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Recurring rim leak

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

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Ever since getting my GS (3 years now) I've had to periodically take the wheels in to have the tires unmounted and the rims polished to fix rim leaks. I just did this with the front wheel in the spring. Through a series of problems, I haven't been riding the GS much this year and now have those things sorted out.

My tires don't want to hold air again, and it's rim leaks again! Is there anything that I can do other than having the bead seat polished again. Would having the whole rim bead blasted and painted help? I'm tempted to try painting the inside rim with epoxy and see if that helps. If it's inevitable to have to mount and unmount the tires a couple of times a year to get it to hold pressure, I'm just going to learn to use tire irons.

I know about the porous casting issue, and realize that this has been probably covered ad nauseum in the past, but searching I couldn't find an definitive arguement about how to deal with recurring rim leaks. I know tubes are one answer, but I'd really prefer to leave that as a last resort.
 
Older rims that weren't designed for tubeless tires can on occasion be pourous. Although the bead shape wasn't designed to properly hold tubeless tires, the bead should however hold air. I think your best bet is to just paint or clear coat the inside of the wheel and bead area. A couple of good coats of a gloss type paint or clear coat should work. If you think it is just a bead leak, there is a bead sealant that the tire shops use for this purpose. Go the your local tire shop with a film canister and they'll probably give you some.
 
LOOK on the rim it should say tubless if it does not It needs to have a tube
installed
 
ENKEI-1 SUZUKI J 16XMT2.15 DOT MADE IN JAPAN LB TUBLESS TIRE APPLICABLE ENKEI-1 SUZUKI J 18XMT2.15 DOT MADE IN JAPAN LB TUBELESS TIRE APPLICABLE
 
Sounds kinda odd the rim leaking, are you sure it's not the tire? Mike
 
>Sounds kinda odd the rim leaking, are you sure it's not the tire? Mike<

Yeah, it's the rim. When I take it in, what has usually happened is that the area where the bead seats has corroded, and the fix is to polish it with a die grinder. Funny thing, riding it around breaking in new brake pads has somehow made the front wheel not leak anymore. The rear one has the rim leak still, it loses a few pounds over 24 hours.
That's okay, I have to remove the wheel to change the brake rotor anyway, so I'll give it a go myself this time and spray some clearcoat to try and prevent corrosion.
 
I had a very slow leak on my front tire a while back. I took the wheel/tire off and dunked it in the bathtub (the wife wasn't too impressed with that). I found a very slight bead leak. I took the tire off and fond some corrosion on the rim. I cleaned both beads up with a wire brush on a drill and then some 400 grit sandpaper, re-assembled it and did the dunk test again with no bubbles whatsoever. I haven't lost a pound of air since and this is NOT a tubeless rim. I recommend you do the bathtub dunk to really find the problem and fix it once and for all. Obviously repeated bead cleanings aren't fixing the problem.

Joe
 
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