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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / General Car Topics / August 2005Strange tire problem
My Mazda 1997 LX626 has its original tires: Firestone P195/65R14 88S The spare isn't full size. The car is little used - it has less than 16,000 miles on it. I keep plastic valve stem caps screwed onto my valve stems. I took a trip around 3 years ago, about 700 miles round trip, and an odd thing happened. I'd checked all the tires before the trip and made sure the pressure was OK. I wasn't aware of any kind of problems with any of the tires. A day or two AFTER the trip, I noticed that the right rear tire had gone almost flat. I pumped up the tire and kept an eye on it but it stayed fully inflated and never seemed to be a problem until about a week ago, when I noticed it was completely flat. That's no problems for 3 years, when it happened again! I pumped it up to 27.5 lb. A couple of days later, I had to use the car and checked the pressure and it was still 27.5 (I have a digital guage). I drove the car around 20 miles and the next morning, it was flat! I pumped it up and haven't checked it since, but it looks full. What should I do with this? I wouldn't trust it now. Most of the little driving I do is on the highway, and it's obviously a dangerous situation. The tread is still good on all 4 of the tires. Should I have a tube put in that tire, have it reseated, have the valve checked replaced or something else, or should I get a new tire or a full set of new tires? If the last, I guess I'd get Michelin's at Costco. I saw a news story a few weeks ago where they said that tire manufacturers are going to start recommending replacing tires after 7 years regardless of signs of wear. There have been some accidents and they think that tires can't be considered safe no matter what they look like if they are over 7 years old. Is this partly hype or should I just bite the bullet and buy all new tires? Thanks for the information. Dan You may have a bead leak or just have a nail in the tire, sometimes they don't leak unless you put pressure on that particular spot; like when you park it over night and the leak is on the bottom side of the tire, then it will leak, other wise under normal conditions it wouldn't. I would take it to a tire shop and have them first look for a foreign object in the tread and if they find none remove the tire clean the rim and replace the valve stem and then reseat the tire. This should take care of the problem. > My Mazda 1997 LX626 has its original tires: > [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > Dan Absolutely true that tires deteriorate whether or not the car is driven. The more ozone in the air...i.e. the higher your altitude...the faster they rot. Seven years may therefore be optimistic if you live in SLC or Denver. Furthermore: Tires and wheels (the metal part) can leak air no matter what. Also, the act of checking air pressure can permit a speck of rubber or dust to partially block the tire's Schrader valve ...leading to a one-time over night flat. Dan: Your rim may have been deformed slightly, this can even happen if you park the car too close to a pavement and the tire presses on it for a while. Not as common as tire punctures or valve leaks, but can happen. Don't know if tire shops can straigthen rims out though... Regards, Nikolas > You may have a bead leak or just have a nail in the tire, sometimes they > don't leak unless you put pressure on that particular spot; like when you [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > the valve stem and then reseat the tire. This should take care of the > problem. :You may have a bead leak or just have a nail in the tire, sometimes they :don't leak unless you put pressure on that particular spot; like when you [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] :the valve stem and then reseat the tire. This should take care of the :problem. That's exactly what I did. The manager told me they didn't find a puncture, nail or tack. I don't know if they reseated the tire. The manager said it was a leaky valve. I asked him if they replaced the valve and he said "yes." His manner was less than convincing - I don't know exactly WHAT they did. I was watching the guy work most of the time and I could see that the tire was wet, so they at least submerged it. Inasmuch as the problem had a way of disappearing for long stretches, I may never be confident that it's resolved even if the tire holds its air for years. After all, it was three years between the first and second occurrence! I just checked the mini-spare and made sure it's OK. Hope I don't have to swap it in somewhere/someday. Dan :> My Mazda 1997 LX626 has its original tires: :> [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] :> :> Dan > :You may have a bead leak or just have a nail in the tire, sometimes they > :don't leak unless you put pressure on that particular spot; like when you [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > Dan How can you be sure the min-spare will still be inflated if it turns out that that your original problem isn't fixed? I suggest checking the mini-spare's pressure every day. Maybe more than once a day. Seriously, you might try taking your car to somebody you trust, or who others recomment as competent and trustworthy. And stop worrying. It's not good for you. :> :You may have a bead leak or just have a nail in the tire, sometimes they :> :don't leak unless you put pressure on that particular spot; like when you [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] :others recomment as competent and trustworthy. And stop worrying. It's not :good for you. You're right on all counts. I put my foot pump in the car in case of the eventuality I find myself out somewhere and the tire goes flat. Then, if the mini-spare has less than OK pressure, I can pump it up. It'll take 100-200 strokes on that pump, but it beats the alternative. I let my AAA membership expire a year or two ago. Thing is, I often don't use the car for 2 weeks or more at a time. If that tire loses pressure I will seek help elsewhere. The only guy I trust (the mechanic I usually go to) suggested bringing the car across the street to the Big-O I went to and asking for "Tony." I did that, but it was Tony's day off. I'm not too worried about it, not enough to affect my health. I have lots of other things that worry more than that, to be truthful. Even so, my general health is excellent - I just had a physical and my doctor told me so! Dan > My Mazda 1997 LX626 has its original tires: > [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > Dan Advices given are all worthy. And since we aren't likely to fix it ourselves, let a competent tire tech diagnose and FIX the problem. Even $20, at one's convenience and time of one's choosing, beats the heck out of changing a flat in this awful heat we've had recently. Plus, look at all that peace of mind! s |
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