Irish Mini Owners Club

Hi all,
The rims on the alloys are coming away from the tyres on 3 wheels of my 98 Cooper (had to fit tubes). Is this a common problem and has anyone any advice of my next step? New alloys?

Not to sure about this but i think some tyres dont suit tubes,if they are tubeless tyres tubes tend to push tyres off of rims.So fitting tubes will make problem worse.

Thanks Thomas,
Had forgotten I put up a query on the forum, just found it again now, doh! I had to get the tubes fitted anyway cos the tyres were going flat every 2 days, no punctures in them. Now the car seems to be dragging a bit and I'm not as sure of her on the ould bends anymore, the trust is gone!

The alloy can corrode sometimes between the tyre bead and the rim, which leads to a bad seal and the tyre will deflate slowly.
You can rectify this by sanding down the alloy at the contact points.

Thanks for that, MG. Do you think that's a specialist job or could any mechanic do it? I'd love to give it a go but am still at the stage of just admiring the pictures in the Haynes manual, the words mean nothing...

It's only a DIY job if you can get the tyres off the rims yourself

once the tyres are off, it's only a matter of rubbing the metal down with a fine sandpaper to get rid of the corrosion and then paint as desired.

Then you have to get the tyres back on.

OR..... go off and get new wheels and flog the old ones in the For Sale section of this forum.

Just a thought,

Billy

you can get this tar kinda paste that will seal it rather than having to sand the rims. any tyre garage will be able to do it

Unfortunately the goo only works to a point. I had alloys on the everyday car and every time you'd hit a pothole, the tyre would lose pressure. Each time I'd go to the local tyre place and they'd apply the wondergoo. I eventually replaced the alloys with steel wheels and there's no problem since.

The advantage with steel wheels is that if they get a knock, you can whack it back into shape with a hammer. You just can't go that with alloys wheels as they are too fragile.

Billy

Thanks for the advice, lads, the wondergoo has already been applied and since I won't be taking any tyres off rims myself I reckon I'll just add them to the list for Santa!