When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
How would my tires start leaking air out of nowhere like this?
I woke up this morning with 12lbs air pressure in my drivers front window out of nowhere, took tire off found it leaking from inside rim around the bead, how do I fix this? Leaking on weld spot Are all these rims manufactured with these weld spots or did previous owner crack the rims and have them welded?
Well it looks like that wheel had a crack or some damage that someone welded up and did not grind smooth and pretty when done.
SO this weld bead may be on inside where tire bead is suppose to SEAL and created a small leak path for air pressure to escape and cause your FLAT.
That is an incredibly unprofessional repair. I can’t believe that a rim repair shop would have let that out of the building. I had a crack repaired on another car’s Mercedes rim (polished bare aluminum) and the only way that you can see where it was is by observing a small amount of metal discoloration. Real shops would have put that on a purpose built lathe.
Those wheels when cracked are not trivial to repair correctly. They are flexible, and the weld is subject to stress and it tends to either break/crack itself or separate from the base material creating the leak. It is very likely you hit a pothole the night before and over-stressed the weld -> Leak
Keep this experience in mind when buying another car. It is part of pre-inspection to look at the inner side of all these wheels. Even more, once you find one cracked you better check the other carefully since it may give you an idea of how hard (or without care) the car was driven, and start looking deeper into not obvious suspension issues.
Unfortunately, it is not just a FLAT but a $$ repair now. These wheels are not cheap, and while at it you need to know if it is the only one, or more and then decide if you want a new set (same or different design) or just replacements.
Don't jump to conclusions. You MAY just need to have the bead properly seated. If the leak area is the full length of the bubbles in the picture, it's likely not just the weld on the wheel. You need to dismount the tire and see what's going on with that wheel.
Don't jump to conclusions. You MAY just need to have the bead properly seated. If the leak area is the full length of the bubbles in the picture, it's likely not just the weld on the wheel. You need to dismount the tire and see what's going on with that wheel.
I am an optimist as well. Just hope is just that, but at least he will not get a surprise at the tire repair shop.
A friend asked me to accompany him to take his "new to him" 2014 SL550 to fix a flat tire (just in case it deflated on route to the shop). Surprised when the diagnostic was a broken wheel (it looked new from the outside), but it had two welds on the inner side. To compound the issue, the other front wheel also had welds. He was shocked, and I asked: "did you check it properly when you bought it?" People (including me) get blinded when buying a beautiful powerful-looking car and forget the basics . A few $$$ later, I had a chance to for 15 min, and decided to stick with my mundane E350: less chance to get a monstrous ticket, insurance increase and/or suspended license
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
Just hope is just that, but at least he will not get a surprise at the tire repair shop.
when buying a beautiful powerful-looking car and forget the basics 
. A few $$$ later, I had a chance to 
for 15 min, and decided to stick with my mundane E350: less chance to get a monstrous ticket, insurance increase and/or suspended license 
If you take them off and check for welds, you will be looking for more DEFECTIVE wheels not to verify if the welds are from manufacturing.
