My rear passenger tire has gradually been going flat. A few months ago I had to put air in it every 2-3 weeks but it keeps getting worse and its to the point where I have to put air in it every morning to make it through the day. I took it to Goodyear a few months ago and they couldn't find anything wrong with it and said maybe it was the valve stem, so I had them replace it. I took it to a different Goodyear last week and they couldn't find anything wrong with it either. The mechanic said that it could be my rim and that chrome rims don't hold air as well as steel rims blah blah. If I put 35psi of air in the tire I can hear the air whistling out from somewhere. So my quandary is do I just need new tires or do I need rims and tires?

 

the "mechanic" was right about the the rims, but if u put it to 35 psi and u can hear whistling there is either a whole in the tire itself of in ur rim...i would have suspected the valve stem but u have replaced them...i would fill the tire up to where the whistling occurs and spray the whole tire and whole rim down with a mix of soap and water and watch for bubbles...this will require u to take the wheel off of the car but it should help u find the leak

 

I'll give that a try Kweef. I really hope its not the rim, new rims = big $$$. The inside of my rims are starting to look in bad shape, you can see that whatever the coating is in there is coming up and peeling like paper.

 

Another question, If I ordered tires and rims already mounted and balanced from tirerack could I just put them on and go? Or do I have to take them somewhere to put them on? My concern is the TPMS.

 

If you order them with the TPMS you should be able to just put them on and go. Mine I had to let out air pressure while the car was "listening" for the sensors so that it could match each sensor with wheel position, that way I've still got my stock wheels with winter tires and the stock TPMS all ready to go whenever I manage to get them from home to where I am now.

 

If I don't get TPMS, they are really expensive, will my tire pressure light always be on?

 

Not sure how it works in the 00-05s. For the 06-07s it just says check the TPMS, and then doesn't register an inflation so if I didn't have them at start up I'd get a message and then if I flipped through the driver information display it'd so blanks for the psi of each tire.

For yours I wouldn't know, I'm sure someone does though.

 

hey garrett? does that light come on every time u turn the car on tho?

 

Here is the deal on the chrome rims. They suck. The chrome peals off on the inside of the rim. My buddy Brian finally used a grinding wheeland took the rims to task. Used a bunch of rubber sealant and it is much better.

My problem is my rim is slightly bent and can't get a good seal in that area.

To test, take rim off car, fill the tire with like 38 psi, run garden hose and look for air bubbles.

My fix was to goto Walmart and get some fix a flat foam and that works fine.