Tire Question
 

Hey,

So, i have a tire that Nissan can not figure out why or how it is leaking, but surely enough it is... they suggested I buy a new tire.. Do you guys think its ok to replace just one rear tire? The car has just under 7,700 miles. They said it would be OK because they are still newer but figured i would ask the forum's opinion...

Screw them go to a real tire shop and have them dunk that tire in a bath of water you will find the leak.

Ive been there 4 times and they keep checking it. I dont trust any of the tire places around me... They feel it could be one of the plugs they did and it just might not be able to be fixed...

Possible the rim ?

ok back on subject please. regardless of what the problem might be...

Rims do leak too. I have seen a rim on a new Vette leak. It was leaking on the inside part of the rim, through the metal itself. It was a bad casting. Just don't rule this out yet. Take a scrub brush and clean the inside real good. If it's a slow leak,. It will be hard to find. It's a pain.

How can you not find a leak in a tire? That's like first day of shop class 101.

again, its most likely a plug that keeps slowly leaking...

Can anyone give me some real input or just close this thread...

Fill up a shallow basin with water. Stick your wheel and tire inside the water. Wait a minute to see if any bubbles form. If not, rotate the wheel so that a new section goes under water. Repeat until you find the source of the leak. If no bubbles appear, you do not have a leak.

If you do not have a basin large enough to fit a wheel inside, fill up a bottle with some soapy water. Slowly pour the soapy water all around the tire and rim and look for bubbles to form.

lol seriously??? that is not even the question at hand. You dont think Nissan has done that already?? They have done that, they have checked it 4 times now, replaced the TPSM, checked the bead, all fine..

I do have a leak, every 2-3 weeks i get the low air light on my car and its down to 27 lbs... there is a leak that they arent sure of and speculate it to be a plug that wont hold, it happens.... now that ive explained fully for everyone, so if anyone has any useful info about my actual question, i would appreciate it..

You should base your decision of changing one or all tires upon tread depth and not mileage. The way I drive, my tires are nearly bald by 8k miles. If your tread depth is below about half of new (new is usually 9 or 10/32"...minimum legal is 2/32"), then you should change all the tires. Otherwise your wet performance on the older tires will be impaired compared to the one new tire leading to imbalance in grip and a potentially dangerous situation.

Did you actually see them do it? I've seen tire guys swear they couldn't find a leak but they never dunked the tire in water. They only visually checked it. Only until a guy was willing to dunk it did they find the leak.

Now if they did all that, it could be a bad rim and it possibly only leaks when you drive it?

Either that or someone is messing with you.

Thx for the info...

No, i didnt see them do it, but i guess ill go back and really give them hell about it. Frustrating at this point...

Tire Leak
 

Did the Dealership check the TMPS for an intermittent error...Just a wild thought?

If you want to do it yourself. Go to the hardware store and get a bottle of leak detector liquid (Snoop). The same stuff you use on natural gas lines. This stuff WILL bubble and foam at the smallest leak. ;)

seriously !!
 

What you are describing is such a small amount of air escaping that dipping it in water will not cause those bubbles to float to the top like a normal big leak will.

I had custom made Boyd wheels made (many years ago)and I kept getting leaks. They could never find them. I told a buddy of mine that welds for a living and he found all of the leaks at the welds. Sometimes dirt ,old paint can help hold the air in a little. Scrub the rim inside and out really good. Look for the leak on the inside. You might not see bubbles float but maybe small foam forming in an area.

Good Luck !!!

Thanks guys... Yes, the leak is very small so I can understand that they dont see bubbles as you typically would. At this point, the car goes into the garage soon and i dont want to worry about constantly pumping the tire all winter... Maybe ill just roast the rears and get new ones hahaha.

i vote for roasting!!!

However if its the rim then its a waste of rubber and $$$ and youll still have the problem.

Like mentioned before go on the depth and how evenly the tyre has worn also.

Good luck with it, this would absolutly do my head in!!!!

If it was my rear tire I would be replacing both, but I have been hard on them. If you drive casually and never spin them or go hard in some turns then you may be able to just replace the one.

I vote roast them and get new ones. Rep if you video it for YouTube :tup: