bha7176

So as you know if you read my posts, I park my car over the winter in my garage. Well I had it out earlier in the month just to get new tires put on, then parked it again. Went down today to check it out and noticed the front left tire is flat! SOB! I don't have an air compressor - yet - either, so it won't be moving anytime soon. Just pissses me off that its new and already flat.

OK, just wanted to share my frustration.

luigi524td

Maybe it's something simple - like a loose tire valve stem ... instead of a puncture.

healthservices

Fix it soon before you damage the tire.

bha7176

Well I yanked it off today only to find out that the little 'spare' doesn't fit because of the hub centric rings I had to put on with my Forgestar tires. Yeah, I could probably get a screw driver in there and pop it off, but when I tried the flimsy aluminum began to bend so I let it on and just kept the car on the jack. Took the flat tire to a local yocal tire guy.

He overinflated the tire and dunked it - no leaks to be found. Guess I'll put it back on and watch it closely the next few days to see if it goes down again. If it does, back to BMW who put them on in the first place.

vkhong

You gave an example of why I will not use hubcentric rings (and spacers). It is more things to worry about when I have to install a compact spare by the roadside or installing a winter wheel set in my garage. I limit myself to wheels with the correct bore size (72.56 mm).

Also, I apply a very thin coat of copper-based anti-seize like Permatex on clean wheel hubs and center bores before installing wheels. This helps wheels, hubcentric rings and spacers to come off easily. Use only a thin coat to prevent extra anti-seize from getting onto your brake rotors.

bha7176

So i took the tire back to Sun Motors BMW last night after work - told them what happened and since they are the ones who mounted them, could they take a look. I told the SA if it goes over $20 cSTOP and call me, I'll take it elsewhere - he was cool and said he'd take care of me. they called back an hour later and said it wasn't fully seated on the rim and that was what was causing the slow leak. No charge!

I took it home but haven't had time to put it back on the car yet - will do that this weekend and see if it holds air under weight now. fingers crossed that that was it and it'll be good to go now.

bha7176

And when i checked the tires last night it was down 10psi again! Damn, I guess I need to pull it off again, take it back to BMW again, and see what they say this time.

What the hell? :thumbsdown:

inktoxicated

is the wheel maybe cracked? my motorcycle tire did the same shit it was a slow leak in the valve. if i rode it daily it would never go flat i guess from the pressure build up. but if it sat a few days... flat

jaycal3

Cracked rim? Even a small one will do that... Valve stem? A little corrosion on the inside of the rim?

turboawd

yeah, maybe a cracked rim, or bad valve stem.

if you want to try yourself, spray some soapy water over the tire and rim and look for air bubbles. check the valve stem too.