Air seepage from bead on front rim

So I lose a few pounds of air in a couple days. I sprayed the tire with soapy water and discovered that around the bead on both sides fo the front wheel I have a few little seeps.

What can be done about this? Is it a tire quality issue? Was it sometning not done at the shop that mounted the tires? The previous set of tires were rock solid with pressure always.

Chip

 

dismount the tire and clean the rim bead area or break the bead and use bead sealer.

 

+1 and if the tires are old and dryrotten chuck em and put fresh ones on while you're there.

 

+1 on above. Smething on rim prventin a good bead seal. Bead may not have been set right. Rims may not have been cleaned. Take it back to sop and tell them.

 

They're new tires( and by new they were put on during summer last year, front has maybe 1500miles on it if that), but shinko's due to the need for new tires and budget issues. That was the reason for my question on quality of the tire adn I know opinions on the shinko's can vary widely.

I don't have the reciept for the shop that put them on so I'm guessing I'll have to remove the tire and take it in to have it re-mounted... That's going to run abotu $25. How difficult is it to break a bead, clean and re-inflate at home? My home air pump is weak, just a little 2gal tank job, but their is a gas station with free air near by that has a inflation station that you could easily run impact wrenches with.

 

I ran Shinko's when they were Yokohama 003's as a race tire on my gixxer, they are a good qual tire.

I would bet if you took off the tire from the bike any local shop would pop the bead for you at no charge.
just mark the ire and rim so that it will balance up when you are done.
you either want to clean the rim well and scuff up the mounting bead area of the tire or just get some bead sealer and go around the rim and pop the bead back on.

I have changed tires in my driveway, its kinda a pain ( used C clamps and some wood strips ) I popped the bead on the rim w/ an air compressor that plugs into a cig lighter in car.

 

02 is ghetto!

 

Mr. Pimpdaddy in DA HOUSE LOL

 

Hell yeah, he's a high tech redneck.

 

It is worth the $25.
Brwaking bead is not dificult with right tools. You beed a decent compressor to set the bead. Since all that costs money, i think $25 itps the ticket
Be sure to explan the issue. Even tho you dont have a reciept, the could have a record in thier system.

 

I took the front wheel to the bike shop where they broke the bead and applied bead sealer. I brought the wheel home adn sprayed my soap water mix on it. About an hour later I wen tout and still had some seepang but not near the seepage it had prior to taking it in.

I took the wheel back in telling them it dropped from 36 to 31 PSI overnight. The tech there said that they'd reapply a bit thicker coat of bead sealer on it, keep it overngiht and test it there and let me know. If the pressure drops overnight and/or they see bubbles they're going to get a hold of the tire rep to have it warrenty replaced since the rim is clean and straignt and the fact that the previous tire was rock solid with air pressure.

Anyway, that's the update.

 

That shop seems to be taking good care of you, good on them and lucky for you!!

 

Yeah, the shop seems to be standing behind you. So hopefully you use them in the future too. Anyone can make a mistake or get a defective part in; to me it is how they react to the problem that defines a good business versus a poor one (excepting if they are always screwing up).
My biggest fear when I first saw your post is that your rim had kinked after hitting a pothole or curb or something. Since you said it was leaking on both sides in the same place. Glad to see that doesn't seem to be the case. Tire problem is much easier and cheaper fix. Could be a manufacturing issue, but could also be that somewhere along its long journey the tire suffered bad handling, got run over by a forklift at the warehouse, closed in a UPS truck door, etc. that bent the wire in the bead in the same place on both sides of the tire.

But I got a question about this for others, what the heck is bead sealer? I can imagine what it is, but never used or even heard of it before.

 

Hold out for a new tire and have the shop balance the wheel. Your wheel might be bent. The logic here is that no matter what the shop tells you, all tires are not perfect. IMO you got a bad one.

 

While it is unfortunate you had the problem, it's good to hear your dealer is taking good care of you.
I was beginning to think I was the only one that had a good dealer to rely on.

 

Often times aluminum wheels corrode under the paint/powdercoat where the bead contacts the wheel The tire needs to be removed, and the seat on the wheel gone over with a scotch brite pad on an angle die grinder to remove corrosion, old bead sealer, and junk to create a clean surface prior to the tire being reinstalled with new bead sealer. I've done this on countless wheels off of cars, its pretty standard procedure to wiz wheel the rim when mounting new tires.

 

Bead sealer is this slippery syrupy stuff that you "prep" the bead with before getting the bead seated. Think locktite on a bolt. When the tire is aired up and the bead seats it seals teh bead to the rim disallowing air to escape.

As far as the oritinal seepage, it wasn't the same spot on both sides, it was around the rim in various places on both sides.

Buy yeah, they seem to be treating me right. I'll post further with the outcome tomorrow!

 

The harleydoods just use Elmer's glue.