Adam Steffes wrote:

If you really want to mess with it, could you have the tire shop remove the tires, the take the wheels home, clean off the bead area, then paint it and give it several coats of clear on the bead sealing surface to keep it from forming new corrosion? Might hold air after that for a while assuming you can find paint that will stick.

I think you’re probably right Adam, but as long as Walmart doesn’t mind dismounting it and redoing it whenever I have to bring it in, and since that is usually only a once a year problem, I think I’ll just keep taking it back in for a remounting when it happens. Thanks for the suggestion though.
I heard that the reason they even make aluminum wheels or composite in the first place was for better gas mileage because of the weight difference, but I think aluminum sucks and doesn’t add enough to gas mileage to ever want them.

John Rasmussen wrote:

For the record guys I work in the field as a store manager and have for a long time. Do Alloy or Aluminum wheels leak air after time, especially in the winter, yes they can. When replacing tires we clean and seal the beads and stand behind it for about a year. However it can after that time require a reseal from time to time. Some wheels are better than others on this. To the OP yes steel wheels held there air pressure better and usually did not have problems until they rusted through which was only sometimes and when they were much older. The reason we are not running steel wheels is because they are ugly plain and simple.

Thank you for your input John. The good thing that I did was to make sure that when I bought these two tires from Walmart, I also bought the, “Road Hazzards” policy for $10 and they told me that since I have that they have no problem with me bringing them back in when I find a new slow leak.

Thanks Adam for your comment. I think these mechanics such as Farm & Fleet and Walmart has, and who knows how many other places, are not properly trained in fixing a leaking bead on aluminum wheels, because each time I have had the job done they have used a grinding wheel and I saw them doing it. Using a wire brush is how I would have done it, and since Farm & Fleet had to do one wheel 5 times to get it right, I totally agree with you that using the grinding wheel was a much too aggressive way to remove the oxidation. The problem is that I can’t tell them how I want them to do their job. As I said earlier, the manager at Farm & Fleet finally got it done so that it didn’t leak. I am just guessing now that after each winter I will have to be more vigilant with that vehicle’s wheels because the bottom line I keep hearing is that if the winter has extremely cold temperatures it is likely to occur. Thanks again for your comment.

Huntindave wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe1821 wrote:</div>
Have you had this problem at 2 AM? I have many times.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe1821 wrote:</div>
After researching this topic and my experience, the bottom line conclusion is that the composite or aluminum wheels are not worth the trouble they cause with this problem and iron wheels should be used instead.

Can we assume you have replaced your wheels with more suitable wheels and moved on with your life?

No Dave I haven’t replaced the wheels, however as, “Bearcat” stated as well as, “Onestout” the mechanic doing the job needs to do a good job and not, “half assed”. The key seems to be in carefully grinding off ALL of the oxidation off and then being sure to apply a good amount of the rubber sealer, but I have also had the oxidation occur under the valve stem and I had to point that out to them. The one I pointed it out to removed the stem and ground down the area under it and applied more sealant there also. I don’t have that problem at all with the car that has steel wheels and that was why I was so perplexed. My father sold me this car and said that he always had that problem and never knew why. He and I worked on cars for many years together so I was surprised at his response, but that’s why I came here to see what you had to offer.

Your comments were helpful though and I appreciated them. I will just have to be vigilant with watching that car for low pressure.

I’ve had that problem and hit, “submit” again and the post is still not there, but I think it just takes time occasionally.

After researching this topic and my experience, the bottom line conclusion is that the composite or aluminum wheels are not worth the trouble they cause with this problem and iron wheels should be used instead. I have never had problems using the iron wheels, but to go out and buy iron wheels to replace the aluminum wheels is also not reasonable. They claim that composite wheels have improved over the years, but all I know is that it appears that after each winter I will expect at least one of mine to have this problem.

I have researched this topic and found that the aluminum wheels have a different temperature coefficient than iron and this causes them to expand and contract more than iron causing the sealing compound to separate from the rim when the temperature drop is extreme. This causes oxidation which builds up just enough to allow the air to slowly leak out. The oxidation has to be removed (grinded) off from the rim and new sealant must be applied. Farm & Fleet had to re-do one of mine 5 times before the manager himself did the job and got it right. But this only happens with aluminum and composite wheels. Thanks for your replies though.