Alloy corrosion and slow punctures

[Steve McF]

This last year has seen us have slow punctures on at least one of the alloys on each of 3 of our cars, including my 9-3 Aero. The other cars are a Peugeot 107 and a Nissan Qashqai (needless to say with all different types/sizes of alloys!!!).

Each time when I have taken the 'punctures' to be looked at, they can find nothing wrong with the tyres or the valves, and end up removing the tyre, and cleaning up some corrosion on the alloy, before refitting the tyre and putting the wheel back on the car. And this sorts it....for a few months.

Problem is that each time I get that done, it costs around £20, so with several alloys going one after the other over a few months the costs add up.

So, is the only solution to get the affected wheels refurbished?

The wheels on the Saab need repainting anyway, so I hope to get them refurbed at some point. However, the wheels on the other two cars are in good condition with no corrosion or significant scuffs/scrapes visible on the outside.

Is the only route forward a full refurb of the affected wheel, or are there companies out there who can clean up and treat the surfaces that are hidden by the tyre?

I have seen a refurb place in Birmingham recommended, and it looks like they can refurb wheels for around £50 a wheel.

[TomPaine]

So, is the only solution to get the affected wheels refurbished?

Yes, in my experience. I ultimately had all four done on my old 9-5 saloon and I've had all four done on my current 9-5 estate.

[Audax]

Depends on how bad the wheel is, I had a tyre fitter who I trusted and he'd carefully clean the wheel and apply rim sealant and get tyres to seal that other places couldn't. Most tyre fitters won't be that diligent though so YMMV.

[sgould]

I bought a cheap dog bath from the local pet supermarket. It was big enough to submerge a whole tyre.  It clearly showed that the bead was leaking.  But one wheel was leaking around the seat of the tyre valve.

[welshwizard]

I had this on one of my ALU45s I had on my 9-3SS Aero.  Spare set of wheels for my M&S winter tyres. this was 17-18 years ago when the car was 4-5 years old.

Fast forward to today, the ALU103s on my NG9-5 are in pretty good condition for a car that lived the first 5 years on the North Wales Coast and used regularly...  Very rarely I get punctures on my NG or lose air....  Golf on the other hand gets regular punctures, the car being just under 10 years old with diamond cut alloys shows considerably more corrosion than the 5 years older Saab wheels.

[Steve McF]

Our 2012 Qashqai has been in the family since 2014 - never had any issues with slow punctures/alloy corrosion on that, touch wood!!!!