Tires and acceptable air loss.

[Toploader]

Just put a new set of tires on the brand X...........what is the accepted amount of air loss from an car tire either weekly or monthly? The car basically is covered in a garage.

I want so far as to have the shop line the rims with bead sealer as I had issues previously.

[sly]

some will bleed more than others. The old Kumho tires used to bleed about 2 PSI a month. The Michelins about 1 PSI per 2 months. Temps will make it fluctuate as well though.

[gadget73]

pound or two a month seems about typical for all of mine.

[Mainemantom]

some will bleed more than others. The old Kumho tires used to bleed about 2 PSI a month. The Michelins about 1 PSI per 2 months. Temps will make it fluctuate as well though.

Agree . If the car sits in the garage, I inflate the tires to 40 psi

[DerekTheGreat]

Agree . If the car sits in the garage, I inflate the tires to 40 psi

This. I look at the maximum they're rated for and put them there before the car goes to extended sleep mode. Firebird's old shitty Kelly's don't seem to lose much air at all. Sat for 1.5 years but when I pulled it out in the spring I had to let excess air out rather than pump it in. Old chitty Michelins on my TC hold air really well too. Heard about 4 weeks ago that they were made in 1993? Don't know how to check date codes so I can't verify that. They're not dry rotted though, otherwise they'd be gone.

[86VickyLX]

Just put a new set of tires on the brand X...........what is the accepted amount of air loss from an car tire either weekly or monthly? The car basically is covered in a garage.

I want so far as to have the shop line the rims with bead sealer as I had issues previously.

My parent's 94 sat since last November. I brought the car out of retirement last month to have the frame fixed so it could be in daily driver status again. I put the tires on back in the summer of last year. Going over everything the tires still had the same amount of air as they did when I put the tires on. Steel rims. Best bet to ensure minimal to no leakage is to clean the bead surfaces of your wheels. If you have chrome wheels and they're pealing, throw out those pieces of shit or just deal with the leaking. If you have aluminum/alloy wheels. A wire brush will clean them up really well. Bead sealant only works if the rim is cleaned properly beforehand (I deal with this all the time at work).

In a perfect world, the tires should not lose any air. If you want to remedy this, put nitrogen in the tires. That is not as affected by changes in temperature as air would be.

[GM_Guy]

The last set of michelens I bought I had to put a couple pounds in per week for a month or two before they finally took a set and stayed put. My firestones all have been filled once and could have been forgotten about, stable from day 1. If they are all dropping about the same amount, just give it a bit of time. If it is only one tire that you need to keep topping up, I'd be suspicious of the wheel and/or tire having a problem.

[gadget73]

I don't really buy the nitrogen thing. Atmosphere is 78% N2 anyway, and gasses expand and contract at the same rate relative to temperature no matter what they are. There is a wee bit less permeation through the rubber using pure N2 vs air, but thats about it. Still not a miracle cure for leaky tires.

[sly]

The only problem I've had with the Michelins is POS valve stems and having to reseat the buggers. The tires themselves have been pretty good.

[Toploader]

Look on the sidewall for the letters DOT......then after that will be a code......the first two numbers will be the week of the year the tire was made followed by two additional numbers representing the year they were made. Just tossed out 5 like new Pirellis on the Avanti.........I was stupid......on the car for about 14 years:-(

This. I look at the maximum they're rated for and put them there before the car goes to extended sleep mode. Firebird's old shitty Kelly's don't seem to lose much air at all. Sat for 1.5 years but when I pulled it out in the spring I had to let excess air out rather than pump it in. Old chitty Michelins on my TC hold air really well too. Heard about 4 weeks ago that they were made in 1993? Don't know how to check date codes so I can't verify that. They're not dry rotted though, otherwise they'd be gone.

[DerekTheGreat]

I don't really buy the nitrogen thing. Atmosphere is 78% N2 anyway, and gasses expand and contract at the same rate relative to temperature no matter what they are. There is a wee bit less permeation through the rubber using pure N2 vs air, but thats about it. Still not a miracle cure for leaky tires.

This.

Look on the sidewall for the letters DOT......then after that will be a code......the first two numbers will be the week of the year the tire was made followed by two additional numbers representing the year they were made. Just tossed out 5 like new Pirellis on the Avanti.........I was stupid......on the car for about 14 years:-(

Huh.. I'll post back later today with what I find. Maybe they're not 20 years old.

[Tiggie]

I think the big deal with nitrogen is that it's dry; in comparison to air which can have quite a bit of water vapor in it. Depends on what the dew point is on the day you fill up the tire as to how much water you get. Fill you tire on a muggy July day in Florida then drive to Alaska. You'll probably have some liquid water rolling around in your low tires by the time you get there. Any water that condensates relates to a large loss of gas volume.
Try this: Heat an dry empty can on your stovetop. Turn it upside down in ice water in your sink. It shrinks a little. Now put just a little bit of water in it, let the water boil (filling the can with water vapor), and again put it upside down in ice water. It's a significant implosion.

Moral of the story: fill your tires with dry air and it's pretty much just as good as n2.

[gadget73]

I typically use one of the air systems at work. We have an outside hose on the one, which connects after a filter and a refrigerated air drier. Its about as good as its gonna be. Filling with swamp air on a system that has no filter or drier is going to cause a lot more trouble.

[knucklehead0202]

I dunno. Had goodyears on the whale and they dropped 5psi or more a month. Mind you this was 2 different sets since they also wore like shit. After I put Firestones on it, maybe a couple psi every few months at random. Tires are also still on the car with it's new owner after 6 years. They're pretty much bald but still about 5 years more than goodyears ever did on that car.

Nittos on the broken box hold air like a champ, and they goddamn-well better for what they cost!

[lincolnlarry]

The aluminum rims on my 04 LTC were bad for leaks. Had to have good sealant to the bead and valve stem. Had one tire leak 5-10# a month. Built up enough water to vibrate on the freeway. Found that when the shop was unable to balance the tire.