One of my rear tires looses about 10 to 15 lbs of pressure per week. I’ve removed the wheel and carefully searched for any nails or anything else that might still be in the tire, and it seems to be clean. I’ve heard about products called Fix a Flat or something that may be able to stop the leak. Should I just fill the tire with one of these cans, or spend the cash on a new tire? If I do end up buying a new tire, should I buy two so the tread depth will be the same on each axle? Thanks for your input.
When buying, you should by 2. Differing tires may effect handling. Here is a detailed repair. Getting it on and off the hub will probably require a garage. Have fun.
fix a flat type products basically liquify the rubber inside the tire, rendering it unpatchable in the future, and may effect balance.
Are you sure the tire is at fault here? You may have a loose or defective valve/valve stem. Give it the ol’ spit (or soapy water) test: cover the valve hole and stem base with your fluid of choice, then look for bubbles.
How to fix a flat tire? Take it to a tire shop and pay them 10 bucks. Generally much more efficient and cost effective than anything you can do at home without special equipment.
I had a chronic flat tire problem years ago with my Plymouth Horizon, known affectionately as “The Blue Bomb.” After the third trip to my nearby mechanic, he finally said, “Oh. Didn’t I tell you about your rims?”
Um, no, jackoff. You did not. What about them?
Turns out the wheels (rims) had rusted, so the tire was not getting a good seal and would just slowly leak flat. Since I was a destitute college student at the time, I sacrificed my spare tire and make him switch them out. He put the good tire on the rim for the spare and put the donut on the spare’s rim. Worked great for a couple years until the car burst into flames one day, while driving down the road (another really long story, and note: unrelated to the tires.)
Just something else to troubleshoot…
Ooops. I meant, “and put the donut on the rusty rim.”
Preview is my friend.
That fix-a-flat stuff is for use in emergencies only. I’d leave it alone if it were me. Have a mechanic pop it off the rim, there may be a nail in there that you can’t see from the outside.
There is a product just for your problem. It is called Slime. I had a slow leak in a tire on my truck a few years ago. I used Slime and I don’t think I have had to add air to that tire yet.
If you have bad rims (and not a leaky stem) then you might want to just pay 10 bucks and have a tube put in the thing. It’s a lot cheaper than buying new rims.
Thanks for the input, everybody. I forgot to mention in my OP that I did the ol’ spit test and the stem seemed to be ok. I guess I’ll give Slime a try, and if that doesn’t work, head over to the garage. Thanks again.
Spray it with soapy water, your leak will bubble, I use fix-a flat on mine with no problem, the warning with this stuff is about the butane used as the propellant, it can expode when the tire is being worked on, just tell the mechanic about it and there is no problem, or let the air out and refill it.
Slime does not use a propellant, it is strictly a tire sealant. To put it in the tire, you remove the valve stem, squirt in the Slime from the squeeze bottle, reinstall the valve stem, inflate the tire to the proper air pressure and drive the vehicle for 10 minutes at a relatively constant speed. And if the tire needs to be worked on at a later date, Slime washes off with water. It also remains flexible unlike the spray in “fix-a-flat” products which become hard in a very short amount of time.
You do not want to use a tube with modern tubeless tires. Any air between the tire and tube will compress at a different pressure than the air in the tube. This can and will cause drivability problems. A reputable tire dealer will not install a tube for this reason. Tube type tires are designed to allow this air to escape in the bead area, tubeless tires do not.