I have a 2002 with the chromed aluminum rims. Corrosion starts, somehow, between the aluminum & chrome. I've seen some real bad in the junkyards. You could cut your hand by dragging it along the bead area. If you're in a state that salts the roads, you might find a set of wheels that will give you more problems as time goes on. I've ground the corrosion off, and repainted the area., that will probably be a temporary fix for me. I have a permanent fix, I bought a set of ALUMINUM junkyard rims.

Are these the one from e-bay a month or 2 ago?
It might be a valve stem problem?? I'd bet it was a tire problem or a valve stem problem if the bead area looks ok.


You should be able to tell if a rim will leak before mounting it. If necessary take a wire brush to the rim where the tire mounts and clean up what's there. If it looks good, & feels smooth it should not leak.Silicone might be a fix. You could mount an old tire on the rim, and spray soapy water , or fantastik, glass cleaner, 409, etc on the area between the tire & rim as it's laying flat on the ground. That should show up any leaks . just wait a few minutes, for it to bubble. No bubbles, no leaks. Lots of tiny air bubbles, and you got a leak. Flip the rim and do the other side.

 

yea dunk it in water and ull find it mark the tire with a magic marker and find out why its leaking

 

don't know, but my 03 had one rim that leaked from the time I bought it. Thought it was valve stem, and when the tire shop replaced my tires, they did not replace the valve stems. I was very disappointed, and went back to them and they replaced them.

Checked the pressure the following weekend and, sure enough, that one tire was low. I think if I had kept it, I would have probably replaced that one wheel.

 

Our 2003 (which has chromed rims) had suffered a number of rim leaks while the Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds were mounted, and as each individual leak got bad enough, I would take the van in and have the tire shop clean the rim up in the area of the leak. Funny thing, now that the Yokohama AVID TRZs are on it, the only time I've had to "air" the tires was a couple of weeks ago when the temperature dropped into the low twenties which in turn caused the TPMS to issue its usual fall alert. When I checked I found that all four tires were right bang on thirty (the threshold for the TPMS system to sound off), and that indicates to me that my previous rim leaks are history (otherwise one or two tires would be much lower).

So, the question is, does the AVID TRZ have a different bead design that remediates leaks, or is it that the rubber in the new tires is supple enough to fill in the seams in the chrome and it's only a matter of time before new seams form and the leaking starts anew?

 

I would say the rubber is more accommodating. It may not form new leaks as long as it remains flexible. I know the triple treads have 80k mile warranties which means the rubber is going to be harder than most tires, if the AVID's are lower mile warranty tires, they will most likely be softer.

 

I read about this same problem in Popular Mechanics, and they had the fix. You have to dismount your tires, clean up the bead areas really well (corrosion and such), and paint the bead areas with an epoxy primer/paint. I plan on doing this to our Limited's chrome rims, because I love the way they look. Down the road I still want a set of steelies for the winter. Hope this helps!