my911rs

My track wheels are Volks, single piece, forged, made in Japan. They worked great with MPSC but when I put on a set of Hosiers R6, the rear tires do not hold air. They leak about 1 PSI per hour!. At Discount Tires they used up their bag of tricks, including using tire sealer compaund on the outer rim, to no avail. It seems the leak is around the whole perimeter of the wheel, (on the inside), indicating a poor match wetween whel and tirel. The two front tires have no such problem.
Has anybody encountered this before? Any suggestions?
Thanks!

LVDell

I do not have Volk's but have run R6's on OEM wheels, BBS E88's, and Fikse's. They all worked fine. Sounds like they had trouble getting the bead to seat. Do you hear the loud BANG/POP when the tire seats on the wheel? If the tire is seating properly, then make sure the wheels do not have any cracks, etc, and that the valve stem is not the issue.

my911rs

No cracks, and the stems were replaced just in case...they have been re-installed three times with the same results. Thanks!

LVDell

Very odd then. I am guessing they are not getting the bead to seat. BTW, are they rubber or metal valve stems? Alos, are they checking for the source of the leak? If there is a leak it will be found. They typically use the soapy water solution trick.

Hopefully some of the Volk guys will chime in.

Bill911

I have them with the R6's and the rears are holding air fine. But I did notice that my fronts had lost some air. I will have to watch this closer.

my911rs

With the soapy water you can clearly see they they leak all around the perimeter of the bead.
The stems were metal, now plastic.

LVDell

Sounds like they are having trouble seating the tire bead. What size are the wheels and what size are the tires?

my911rs

The tires' size is 295/30/18. The wheels are 18", same width as OEM.

Carefree

This comes from 7 years in the tire business. Since they have narrowed it down to the inside bead,
Have them dismount a rear tire, check the tire and wheel for being clean, then remount the tire reverse. The leaking bead of the tire should now be on the outside. If the leak moves with the tire, then it is the tire, if the leak is still on the inside of the wheel (and the bead is seated as Dell mentioned) then it is the wheel.
Next, if the leak remains on the inside, have them mount a different tire (any tire that will fit your rim) and see if it seals. I know your old tires did not leak, however something has changed.
If the leak moves with the bead of the tire, then it could be a bad set of rears. Yes, while rare, I have seen tires leak in sidewalls and beads.
Please keep us informed.

LVDell

Excellent advice. Keep us posted

my911rs

Thanks, I will follow up on your suggestion and advise later this week.

P.J.S.

NICE IDEA
I need to smarten up

Holger B

If it's the wheel causing the leak, maybe try wetsanding it to make a better seal? (Just thinking out loud...)

LVDell

Holger, wouldn't wet sanding it make it smoother?

Austin

Nice advice, I'd never heard of that until now.