After two attempts, tire is still losing air...

[Glassnpowder98]

So I had noticed one of my tires had a slow leak in it, about 10psi every 3 weeks. I finally went to rotate my tires and noticed that I had a nail in the tire in one of the grooves just outside of the middle of the tire. The tires I have are 245/35/19 BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KDW 2's. So, the next day I brought my car in to Merchants to see if they could patch the tire. They supposedly threw a patch on the car and sent me on my way. After a few days, I could feel my steering getting heavy again and checked the psi and it had dropped to about 20psi from 35psi. So, I take it back to Merchants and a different tech took a look at the tire and said that the patch looks to be holding but the first guy did not change the valve stem and possibly didn't seat the tire correctly. So they threw in a new valve stem and supposedly seated the tire correctly. That was on Saturday and today, heavy steering again so I check the psi and it's 22psi... Does anyone have any ideas about what might be wrong or suggestions about what I should do? I've about had it with sitting at merchants for an hour waiting for their slow ass techs to not fix the problem. I think I might just try to fill the tire up and do the soapy water test to see if I can find a leak... Does anyone have any other suggestions? TYIA

[andyrew]

Soapy water test and go to someplace else (to do the test add extra air to the tire, it'll help). Thats pretty much it.

[old guy]

Had the same problem with a slow leak that no one could find. I even took the tire off myself, pumped it to 45PSI and soaped the hell out of it for ½ hour and couldn't find the leak. I finally fixed it with this Clicky click. Since it was such a slow leak I only used about ¼ of the recommended treatment. Hasn't leaked since.

Edit: I have a compressor and floor jack so I did it at home. If you don't have a compressor just go to your nearest air source. Put the jack under the car. You only have to lift it enough to keep the rim off the ground when you let the air out. The Slime bottle comes with a valve core removal tool. Remove the core, add the slime, (since you also have a slow leak I recommend ¼ to ½ the recommended treatment) replace the core, pump up the tire and drive.

Good luck!

[Glassnpowder98]

Thanks for the responses. I'm kind of hestitant with that slime stuff, ha and I'm not too sure why. I'm going to first try the soapy water trick today after work to see if I can locate the leak.

I was also thinking, could it possibly be a bent rim? I have OZ ultraleggera's so I know they are pretty soft. I've never bent a rim before so I don't know what that would feel like? Does it cause a noticable shake in the steering wheel? Because as of now, the steering feels fine when I have enough air in the tire however when it starts to get around 20 psi I get some vibrations in the steering wheel. I don't know if that's normal with a tire low on pressure as I've never really had this happen to me before (Only tires that go immediately flat). I hadn't really thought of this before because I knew that there was a nail in the tire...

[chris23]

Check the tire/rim w/ soapy water. Could have another leak in the tire or the plug could be leaking. Could be the rim has so much rim sealer that it isn't sealing anymore. If this is the case you'll have to take the tire off the rim, clean it, then re-mount the tire.

[old guy]

Thanks for the responses. I'm kind of hestitant with that slime stuff, ha and I'm not too sure why. I'm going to first try the soapy water trick today after work to see if I can locate the leak.

I was also thinking, could it possibly be a bent rim? I have OZ ultraleggera's so I know they are pretty soft. I've never bent a rim before so I don't know what that would feel like? Does it cause a noticable shake in the steering wheel? Because as of now, the steering feels fine when I have enough air in the tire however when it starts to get around 20 psi I get some vibrations in the steering wheel. I don't know if that's normal with a tire low on pressure as I've never really had this happen to me before (Only tires that go immediately flat). I hadn't really thought of this before because I knew that there was a nail in the tire...

A bent rim would most likely vibrate at highway speeds and probably wouldn't leak (unless it was REALLY bent). Try soaping it yourself and see if you can find the leak. If not try the slime. I put the slime stuff in about 10K miles ago and my son is still driving the car with absolutely no issues.

Cheers!