the way so you could get to the plugs. Cap is very easily accessible, along with wires, once you get the covers off. That might be something you want to look into.