One of the front tires on my 2006 XK8 has a very slow leak. I loses about 8 pounds of pressure per week. My mechanic (a great mechanic!!) says there is not a hole in the tire. He said the chrome wheels on my car are prone to corrosion. He said he could seal it up. It still leaks.

They are are chrome 19" Atlas wheels.

If it is corrosion, is there anything I can do to truly fix it?

I am curious... do the schrader valves leak? Could that be the problem.

Thank you!!

 

For the valves you usually spit on the end and see if it bubbles...

take the wheel off and lay it flat and put some soapey water around the rim seal area ..look for bubbles ..repeat both sides.
If it on the rim get tyre taken off ..clean re paint/fill etc and re fit

 

The bead may be leaking. They pull tire and scuff clean any corrosion. I have that issue but with no corrosion. Water/soap around bead and see if there are any bubbles formed. Sometimes a rubber mallet to the sidewall will help seat a bead. If its corrosion , pull tires scuff and he may ad da sealer of some sort.

 

Take the wheel to a tire shop and have it tanked. This will find any leaks. The old soap on the rim works sometimes, sometimes not. If the whole wheel is in the water, you will see if there is a leak.

 

I've had this a few cars in the past. As a matter of fact I think my daily driver is a little suspect. The thorough cleaning of the rim did the trick a couple times but the tire has to come of for that. It'll take investigation which seems like a lot of work but I had having a leaky tire to keep track of. It's worth the effort. Yes, a valve can be faulty. You can get replacement cores and try one. TM

 

This sounds like a job for Tom down at Discount Tire!

Billy Clydde

 

I had this same problem with one of my chromed Jag alloy wheels. The tire guy broke the bead, scrubbed down the bead area of the wheel ,and put some sealer in before airing it up. It took about a week for the sealer to fill in the gaps completely and it's held since.

 

Also check for a leaking valve stem. Happened to me once with, you guessed it, a chromed wheel. Took soapy water to find out, and was most obvious with the stem pushed aside.

 

Chrome-plated aluminum wheels can develop bead leaks due to corrosion. My original "revolver" wheels (1999 XK8) got bad that way. I had to have the wheels turned on a wheel lathe to remove all of the chrome plating from the bead surfaces. Then they sealed up just fine.

However, they were still pretty ugly with corrosion, and i have since replaced them with powder-coated wheels. I will never own chrome-plated aluminum wheels again.

Bob Frisby
Boise, Idaho

 

One of my tyres deflates very slowly, I don't use the car very often at this time of year but it needs about 8lb every couple of months putting in, or pro rata, I took it to the tyre shop who put the wheel in a bath of water but nothing showed up, I guess the leak is too slow to detect but it is a nuisance.

 

Damn these drug-dealer Atlas chrome wheels. Jaguar really blew it by installing these dreadful things on the 2006 Victory Edition XK8s. My wife loves 'em, I hate 'em, it's her car so I guess they will stay on until they begin to fail....

 

I have had a tire that I could not detect a leak on slowly lose air. I did everything I knew to find it. I finally replaced all the tires and the problem went away with the old tires. Go figure!