I am having some air leaking problems with the combination pf Yoko AVS ES 1000 and BBS RGR's. I stored the MCS for the winter and jacked the car up. When I got the car out of storage, I noticed that the wheels were low and one was almost completely flat. Since then I have had to re-inflat the same wheel and rim twice. I finally went to the tire place that mounted the tires and they said that nothing was wrong with seal at the bead. He tightened the stem. Is this a common problem with the BBS Steel stems? I hope that this fixed the leak.

Any suggestions on what other circumstances might cause this slow leak?

Thanks,
Carl

 

Have you driven the car much after storage? Most cars do not keep the correct air in the tires while in storage and need to be refilled. But after you drive the car some and keep up on the correct pressure it should be fine. Keep an eye on it and see what happens. It should bee fine after a short time. Good luck. Chad

 

My experience with my own stored cars (I have 5) is that all tubeless tires naturally lose air over a period of time. That is one of the reasons you should check your tire pressure carefully and often. The condition is further aggravated by temperature changes especially the extremes. It you put your car away last fall and it sat for 3-6 months my guess is you could see a normal pressure loss in the range of 4-10 psi depending on the temp when you stored it and the temp when you started using it again. A temp change of 10 degrees can be worth 1 + psi. Warm air expands and when confined like inside a tire will increase in pressure. Cool air will do the opposite. If you want to see what the difference can be try this. Carefully check and note your tire pressure with a good digital gauge when your car has been sitting overnight. After a good 30 to 60 minute freeway speed drive check them again while they are hot. You will see the difference. Besides wearing unevenly and wasting gas a low tire builds heat rapidly and excessively. An under inflated tire can build up so much heat that it will fail suddenly and dangerously. I live in Southern Nevada and in the spring and fall its' not unusual to see daily temps change 30 degrees or more between day and night. Here in the summer it's not unusual to see the results of this scattered all over the freeway as soon as it gets hot. People forget about their tires all winter long then when it gets really hot many are so low that the first good high speed run in the heat can cause a failure, and sometimes an accident. Radial tires have a stiff tread and soft flexible sidewalls. Those sidewalls flex and when they flex excessively the result is lots of heat. Suggest you do this. Check your tires once a week for a month or two with a good digital gauge when they are cold and note the pressure. If you have a tire with a problem (it consistently loses more than the others) have it dismounted and carefully checked for a slow leak. That sounds like the case already but give it a try and document the results in case you have to make a point with the tire tech. Always check your tire pressure at least once a month especially if your temps change drastically season to season. Always check and adjust tire pressure when the tires are cold, before you drive off in the morning is best. Also give them a good visual check for metal particles and road wounds. Give special attention to the sidewalls. Hope this helps....................mgg

 

I have kosei's that have weak valve stems as well. I've had to replace the stem
on several occassions already.

The leaking depends on how well the technician tightened it (without
over torquing it) and the construction itself.

I don't think your wheel is a fault, unless it is noticably bent or
severly dirty.

 

on a side note...could we see some pics of those wheels on the car when you get the issue resolved?

 

Danp,
I'll take some shoots soon and post.
Thanks for all the advice. The tech tightened the valve a bit to see if this is the problem. He mentioned that regular stems are the best.
Carl

 

I have had a problem in the past with some tires (on a few of my cars) that lost air regularly, and found that it was as kenchan said -- the valve stems were the problem.

 

If your wondering if it's leaking or not just test it. Take some water that has some soap in it and put it in and around the valve stem. Watch for bubbles and you can tell if it's leaking even a very slow leak is easy to spot in the valve stem. If you remove the wheel/tire you can check the bead the same way by putting the wheel flat on the ground and filling the bead area with water. You may also have a small puncture on the tire that you can't see. You can find those by using a garden hose and checking the surface of the tire by rotating it very slowly with water flowing over the tire and a keen eye. The slower the leak, the harder it is to find. Just takes more patience.

Former occupation: Firestone tire buster... I wasn't the burger flipp'n type. :smile:

 

Do the steel stems that came with the BBS wheels inferior to the tried and true run of the mill stem? I am thinking of just replacing all 4 stems because all of them are losing air at varying rates. I started out all four at 33psi. The one that I just remounted and valve stem tightened is down to 32. The other 3 are at 10, 30, 30.

Opinions on this?

Thanks a bunch.
Carl

 

The valvle stems sound like they may be loose, or over torqued, both conditions make slow leaks

30 psi from 33 while resting all winter is typical

Alex

 

Thanks Alex,
This pressure loss is one week. So, I should just have the stems tightened? Do you need to dismount the tires to tighten the valves or can you just tighten with them on? It looks like the one I just had tightened is holding air. Just lost 1 pound.

I was either going to take off all 4 wheels and have the stems replaced or have the remaining 3 have the their stems tightened.

Thanks again,
Carl

 

Alex,
Thanks for the call. Did you say finger tight and then a half turn or quarter turn?

Thanks,
Carl

 

>>Alex,
>>Thanks for the call. Did you say finger tight and then a half turn or quarter turn?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Carl

Finger tight, and 1/2 turn
Enough to deflect the rubber washer

Alex