Leaky wheel!

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Geektastic

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#238034 29-Jun-2018 19:04

I had a strange one today. I had a soft tyre, so assumed a puncture and headed to see my tyre guy.

Turned out to be leaking from a hole in the alloy wheel itself. Bizarre.

Apparently it usually results from bead breakers hitting the inner surface when removing tyres.

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#2046186 29-Jun-2018 19:09

Does he mean when a tyre machine breaks the bead?

Geektastic

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#2046192 29-Jun-2018 19:22

Yes. One of those hydraulic doodads.

Dial111

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#2046204 29-Jun-2018 20:14

That’s odd, the locking jaws and and the bead levers are too blunt to pierce a rim and cause a hole small enough for a leak. Sounds like a rough tyre fitter

Aredwood

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#2046209 29-Jun-2018 20:30

It could be a casting defect from new. Supposedly you fix it by taking tyre off wheel, clean inside and coat with a fine layer of silicone sealant. Refit tyre when dry. Problem solved.

Recall a magazine article about this 20 years or so ago.

If there are signs of impact damage, get the wheel crack tested.

gzt

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#2046212 29-Jun-2018 20:36

Geektastic:Apparently it usually results from bead breakers hitting the inner surface when removing tyres.

and causing a crack? It's hard to imagine making a pinhole with one of those..

gzt

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#2046213 29-Jun-2018 20:37

Oh maybe you mean creating a rim defect..

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Geektastic

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#2046224 29-Jun-2018 20:59

They put the wheel in a bath of water and the bubbles were coming from the inner flat surface of the alloy.

When the tyre was removed there was an area that had clearly been ground down and repair then painted silver/grey. There were two marks and they showed me how the blade part of the bead breaker would impact with one corner of the blade part if it went too far - the tyre guy said it was more common than you might want to know..!

We took the spare and swapped the tyre onto that, then (since the car was only delivered by the dealer (used) on Monday) I rang the dealer and told him he needs to get me another matching rim.

The OEM tyres were Continental Cross Contact UHP and the spare is still that, complete with blue paint line and nobbly bits. The tyre fitter said that they are really limpet like on the bead/rim interface so that might have assisted in the damage when the originals were removed.

Batman

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#2046227 29-Jun-2018 21:13

Not the land rover surely

Geektastic

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#2046259 29-Jun-2018 23:46

Batman: Not the land rover surely

Yes. Looks like some cheapskate in the past has had the wheel repaired. I would be very wary repairing a wheel on a 2.2 tonne car that has 400 BHP and goes off road as well as on, myself.

It will be interesting to see if the dealer can match the wheel, as the design was used 2006-2008 on the Supercharged Vogues only, so it's been out of use for some while now. The tyre guys thought that the genuine article would probably be at least $800 new if it could be found.

Might end up cheaper for them to contribute to replacing the rims with new aftermarket ones or something. We shall see.

Batman

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#2046260 29-Jun-2018 23:48

I thought you bought the Disco new?

Geektastic

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#2046262 30-Jun-2018 00:15

Batman: I thought you bought the Disco new?

No, the Disco was a unique vehicle - one of the actual vehicles which completed the G4 Challenge event in 2006. I sold that.

This one is an L322 full fat Range Rover with a 4.2 Supercharged Jaguar engine under the bonnet. I certainly did not buy that new...it's equivalent today would be around $200,000.

This one is a low mileage, FSH example and quite a different thing from the Disco in terms of ride, comfort and so on, I must say.

The engine is a creation of the motoring gods as well - it just goes on and on. The car is about as fast off the mark as a Golf GTI which isn't bad for something that size.

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kryptonjohn

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#2046280 30-Jun-2018 08:14

Nice. But... The gas station attendants will all get to know you by name because you'll be there twice a week!

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#2046294 30-Jun-2018 09:01

Who says he doesn't already own an oil refinery plant on his lifestyle hectare?

Geektastic

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#2046328 30-Jun-2018 11:19

kryptonjohn: Nice. But... The gas station attendants will all get to know you by name because you'll be there twice a week!

It's no worse than the Disco - in fact, driven reasonably on long trips it is better. You can get 13l/100 from it which, whilst not exactly parsimonious is quite liveable with. I work at home much of the average week, so it is not a daily 100km commute or anything.

On average, I fuelled the Disco every 2 or 3 weeks depending on what I had been doing. That had an 85l tank and the Range Rover has a 100 litre tank so it might visit less often but cost more when it does. It's not the only car though - I can always take the wife's Volvo XC70 D5 Polestar if I need better gas mileage.

Dial111

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#2046332 30-Jun-2018 11:33

I highly doubt it was the tyre machine, sounds like the rim was damaged prior, in all my years in the industry I’ve never heard a case of the bead lever making a hole like you’ve described, chipping the bead of the rim yes, but that’s an operator fault not a tyre machine.

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