Not sure if I have this in the correct section, mods feel free to move it if it's not. Anyway, for some reason I keep having a problem where the inside rear wheel/tire seems to break the bead and deflate. The tire does not come off the rim, but it loses all its air. This is the 3rd time it has happened to me, and I cant for the life of me figure out why???

Has anybody else had this happen to their DRW truck? It has happened twice on left side, and once on right. There have been no punctures or any other logical reason for this. I do have bigger tires on the truck, but I dont see that as being a causative factor here. Hopefully somebody else with more experience here can chime in and educate me as to what they think the problem might be. I am STUMPED!

 

Do you have valve stem extensions? If so that is where I suspect your problem is located.
The extension is letting the air out and then as you drive the bead is breaking down.

 

If this is indeed the order of what is happening, you would hear it as it would sound like a big blowout IMHO. I'm with bigfoot, you are leaking down somewhere, going flat, then loosing your bead. Take it to a tire shop that will dunk it.

 

There's allot to look at as possible sources to the flats. Valve stems, cut at base, bad seal, valve core sticking. Air pressure, an under-inflated tire is more likely to roll off the bead than one at the correct pressure. My first thought is the tire is too wide for the rim. In that scenario the bead area of the tire will not correctly line up with the bead area of the rim and will be more likely to deflate while being pulled toward the side of the rim, such as in a hard turn on a surface with good traction like asphalt or concrete.

On edit, according to Tire Rack, the rim size for the tire you listed is 8.5-10 inches, optimum is 9.5". I didn't think the stock rims were that wide.

 

That kinda sounds like what is happening, since 2 of the 3 times it has happened, was after a full throttle, wheel spinning sharp turn on a high traction surface! I will have to modify my driving habits considerably.


I did have those braided stainless valve stem extensions on at one time, but they seem to fall victims to centrifugal force (and my ahem.."driving style") and just fly off when they've had enough. Sometimes, they take the valve stem with them or loosen the schrader valve inside it! I want to look into getting some extended reach brass valve stems from a big rig and replace the crappy rubber ones that are on there now. Of course, this means breaking down all the rear tires again, mounting, balancing again, etc. Really, I guess I should get them for all six wheels, since during a vehicle tire rotation, fronts and rears are getting swapped.

Can any of you point me in the right direction as to who sells those extended brass valve stems?


Thanks for your help and suggestions guys, I really appreciate you helping trouble-shoot this problem.

 

Those would most likely be available at NAPA or any tire supply shop. You'll probably have to bend, carefully, the brass ones to get the correct alignment. There are allot of different ones already bent and the bases can be slightly different so pay close attention to detail.