Anyone have any suggestions? I have a slow leak in one of my tires that causes the TPMS to go off about once a week or so. I fill it to 35psi and the TPMS turns on when it drops to about 28 and I refill it to 35... this has been going on for a couple of weeks and it's getting annoying.

I looked for the cause of the leak so I could plug it myself but haven't been able to see any screws or nails or anything so it looks like I'll have to take it to a tire shop. The only problem is that every single shop I've called tells me that a run flat can't be patched and must be replaced. I know this is a bunch of BS because Bridgestone themselves say that they can be patched just fine as long as they haven't been driven while flat so I'm starting to think that these tire shops either don't know what they're talking about or are just out to rip me off by forcing me to buy a new tire.

Anyway, I've called Firestone, Tires Plus, Tire Kingdom, and Goodyear. All of them want to sell me a new tire before even having looked at my current one to see if they can patch it.

Any suggestions?

 

I'm not in your area, but I have had experience with patching the run-flats. You'll have to go to a local independant shop. The big chains (like the ones you mentioned) won't patch them.

There are conflicting reports on whether or not to patch a run-flat. It seems like the main reason behind it is the length of time you may have driven on the tire without sufficient inflation. The run-flat with zero pressure is supposed to act like a donut...good for about 50 miles at a lower than highway speed, at which point it is meant to be replaced. If you were to patch the run-flat at this point, the sidewall integrity may already be compromised and could be susceptible to a blow-out, etc. There really is no way to inspect the tire for this, so they often will just want to replace it. I'm sure there are other reasons they don't want to patch it as well.

 

do a leak check on your valve - shoot soapy water all around - you may just have a valve leak. There was a recent thread about that. TPMS valve can usually be fixed w/out even dismounting the tire.

If not the valve, then can you take the wheel off and submerge it? Bathtup maybe?

If you can find a simple puncture wound, lay your hands on a DYNAPLUG tool and you can fix it yourself in about 90 seconds. I've plugged my rf's many times and run thousands and thousands on the tires after

http://www.dynaplug.com/

I keep one in the glove box

 

Ok, I tried that a few minutes ago and still couldn't locate the source of the leak. It's a very slow leak. Pressure drops from 35psi to roughly 28psi in anywhere from 3 days to a week.

I'm thinking my best bet would be to just show up at any tire shop and ask them if I can pay them to just locate the source of the leak. Once the leak is found I can figure out how to fix it.

If it does happen to be the TPMS stem, is that something that would be covered under the standard Mini warranty?

 

repair kit is under $10 ... an o-ring and a replacement valve stem....

earlier post here said he got a TPMS valve repair at a shop for $20 . . .

you MIGHT get it under maintenance but I doubt warranty would cover. It is a wear item. If the entire TPMS sender was bad, maybe then.

 

If you have more than 15k on your car just go get new tires.Because the run flats don't last that long anyway.

 

Yeah, I've noticed that. I have about 16K miles on mine and the tires are already surprisingly worn. They have maybe another 5K miles left on them, if even that much. But still, I'd like to get that 5K out of them if I can.

 

I know this is probably irrelevant by now, but El Mago Del Ponche on 8th st and 62nd ave. I think they charged me $10 to fix the flat on a run flat?

 

Load it up to around 45 or a little more, enhanced airflow may show up brighter.