Technical Back tyre keeps going flat

[emmab888]

Hi there,
Please can someone help me. today I was parking and hit the curb not very fast or hard, i did not feel anything pop, however i noticed when i got out that the back tyre on the drivers side was completly flat. I put the spare tyre on and got a brand new one from kwik fit. however a few hours later i drove home from work only to notice that the brand new tyre is going flat again, not as flat as before but still flat. What could this be? They fitted a new valve too so dont think it is that. Alot of people think it is the wheel which I cannot get fixed quickly, which I am hoping for as i am meant to be driving to london tommorow.
Any help would be appriciated!
Thanks

 

[dave]

welcome to the forum, kwikfit are normally open on sundays so best pop back in the morning before you drive far and get them to check it, if the rim is damaged they never should have fitted a new tyre to it

 

[emmab888]

Thank you dave
they did seem in quite a rush to get it done so it is possible they missed it. Do you know at all that if the rim is damaged if they will be able to fix it or if i would have to buy a whole new wheel somewhere else?As i assume that I wont be able to get that done in a day so it may have to be the train to london!
Thanks

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Is it and alloy wheel or a steel wheel? If its alloy it could be cracked and need replacement. If steel then it's fairly easy to pick up a replacement from a multitude of places scrapyard/eBay/gumtree etc

I wouldn't count on kwikfit being open on Easter Sunday

 

[dave]

a train should be safer than a tyre that is losing air, we have no idea how far from london you are though

 

[emmab888]

Thanks for the messages
Yes they are steel wheels i believe, I have been looking at ones on gumtree and ebay near me but no such luck. I checked with kwik fit today and they are open tommorow at 10 so i will be straight down there.
London is about a 4 hour drive for me so yes I am not feeling safe about driving on a dogey wheel/tyre
Thanks

 

[fingers99]

Go to kwik fit and, for safety's sake, pick up a tyre pump from Halfords (etc.) Just check the tyre every so often, avoid the motorway if you can. If it comes to it, you've still got the space-saver (I hope).

 

[Brendan W]

If you throw some water with Fairy liquid in it at the wheel you could find where the leak is if it is around the rim. Probably the outside if the kerb did it. While you're at it open the valve and put a dab on the valve just in case they didn't fully seat the core.

 

[emmab888]

i've just got back from kwikfit, they cannot see anything wrong with the wheel, or the tyre. they suspect that it may be the core of the valve, although im not sure what that means. They said they'll keep it for a few hours to see if it deflates again now that they've pumped up. But yesterday it was parked for 3 hours and did not deflate until i started to drive so im not sure that they'll help me

 

[Brendan W]

The core is the insert screwed into the valve. It lets air in and keeps it from coming out. They should be replaced at each tyre change but some places cut corners. A leak could be as simple as it not being fully down or the seat could be cracked. It's a two minute job to fix.

 

[emmab888]

Thank you for that. When they changed my old tyre to the new one yesterday they said they had changed the valve and it was on my recipt, so wouldnt it have been corrected then?

 

[emmab888]

also they did the soapy water thing at kwikfit and they could not see any leaks

 

[Ziggy122]

Parking and bumping kerbs wont do damage to a steelie alloys tend to not like been hit
Ive hit steeliea loads and never suffered a leaky one

My guess they eithrr didnt seat the valve properly or they didnt but the core in properly, its literally a 2second thing

Ziggy

 

[Brendan W]

Takes a brave man to admit a silly mistake - lot's of places seem to prefer letting customers go out with a lingering worry about a 'mystery' problem.

 

[s and b]

Parking and bumping kerbs wont do damage to a steelie alloys tend to not like been hit
Ive hit steeliea loads and never suffered a leaky one

My guess they eithrr didnt seat the valve properly or they didnt but the core in properly, its literally a 2second thing

Ziggy

so are you suggesting bead leaks dont exist then?
i fitted some new tyres this week and as standard practise i always use a fairly liquid bottle to check the beads and the valve stem and a bit of spit for the valve core
i had wire brushed up the rims as any proffesional tyre fitter would but i still had a very healthy bead leak cured by the use of the handle of a hammer to clear the obstruction
i have many rims at work all steel that can show kerb damage and thankfully a keen eyed mot tester would fail such a beast if he sees it although standard punto wheeltrims could hide such potential dangers

new valves can also leak as already stated if fitter forgets to check for tightness
onle final thing as OP is going on a long journey in particular,all rims should be checked for tightness after 50 miles now normally this more applies to alloy rims but puntos if fitted especially with an airgun might not be sat on the flange properly front or rears so theres a good chance the wheel will go slack especially if the punto is a few years old and a bit of rust on the inside of the hole on the rim
done it myself and only spinning the rim whilst still in the air on the jack confirms rim not sat square

more to tyres than a load of hot air

 

[Ziggy122]

if the old place didnt clean the old bead residue off the rims - then you can get bead leaks as it cant sit flush

To cause a bead leak while rolling up and down kerbs slowly - means something else was wrong to start with usually

But there is always a case of everything somewhere

Ziggy

 

[s and b]

if the old place didnt clean the old bead residue off the rims - then you can get bead leaks as it cant sit flush

To cause a bead leak while rolling up and down kerbs slowly - means something else was wrong to start with usually

But there is always a case of everything somewhere

Ziggy

with a post like this you should be prime minister

 

[614cooker]

Has the valve been replaced I know from a friend that works for scam fit never replace them but charge for the new valve

 

[emmab888]

Thanks for all the help.
Ive come back from kwikfit, they could not find anything wrong with the tyre or valve, they blew it up to 30 and tested it 3 times over 2 hours and it did not change. The only thing that can think of is the kind of dust caps i had- they were special ones that showed when the pressure was going down, when the one from the flat tyre was removed it seemed to stick out slightly more than the others. Do you think this could be it?
I have driven around for about 20 minutes now, going from 30 around town to 60 on a highway, and all seems well. I am letting it sit on a drive for a while to see if it goes down at all. Do you think I will be able to drive a 4 hour journey on it?
Thanks

 

[oldhammer]

People dont know how to fit tyres these day's.

its all rush jobs.
they shouid dip the whole wheel in water before fitting it back on the car.

ialways ask my tyre fitter to dip the wheels.