Team-BHP - Symptoms of tyre puncture in tubeless tyres

Hi All,

Am having a strange problem as to the ways to detect whether your tyre is punctured incase of a tubeless tyre.Now that may sound silly :eek: but let me explain.

For the last 4-5 days,am guessing the left rear tyre is punctured although not visible.The reason is when I try to turn left,the steering doesnt want to turn and needs a bit more of a force.

On Sunday,I had checked/filled all the tyres at 33psi.The very next day,I again checked and the left rear had come down to 20.I again filled it up to 33 but the tyre shop insisted there was no puncture(from glance though).

Can you please help me out?Also,how would you normally know a tyre puncture in tubeless unless its abs flat?

I don't think this is posted in the correct section. Anyway, since your tyre is losing, 13 PSI per day, and no puncture is visible, you wheel-rim might be bent or (if not alloy) corroded at the seams.

However, the only way to be sure is to dismount the tyre and immerse it into water.

Symptom of puncture: tyre goes flat!

... And it can do so slowly, possibly because what ever made the hole is still in the hole.

But yes, it can also be a damaged rim, or just that there is a problem with the seal.

As it happens, I too have such a problem, had for ages, and have just remembered to mention it this time on taking the car for service. Mine is on a front wheel, and, even before I can see that it has gone down. the steering will become heavy.

What I have observed is that if you need to go for air refilling daily - then its surely a puncture.
With tubeless, you refilling frequency is more like once a month.

I have never had totally flat tyre with a tubeless. Its always been a slow deflation.

Yes. One can have a nail in a tyre and have only a slow puncture. Then maybe, one day, the nail gets moved, or driven out of the hole and fffffffffffph! the puncture is not slow any more!

I know that tyre pressures should be checked once a week, but very, very bad at doing so. Because we do a very low mileage in a diesel car we only need to buy fuel about once a month or so, and then we go for air also. Normally we find that three tyres just need a little, and one tyre needs a lot.

I'm also aware that it is very bad for a tyre to drive with very low pressure, and that fuel consumption gets worse too.

I know all things, and I should practice them.

What can I say? I am like this only? <Blush> ;)

Most likely it is a puncture. I had this in two different cars with tubeless tires. The pressure will go down to 20-22 psi within a few days of filling/checking the air. The first time it happened, I drove for like a month - every week checking/filling air before realising that this was not good. I called up my tire fellow and he confirmed it was a puncture.

What happens is that there is a slow leakage of air and the shape of the tire deforms somewhat around the nail effectively sealing it and then the pressure stays at 20-22 psi. It is very unlikely for any tubeless tire to immediately deflate on getting pierced by a nail or similar object. Possibly it will go flat overnight or if by chance (it is unlikely since the tire's lower pressure enables itself to 'clamp' around the nail) the nail gets pushed out.

There is no need to even take the tire off the rim. Most tire shops have the plug/solution to fix it cold and they do it in like 10 minutes with a pair of pliers. It is a bit of a messy job though.

I now will never ever buy a car without tubeless tires. No more tire changing ever...:D

what qualifies as a puncture?

my rear left wheel keep loosing 4 to 6 psi in 2 weeks time.
am running tubeless on stock steel rims.
the remaining 3 wheels stay at 30 psi over 2 week but one comes to 26 / 25 psi.

no puncture found and rim too seems fine. meaning no rust of dents. i had the tire removed and check the rim.

What else could be the problem?

UM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joy_swift (Post 1216878)

.............Can you please help me out?Also,how would you normally know a tyre puncture in tubeless unless its abs flat?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandeep108 (Post 1220190)

Most likely it is a puncture. I had this in two different cars with tubeless tires. The pressure will go down to 20-22 psi within a few days of filling/checking the air............
What happens is that there is a slow leakage of air and the shape of the tire deforms somewhat around the nail effectively sealing it...:D

Yes quite likely a puncture - I had the same problem when one tyre would lose pressure by about 10 PSI every two days. I thought initially that it might be something to do with that tyre alone having lost its nozzle caplol: but the pressure loss was too high to be explained by that. I got it checked and it was a puncture.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandeep108 (Post 1220190)

Most likely it is a puncture. I had this in two different cars with tubeless tires.
-----------
Possibly it will go flat overnight or if by chance (it is unlikely since the tire's lower pressure enables itself to 'clamp' around the nail) the nail gets pushed out.

Right now I have the same problem with my one of rear tyres. It is leaking air very slowly, i.e. the tyre pressure goes down to 20 from 32 PSI over a period of 10 days. I am sure its a puncture because the rim is in a good shape. So, I am in a dilemma whether I should go on filling the air every 10 days or should I just get the puncture fixed. Any suggestions?

Quote:

Originally Posted by nagvasireddy (Post 1220447)

I have the same problem with two of my B350s on the Accent. They seem to be losing about 1psi per day. Finally tracked the problem down to a very slow leak from the rim (I have alloys!). I have just learnt to live with it, and inflate the tyre(s) every week.