New Tires Losing Air.

Hi Guys,

I bought a beautiful 2010 Acura RL last year, very low miles and owned by a local real estate broker. The tires were ok, but not great so I had four new Michelin Premier tires installed by Town Fair Tire. You guys may not have a TFT nearby, but they are the cheapest installer but also have the worst customer service.

Within weeks of installation, the tire-pressure monitoring system (TPMS) was popping up on the dashboard saying low tire pressure. As you know, these systems only warn you after the tire has lost 20% of the recommended air pressure.

As you can imagine, Town Fair Tire blamed the existing aluminum rims, and they may be right?

Has anyone had issues with the TPM system as being faulty or all four rims causing incredibly slow air loss?

The Michelin Premiers are considered the best tire money can buy. I would like to resolve this before gifting this car to my teenage son when he turns sixteen next year. Thanks for any feedback, I'm just frustrated at this point.

Mark, mix up some soapy water and spray it on the beads, and valve stem. Patiently watch for bubbles...likely just leaking around the wheel.

Usually easy to correct by cleaning the wheel and/or using some bead sealer.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Thu. Sep. 27, 2018 8:57 am

Mark, mix up some soapy water and spray it on the beads, and valve stem. Patiently watch for bubbles...likely just leaking around the wheel.

Usually easy to correct by cleaning the wheel and/or using some bead sealer.

+1

It's very common with some aluminum alloy rims to have them corrode at the beads enough to slowly leak air. I've had it happen on a few cars.

On my last vehicle, the soap bubbles test showed leaks where the wheel balancing weights were pressed onto the rim and the steel "clip" of the weights, plus our winter salted roads, caused an electrolysis corrosion reaction with the aluminum, thus pushing the bead sidewall slightly away from the rim.

Paul

Yep, that's my thought--some a-hole didn't take the time to use bead sealer.

Eight year-old rims and New England winter road treatments...
Town Fair Tire... LOL
Lowest prices...
Installers not the best...
First guess less than stellar bead on the rims...
Do as the others have said...
Spray soapy water and look for bubbles...
If that is not definitive...
Take wheels off car and submerge in narrow trough...
Better yet bring it to the local tire dealer...
Pay them to fix it right and be done with it...
If they replaced the TPS might have gone with a low quality brand...
Or just a quick and dirty install...

I have to ask a dumb question, but did you verify with a cheap hand held air pressure gauge that they are indeed leaking? Or are they noticeably low by eyesight? Those sensors could be inaccurate too.

I had new tires installed years ago on aluminum rims, long before TPMS and one tire was constantly loosing air. Took it back to the tire shop several weeks later thinking I had something in the tire but they soaped the beads and found a spot that was leaking. They took a hammer and tapped the sidewall of the tire by the leak and the leak went away. No charge and it never leaked again. Just FYI.

yes to all the above and I'll add: If you remove the TPMS valves ( like to use on new rims) spend the $3 each and get "rebuild kits". The O-rings are a one use item. I leaned that lesson the hard way!

I've had aluminum wheel rim corrosion cause slow leaks. That was on a '01 Nissan owned since new that my step son is still driving. I had a tire shop sand the rims a bit on tire replacements a couple of times. Like SB said, I think it was mostly related to corrosion at the weight clips. Not impossible that the tire lip got a bit knackered on the install without enough lube. Probably a coincidence, but the worst leakers I ever owned were Michelin Defenders.

I'm always amazed how much tire pressure can drop with temp changes. Just recently, I've had to add 3 or 4 lbs. of pressure to every thing I own. About 90 all Summer to 50's to 70's of late. On both of our newer TPMS equipped cars, we've had the TPMS warning light on in past years when I didn't get the Fall/winter sir in in soon enough. On at least some cars ( maybe all?) the baseline can be set/changed for tire pressure desired, then alerts on 20% drops.

E,W &F, did the tire shop install new TPMS sensors ( $$$) and supposedly program them to your car? Or leave your old ones installed? The Acura would have 8 to 9 years on the OEM sensors. Battery life on the sensors used to be considered 7 to 10 years.

My Accord (2015) has no sensors on the valves. It uses the ABS wheel-speed sensors to detect differences in rotational speed caused by pressure changes. It is surprisingly sensitive -- rotate the tires and make a one-pound error setting one tire, and the light will come on. And no expensive valve sensors to buy!

Thanks to everyone that replied. I'm taking each and every post into consideration. I'll let you know what my independent tire shop comes up with.

And no expensive valve sensors to buy!

The sensors are cheap. My 2009 Genesis has a tire inflation warning and it is way to sensitive.

So what caused the new tires to lose air?

Do yourself a favor, and all the rest of you on here too, if you have steel valve stem caps replace them with plastic ones. The crap being spread on the roads nowdays is making them part of the valve stem in short order. Then you destroy the stem when removing them, letting you enjoy the cost of a new TPMS...upwards of $75/per.

It's very common with some aluminum alloy rims to have them corrode at the beads enough to slowly leak air.

Yep, get used to it, It's not likely to go away, at least not for long.. You can fix it, seal it, do whatever but sooner or later they will be leaking again.

Put up with that for 18 years on my old truck..