FrontEngineDragsters.Org Forum
Technical => Jon's Wheel House => Topic started by: spookie on December 10, 2016, 09:08:56 AM
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Cleaned tire and rim,coated with black bead sealer.Still have bead leak on one side.Should I retry,or is there a better way? Do not want to use tube.[last resort].
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If you have cast wheels, you could have leaks threw the casting. I know racers that after remounting slicks have put silicone seal on each screw divit in the tire bead, thats if they use screws in the wheel/ tire to keep the tire from spinning at low tire pressure.
Some guys have had luck by coating the inside of the tires with Dawn dish soap. I have spray pianted the inside of cast wheels to seal them.
We race with 31" or 33" tall tires, but always put the 31" tires on the car with at least 10# for towing, because our chassis support is set-up for the 31 tires, even towing 900 miles, with no problems. My tires leak some between race events, just put 10 # in the tires when towing, and at the track we always put more pressure in the tires than what we will race with, before we leave our pits to go to the staging lanes, and lower them to the pressure I want to race with as the driver is getting suited-up. When it very hot and sunny I use tire covers in the staging lanes,to help keep the pressures equal.
What kind of tire pressure loss are you having ? Because of the low pressures [ 5-7 lbs] slicks just seem to lose some pressure, it's not like you run 30-40 lbs like your street car tires, which does a better job of sealing the tires to the wheels better.
I hope this helps.
Jon
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The leak is at the bead. this is a front tire [22x2.5x17 ]
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what is the type/ brand of wheel, and what brand is the tire ?
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Weld wheel with Hoosier tire. I wire brushed inside of wheel when installed new tires.Inboard side no leak just out board side leaking.Wheel is 15 years old,but looks like new.
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One of the things I have to do with front slicks, is to trim the rubber flashing off the ID. The problem with mounting on wire wheels is to get the bead all the way seated. With wire spoke wheels I don't use my normal rubber rim strip to keep the nipples from putting a hole in the inner tube, because the rim strip gets in the way of allowing the bead to bead-up all the way. Which is not your problem with your Weld wheel.
So, assuming you don't have a bent rim, the flashing may be keeping your tire from sealing. If it was mine I would swap tires to see if it's the tire or the rim that is giving you the problem.
Feel free to call anytime, 800-624-3803, 805-444-4489, cell
Jon
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Check to make sure the bead isn't broken. Work your way around the bead pulling out on it. If its broke you will know it. It will come out to a point.
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I find it hard to believe the bead is broken, there is allot of steel in the front runner slicks. Someone would have to be real abusive to break the bead wire. I've seen a bead bent, but not broken, and besides even a bent bead would not even get close to beading up.
Let us know what you discover.
Jon
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If you flip it on the rim it will tell you if its the tire or the rim.
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I am assuming that you sprayed the rim with soapy water to identify the target area? Try deflating the tire and rotate/spin it 180* and inflate again to check if the leak moved. if the leak moved, its the tire, if not, its the rim. if the leak is gone then the problem was it not being seated properly and you fixed it
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I hope all you "Wheels" had a Merry Christmas, and will have .00 reaction times next year !
Jon
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Spookie, did you fix your leak ?
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Front tire is fixed.Bead of RTV sealer on bead of tire.Looked good in water tank so far.