Tire Slow Leak

Two weeks ago, I had two small punctures patched on the left front tire of the Big RED Beast. The holes were two inches apart and I am sure caused by nails in some old 2X4s in an old burn pile I spread out and repiled. The problem now is the left rear tire. It leaked down so slow, I didn't realized it until last Friday evening. I inflated the 18 psi rated tire to 22 psi. The next morning it was down to 14. So I removed it and took it to the local tire shop that fixes any size tire. They couldn't find a leak. So I told them to inflate it to 35 psi, which is the tire bead seating psi. When I got it mounted on the BRB, I lowered the psi to 28. Then trailered her 45 miles to a friends house and worked her two days on Ike cleanup. Yesterday morning the tire was down to 16 psi. This morning it is down below the lowest mark on my tire guage....10 psi. I jacked the tire up off the ground with the backhoe and stabizler until I can attend to it tomorrow morning. My question....Should I slime the tire, or take it to a better (chain) tire shop? The photo shows one more use of a backhoe...loading and unloading your own tire!
hugs, Brandi

I've never tried slime. Don't know if it works or not. I think your tire repair person doesn't want to fool with it or, he doesn't know how to find a leak

Slime does work, but it would take an awfully lot of it for a tire that size. Then when you have to service the tire there is a nasty mess inside to deal with. Is this a tubeless tire? If so, usually a slow leak will show up with a mix of dishwater soap & water. Pour over the tire & wait a few minutes, watching for the tiny bubbles. That or fix a large pool of water & submerge it.

olcowhand said:

Slime does work, but it would take an awfully lot of it for a tire that size. Then when you have to service the tire there is a nasty mess inside to deal with. Is this a tubeless tire? If so, usually a slow leak will show up with a mix of dishwater soap & water. Pour over the tire & wait a few minutes, watching for the tiny bubbles. That or fix a large pool of water & submerge it.

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I'd 2nd this......also as for the slime we run it in our tractors we use in the city and it works well.....doing our hurricanes four years ago we were getting 5 to 7 flats aday once slime it stopped...once it was fun watching a large boot inside the tire would start coming off then the green started to come out then it stop and didnt go down..this was a brand new $300 front tire one day old got a big cut so got it booted about 2 months later it start to come apart but then everyday the slime stopped it that lasted about another 2 month when it finily gave out so it was so bad to buy another tire than..99% of our tractor tire are tubless so we can plug and go..not all slime yet

I failed to mention that you will definitely need that backhoe or a heavy loader to hold a tire that size submerged!

is there a chance you got something worked into the bead while moving trash?
if yes, dismounting the tire, washing the tire and rim, then remounting it may take care of your problem - and while it's off, you can check the sidewalls for punctures, which otherwise won't show up on anything but a full immersion test.

good luck!

The big truck tire shop found the leak this morning. They pumped up the tire forever. It probably had 100 psi in it. It was a small puncture in the tread that they patched. They used soapy water also, but have a lift for a tank of water and a pneumatic arm that submerges it. Only $45. They also used bead sealant that looked like grease.
hugs, Brandi

Great news...and cheap repair too!

glad they found it!

100 pounds! Glad I was far away

yay! When I had a similar problem with a front tire, I cheated and put a tube in it. (cheating, because mine is enough smaller than yours I could use a standard 15" truck tube) Hope you have a good weekend.

Glad you got it fixed Brandi.
But I have to ask, are you operating that back hoe with one tire off of it ? You wild woman you!!!!!

Bindian said:

The big truck tire shop found the leak this morning. They pumped up the tire forever. It probably had 100 psi in it. It was a small puncture in the tread that they patched. They used soapy water also, but have a lift for a tank of water and a pneumatic arm that submerges it. Only $45. They also used bead sealant that looked like grease.
hugs, Brandi

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I would guess it to be Murphy's Tire Soap. You are correct in that it is a bead sealant, but it is also serves another purpose. It helps the tire slip on the rim. I've watched Dad do this thousands of times. Dad was a tire changer for about 45 years. Just retired last July at the age of 69. I've seen Dad change tires that make our tractor tires look like bicycle tires. I remember everytime I would get new tires or get one fixed. Dad would always tell me, Don't spin your tires, because they will slip on the rim for awhile and you will throw them out of balance. I'd listen for awhile - usually a couple of days before I started squealing the tires again.

On a side note. Dad used to get so mad at farmers trying to save a buck by taking the tire/wheel off the tractor to "help" him out. He would go out and see the tire and wheel on the ground. He would immediately make out a bill for the service call and tell them to call him when it was back on the tractor. He usually didn't remove the wheel from the tractor on a big one. No way to stand it back up. He would usually change it on the tractor. He used to do semi's the same way if he couldn't get the lug nuts off. Dad probably has forgotten more tricks about changing tires than most of us know. I just need to get him down to take a look at my front tire. It keeps leaking and I'm not sure where. I've plugged one hole it in it, but not sure if that is where it is leaking or not. I've just been too lazy....err...busy, yeah busy to take a closer look at it.

I plug all my tires. None have tubes. I air them up, hose the tire down good, then use a spray bottle with soapy water in it. The soapy water will foam where the leak is. For me, it has worked every time. Sometimes, it takes some patience and you have to redo the soapy water spray because the leak wants to hide from you.