Hi guys, had something weird occurred with the car yesterday. I was driving the car to the office, my commute is roughly 6.5 miles. In the middle of the commute, I started feeling some vibration and the car started pulling a bit to the left (driver side). As I get closer to the office, it got worse, and it really got really bad when I entered the parking lot at one of the building.

I parked the car, got out and look, and the driver side rear tire was flat. I put a tire pressure gauge to see what pressure left on it, and it was almost none.

Called the road side assistance from insurance, they promptly sent a tow truck. Met the tow vehicle and we thought, let's see if we can see where the leak was, so I had the driver put the air on the tire. Lo and behold, the tire held, no pressure loss. I drove the car to the nearest discount tire, about 1.5 miles, and the tire did not lose pressure. I then drove the car home, still no loss of pressure. I checked again this morning, same thing.

How can it be - all of a sudden I got a loss of tire pressure but then no leak were found? Anybody ever seen/experienced this?

 

How old are the tires?

I had a corvette once that had a rear tire that acted that way. Turned out there was a crack in the sidewall of the tire that only leaked when cornering. Sitting still or going straight the thing never leaked at all. The tires were getting too old and dry even though they looked fine.

 

You can check the age by looking at the DOT codes on the tire. There will be two sets of numbers, the first says DOT xxxx. The second set is the one you want. The last four digits tell you the week it was made and the last two digits give you the year. Ex: xxxx5107 would be late December, 2007. Tires have an expiration date regardless of the tread wear.

Another thing to check is the valve stems.Wiggle them around with soapy water on them and see if you get bubbles.

All this assumes the tire place checked for any foreign objects stuck in the tire.

 

friend of mine had a minor dent in the rim; only when the weight of the car was on it, (so dent on the bottom side), the tire would leak. Not only during parking, also at traffic lights etc. Took him a year to figure out...

 

Have you considered the possibility that ninjas de-inflated your tires during your commute?

 

I had the same issue with a wheel on a different car. Micro fracture in the metal of the wheel that only leaked in certain positions or temperatures.

 

you probably hit a pot hole and it broke the seal, but if you drove over a mile on a flat tire, you most likely tore up the inside of your tire. I would take it to a tire place and have them check out the tire.

 

I have, but they're busy bitch-slapping people with smart-alecky comments.

 

It happened to me once, when I had a 2007 Infinity M35x. I had the car for 2 years - parked it outside in the driveway. One day I come out outside to see rear right tire completely flat. I used a portable air compressor to fill it with air. The tire held. I went to a fix a flat place to see if there's a nail in the rubber; there wasn't. One thing that I did observe were tiny cracks on the sidewall of the tire, so I made nothing of it, thinking it was fine - just normal stress marks due to wear and tear. 2 months later, the tire blew out at 65-70 mph as I was driving with my wife and my 10yr old (at that time) daughter on the NJ Tpke . Miraculously there was no drama, I did not lose control of the car and managed to slow down and guide it to the shoulder. The tire was a mess of rubber and steel shreds. The moral of the story: If your tire lets out air without a visible cause (visible physical damage), don't take your chances and replace it asap. It doesnt matter why it's letting air out, it just matters that, for whatever reason, it does. Don't take your chances.

 

We were on trip in the mountain and noticed the handling was getting sloppy, had rear tire that was of 15 psi. Hooked up the 12 volt compressor, which I have in all my vehicles, check the tire and it was leaking from the valve in the stem. Went to the nearest auto parts store and purchased the box of valves and tool for about $10. Ten minutes later we continued our trip thru the Mountains. The tire and stem where new. Hope it helpsp

 

I had the same problem with my xk8, and I have the factory chrome wheels.

I took the car to 3 different tire places where they simply lowered the tire into a water tank to find the leak, but couldn't find any.

The 4th tire guy actually removed the tire from the wheel, and found a considerable amount of rust happening inside. The rust made its way to the tire bead area, and with just the right conditions (temperature, humidity...who knows?), the tire would start a slow leak.

He cleaned it up nicely, and then used a tire bead sealer on the wheel before putting the tire back on, and it's been flawless ever since.

 

I've wondered about the factory Atlas chrome wheels on my wife's 2006 XK8. They were part of the Victory Edition package as Jaguar was pushing the last of the XK8s out the door. All four of her tires seem to lose pressure faster than either our S-Type or my Dodge Ram pickup. Nothing dangerous at this point, but I tend to have to add a pound or two to her tires every month or so whereas the other two vehicles may go a couple of months or so without needing to be topped up....

Possibly another reason to avoid chrome wheels....

 

Found out what the issue is. It is the tire - it has a deformity on the inside. I suppose I could attempt to claim etc with the pro-rated warranty. But I think at this point, I'll just get a new tire, install it and call it a day. The rest of the tires are fine.

I'm at the point where all I need is to get the car detailed before posting it for sale.

 

Good to hear! A new tire is more affordable than a new rim!