VERY slow air leak???? Can't figure out whats up with my tire. :-(

[bda_2002GT]

Ok.

So I noticed about a week ago that my car was pulling to the left pretty bad while cruising at high speeds so I checked it and sure enough.....the driver's side front was at 20psi......the passenger side front was at 30psi....where it should be.

I leveled everything out. 30psi all around.

Now....about a week later, the driver's side front is at about 27-28psi. But the passenger side tire has held at 30psi.

What kind of leak would cause a tire to only loose 2-3psi. in a week?

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[03gtmustang]

I have a similar problem, but I was lucky enough to find a screw in my tire. Take the tire off and spray some soap/water all over it and see if you find any bubbles.

 

[Defleshed]

I have a similar problem, but I was lucky enough to find a screw in my tire. Take the tire off and spray some soap/water all over it and see if you find any bubbles.

+1 thats a great idea. I'd definitely start by taking the tire off and really, really thourougly inspect it for any deep scrapes, gouges, nails, screws, ect.

have you whacked anything with you tire lately? jumped a curb? drove over a handful of screws out in your garage?

 

[streetstang03]

03GT has the right idea it could also be a slow leak coming from the valve stem, so check that too.

 

[bda_2002GT]

Thanks for the replies.

Seems to me if it were a screw or bolt or something it would be leaking a lot faster than it is.......2psi or so a week is pretty damn slow.

I think I'll start with the valve stem.

 

[Steeda2004GT]

Wow I noticed my GT pulling to the left tonight. I better go out and check my pressure. I think it's just an allignment problem though....

 

[1fast03pony]

2 weeks my tire is down to 18 psi... i have to refill it every 2 weeks. im still putting off getting it checked - its the driver front.

 

[vidmaster]

if your wheel is bent a little, it can cause you to lose air pressure i think. it may have bent from a pothole or something possibly

 

[03redfiregt]

See this all the time. I work at sears auto. oBviously check for a nail or screw. If ou cant find any, as mentioned before you could have a valve stem that is leaking or tire could be leaking from around the bead.

 

[nyuk98gt]

bda 2002GT:

... and, it could be a tiny hole in the alloy wheel. The casting process is not perfect and it is possible that the wheel has a leak path in it. One solution is to take it to a tire shop, have the tire removed from the wheel, reseal the inside surface, and, finally, remount/rebalance the tire.

 

[shaddixstang]

Or hit the rim with a hammer where its leaking.... that is if its on the back side of rim. had to do that to one of my bullitts.

-Jon

 

[03gtmustang]

You can spray the same soap/water mixture on the valve and if it bubbles then you know its leaking.

 

[BlkNShiny03]

The leak might not be large enough to blow bubbles after spraying them with soapy water. A tire shop that has a dunk tank is your best bet. There the tire/wheel can be submerged for a period of time. A small leak will produce a single, small, slow bubble at the problem area. I had a single strand of wire that was causing a slow leak in one of my tires.
Now, one of my tires has a nail in it, and it isn't leaking at all. Go think.

 

[mrvax]

See this all the time. I work at sears auto. oBviously check for a nail or screw. If ou cant find any, as mentioned before you could have a valve stem that is leaking or tire could be leaking from around the bead.

This happened to me last year and my rim was fine. The leak couldn't be detected. The tire was removed, the rims cleaned up and the tire re-installed/balanced. Sometimes the seal on the bead does go bad from oxidation etc. Believe it....or not.

 

[007]

I had a nail in a rear. Started losing a few PSI in a week, then got to 5 PSI each day. Had it patched for 20 bucks. All is good again.

 

[huesmann]

Sometimes the nail or screw will be airtight and not leak at all. I've had that happen before. Had a screw in an almost dead tire, kept checking it but the tire wasn't losing pressure so I left it on. Finally, one day I had a tire blow out on me driving to work. Looking behind me I expected it to be the one with the screw but it was the other one. Figured I might as well replace both of them since they were done.

 

[ttown]

On my 02 GT

I had a slow leak on my front passengers side. I took it to the tire shop and he didn't find anything in the tire. He told me the factory seals will dry out and leak sometime on a new car. Since he put the tire back on I've had zero problems.

 

[01LaserRedCobra]

I just had a nail removed from my right rear tire... when I brought it home the bastards filled it to 45PSI? I don't know if it was to help with the fix they did or what. I do notice that it still has a extremely small slow leak out of the spot they fixed. I put some soap on it and it has a bubble the size of a pin head once every 15-30 seconds... does it take awhile for the patches they install to seal up?

Thanks,

 

[nyuk98gt]

01LaserRedCobra:

A patch should be fully sealed. You need to take it back and have the fellows do it again (bigger patch?).

Chris

 

[SilverBullet00]

The same thing happens to me! But only with the front two tires. I have 245/40/17 tires, could that be the problem? They where on the car when I bought it, and I hate how short they are! I think its just asking for trouble, they are by far the worst tires for a mustang