A tyre losing air can be due to a number of circumstances and sometimes these are not as straightforward as you would think. With alloy wheels now becoming the normal on most cars and tyre puncture and pressure technology becoming more common it can be a can of worms and a big frustration when you cannot identify why your tyre is deflating.
under pressure
I speak from painful experience as recently my own car was losing pressure not immediately but over the period of around 3 PSI a week! So forget your washing up liquid solution or dunking the wheel in water to identify air bubbles this was serious…..
After scanning the tyres on a number of occasions for a nail or other offending article I gave up and took it the dealer who confirmed they couldn’t see a nail and had fixed it be replacing the valve. Once back on the road the steering wheel started to vibrate! So a trip to a tyre fitter to re-balance the wheel. Yes a new valve means re-balancing the wheels and I wouldn’t recommend a car dealer for any tyre issues, I had another issue which is why I took this route. A good tyre fitter is a better bet!
a rusty fail
A week later and 3 PSI lower I realised the issue was still not fixed, being OCD I was growing frustrated and wanted it fixed. So I took a trip back to the tyre fitter who after around five minutes had fixed it! Telling me that the wheel had corroded and it was a common issue that air would leak out through the corroded area, the tyre seal was compromised. What’s more I then got my wallet out in anticipation only to be told “don’t worry about it, put some money in our charity box if you want”. I put some cash in the charity box and the moths flew back into my wallet.
wheel power
I wouldn’t have considered any issue with my wheels as they are a mere four years old but then I remembered that the wheel in question had been refurbed due to heavy kerbing. The tyre fitter had removed the corrosion using some wire wool and resealed the tyre – bingo it’s now fine. He explained to me that wheel refurbishers are great at making the wheel face look good but rarely care about the rest.
At least for the time being, the issue is fixed but it will be back which means a new wheel or another (better) refurb.
Oh yeah the wheel was refurbed via the dealer too…..
| Air loss | Unlikely | Likely |
| Few PSI over a week/ weeks | Nail | Valve Corrosion Buckled wheel Tyre defect Tyre not sealed to wheel correctly |
| Few PSI over a day | Valve Corrosion Buckled wheel (unless recent damage) | Nail |
| High PSI | Valve Corrosion Buckled wheel (unless recent damage) | Slash in tyre or large screw/nail. |
| Fluctuating PSI over days | Nail Corrosion | TPMS Fault Sudden weather change |
| Sudden activation of TPMS | Nail | Cold weather |
* It’s worth noting that some TPMS units are attached to the wheel and the tyre valve fits into the TPMS unit therefore the valve can leak or the area where the TPMS sensor attaches to the wheel.