2004 Aluminum wheel corroded - losing air | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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2004 Aluminum wheel corroded - losing air

  • Thread starter Thread starter JW in Dixie
  • Start date Start date
JW in Dixie

JW in Dixie

Bronze Member
Reaction score
205
Thunderbird Year
2004
2004 aluminum wheel slowly losing air due to corrosion at the beads. First AL wheels I have had experience with. Mech said water got in there. Hmmm?? How? Moist air from the compressor? Don't see how water gets in by the bead. Strange - had a new tire mounted on that rim last year. Shop uses liquid soap to ease the beads on. Think that caused the corrosion? Sorta suspicious, being the same rim.

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have seen this on some motorcycle rims I’ve done tire changes on .car tire installers supposed to lube sparingly with non corrosive lube.and most compressor air has moisture in it as well.if the corrosion isn’t severe the surface can be feathered by sanding till smooth and remove surface defects/porosity if you want to get fancy you can apply a good two stage paint to the bead only after thorough clean and prep to prevent future corrosion
 
Usually means the coating was compromised. I have seen some heavy handed tire centers scratch them up and over time the wheel corrodes. There lots of remedies to fix this yourself
 
JW in Dixie said:
2004 aluminum wheel slowly losing air due to corrosion at the beads. First AL wheels I have had experience with. Mech said water got in there. Hmmm?? How? Moist air from the compressor? Don't see how water gets in by the bead. Strange - had a new tire mounted on that rim last year. Shop uses liquid soap to ease the beads on. Think that caused the corrosion? Sorta suspicious, being the same rim.
Click to expand...
Had the same problem and took it to a fixit shop ( The Wheel Man) here in Spokane, Wa. It had corrosion around the inside of the bead. Cost $50. They sanded it down smoothed it out and have had no problems since. They indicated it 's fairly common. I would think most cities of any size would have a shop to do this.
 
The best fix is to take some 600 grit sand paper and lightly sand the edge of the wheel rim where the tire
meets up, Then apply some liquid dish soap mixed with water and apply some to the tire bead while
remounting the tire.

Also clean the edge of the tire that meets the wheel rim good, so you have a clean bead.

Should take care of leak for some time.
 
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