Slow loss of rear tyre pressure

[moonwalker]

Hi all,

I had a new Sport Demon 17/140 fitted just 3-4 months back but recently I've noticed its losing pressure. It's a very gradual loss - about 1 psi per day. There's no obvious damage anywhere to the tire (being pretty much brand new its quite easy to inspect) - could it be a valve problem?

I'll take it back to the garage that fitted the tire to check it over, but presumably in the mean time I shouldn't ride it?
Royal pain in the proverbial what with it being new and all but one of life's little obstacles I suppose!

cheers

[twocool]

Hi all,

I had a new Sport Demon 17/140 fitted just 3-4 months back but recently I've noticed its losing pressure. It's a very gradual loss - about 1 psi per day. There's no obvious damage anywhere to the tire (being pretty much brand new its quite easy to inspect) - could it be a valve problem?

I'll take it back to the garage that fitted the tire to check it over, but presumably in the mean time I shouldn't ride it?
Royal pain in the proverbial what with it being new and all but one of life's little obstacles I suppose!

cheers

Could be the filler valve......get one of those little valve tools and make sure the valve guts are in there tight....or get new valve guts and put in.....

The other possibility is the tire to  rim seal......once in a while it just doesn't...had this on my car....guy took the tire off...cleaned up the rim at the seat and put the tire back on...no leak....

Could be something in the tire...nail, screw, glass, etc....sometimes a nail gets in there and then the head wears off...so it is really hard to see.....I've had nails in there that didn't leak at all  but I could hear them tapping  (on car)........others had slow leak like you describe.........

Cookie

[moonwalker]

Interesting, I hadn't considered it might be the rim seal. Thanks for that twocool.

I'll get it checked by the professionals. Presumably, whatever the cause, I should stay off from riding it until its fixed? Im pretty sure I've ridden it around a fair bit before I noticed the pressure loss, but thats not to say I should carry on doing so

[gsJack]

My bet is on a rim leak, I had 2 of those in the past year.  The 1st one I nursed along for a few months adding air regularly after checking the valve and even taking the wheel in to submerge it under water in the bathtub looking for the leak and finally I got a new tire mounted a bit earlier than needed to get rid of it.  The 2nd was on a spare rear rim and tire sitting in the garage leaking slowly.  After checking thoroughly for a leak I pronounced it a rim leak and fixed it the old fashion way.  Fix-a flat, great for rim leaks if you don't want to break it down and clean the rim for a proper fix.

[runabout879]

As far as your question of whether or not you should ride it before it gets fixed, if it's not a nail or other foreign object causing the leak, there is no cause for holding off from riding. As long as your air pressure is checked often and kept within a few PSI of recommended, you shouldn't experience any adverse affects.