porous alloy wheel

[Dr M Cook]

I have just purchased a nice little 1996 supersport from Caterham Cars. They have been excellent.

 

However I had a minor problem from day 1 with a mystrious loss of about 2 psi per day from one wheel/ avon tyre. No puncture could be found . There was no leak from the beading joint but we did find a minute hole in the alloy almost in the middle ie no where near a joint or apparent stress point. The wheel is a Two gates variety like the old Minilite.. Caterham tell me they are obsolete but will solve the problem aand may be able to weld it for me. Alternatively it is a new wheel but is an odd wheel suitable only for the spare. I trust them. Anyone else had porous wheels like this and what do you do

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Remove the tire, fit a new steel valve, paint the inside of the wheel, fit a new tire. Should sort it out. If it's 2 psi per day, it's a very small leak and painting it should suffice.

[Jason Plato]

Or you could try Tyre milk , its a sealing liquid to prevent leaks or punctures - available from Superlite Wheels .

 

Dave

[deeps]

I had a similar problem on the tin top, pressure would drop from 32psi to 20 psi over the space of a week, and my local tyre man resorted to liquid tyre repair sealant after all else had failed. That was 2 years ago, and the tyres have been replaced since with no further problems.smile.gif

 

Deeps smile.gif

Deep down you know it makes sense.idea.gif

[Graham Sewell]

I had a very wierd one a couple of weeks ago. I lost 16psi (as in down to 4psi from 20psi) in 1 hour and yet I could not find a leak or puncture. The only thing that I had changed that day was the valve cap from plastic to one of Caterham's Silver things. Changing back seems to have cured the problem.

 

I still don't know why the valve cap could cause a leak!The scary thing is that I didn't notice it till I got home after a blat!!!!

 

Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

[F355GTS]

Graham

 

Had the same problem on my 355 once with the chromed caps, found that after tightening the small o-ring that is in the cap had come out of it's groove and wedged the valve open, probably caused by being overtight

 

Mark

[John Vine]

Had exactly this problem with my new kit (new in 1999, that is). When I came to fit the wheels (14" KN Minators), I noticed that one tyre was completely flat. Took it to ATS, who eventually found a pinhole in the alloy. Caterham exchanged the wheel and tyre under warranty, but I was left wondering why someone at the factory hadn't checked the pressures when assembling/loading the kit in the first place.

 

JV