Wheel Woes

[welland99]

I already knew my alloys were corroding and beginning to look shabby, but now it's worse. Two of them have intermittent slow punctures which I think are due to air leaking around the rim.

Weeks can go by with no loss of pressure, then suddenly they will lose 10 or 15 pounds in a day or two. Twice I have seen this happen and when I blew them up I saw bubbles around the rim.

Can anybody recommend a cheap puncture sealer to help them to seal? Is this gluey stuff worth the effort? Will it make a mess of the inside of the wheel which will need cleaning when the tyres need replacing. (currently about half worn).

I have thought about looking for a couple of second hand wheels, but don't know what size to get. How can I tell the size that I have fitted?

The handbook is confusing. I think it is telling me that they are 7.5j x 16 h2 o/s 41, but i don't know how to check.

 

[johnsco]

A better bet is to get your wheels re-furbished.
I had this problem on my alloys on the E300TD.
Got all 4 re-furbished and the problem was cured.

 

[bennesspipers]

Dont use the 'gluey stuff',its only for temporary use, tyre fitters hate it, & some places charge extra to remove it !

 

[andy27168]

Hi,
When my old tatty 15" AMG alloys started leaking like this I had the tyres taken off of the rim and the tyre fitter cleaned the sealing edge of the wheel up with scotch brite, and this stopped them from leaking.

 

[welland99]

Thanks for your replies. Whilst the air leaks are only intermittent, I think I can bear it a little longer, hopefully until the tyres need replacing. But I'll keep my eyes open for some 2nd hand wheels as this might be cheaper than refurbing

Any ideas about how to check the wheel size?

 

[Nasco12]

I wonder if I've had this problem - the symptoms seem familiar. I took it to the local tyre fitter, he took the tyre off, tried his darnedest to find a puncture but couldn't. Obviously, he had to replace the tyre and ever since there hasn't been a problem.