I haven’t been on here in a while - hope it’s ok to post.
Wondering if any of you could help. My 55 mk3 is randomly losing pressure from the driver side tyres.
A few weeks ago the back tyre was as good as flat. I pumped it up, it kept pressure, it’s still fine now and as though there was no problem. This week it’s the front tyre’s turn - flat as a pancake. This has happened randomly before, it’s not just these two occasions.
I don’t use it very often and there’s no obvious sign of a puncture in either tyres so I’m wondering if it’s the alloys that have had it? Had a quick search and couldn’t see a similar problem but noticed the mention of Mazda making crappy alloys.
Is it time to get some new wheels? Are Rotas still good? I had some years ago on my old MK1.
Check, and/or renew the valves first, then move to the wheel seals. Spray soapy water around the rim and look for bubbles. Better still, remove the wheels, lay flat and fill the valley on both sides with water.
I agree with both the previous posters. Just to note that Mazda don’t make “crappy” wheels, in fact they don’t make any wheels, nor do any of the cars manufacturers as far as I know, they are supplied by specialist manufacturers to strict specifications. Check your wheel rims and you’ll probably see a small embossed mark which is a stylised “JWL” which is the Japanese “approved standard” mark.
We had a problem with the tyre pressures on our 2001 Mk2.5. All the tyres were losing pressure which is not something I have had with any other car. What’s more they were all doing it at different rates - one might drop by a couple of psi whereas another might lose 10 psi. I just got into the habit of checking regularly and pumping them all back up.
However, when I came to have all the tyres changed the fitter pointed out that the wheels were all corroded and marked around the inside and the tyres would never seal properly. He cleaned them all up before fitting the new tyres and I haven’t had a problem since.
It seems we aren’t the only ones then. I had a quick google of the problem later and someone had a very similar issue - tyres randomly losing pressure and the fault being corrosion around where the tyre should seal.
Sorry - I wasn’t really meaning that Mazda made them, more that Mazda choose them and fit them to their cars. After a bit more research it seems they aren’t the best alloys, and others have the same issue as me. If my wheels are corroding and causing the problem, I guess it’s just not the standard that I expect :)
Problem with powder coating is that corrosion can nibble it’s way sideways, right under the surface. The coating looks intact but there is a porous leakage path below. I first experienced this on the alloys on my Fiesta XR2, in the early 1980s. The powder coating can be slightly damaged by the fitter, when the tyres are first mounted, even on a brand new car, then the scene is set.
I agree with previous posters, tyres off, wire brush and emery cloth to restore the surface.
Yes, my NB has a similar problem, too.
One way to avoid damaging the coated rims is to fit the tyres from the back of the wheel, as one tyre fitter showed me.
Hi Jane. The point I was making is the the car maker submits its design pattern to the wheel maker, it cannot specify the quality of alloy used, that is a set standard over which they have no control. The wheel makers are producing wheels for several car companies at the same time with the same alloy. As “Silver” says its not just Mazda cars that have problems and there are many post-manufacture elements that can cause problems. Whatever the cause, I hope you get it sorted promptly, and cheaply!
I’ve had the odd corroded steel and alloy wheel. The tyre fitter removed the tyre, scrubbed the rust/furry alloy, brushed on a black rubbery coating and replaced the tyre…sorted.
Really? A company with the buying power of Mazda has no control over the quality of the alloy used to make its wheels? I find that hard to believe.
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If you read both my posts (Nos.4 and 10) you would see that I was responding to a concern by the OP that Mazda alloy wheels were “crappy” i.e. inferior quality. I explained that this was not the case because the alloy used is to a Japanese government specification (JWL Standard), not a company’s. I have read that this spec. has been accepted as the industry standard worldwide. So Mazda couldn’t order “crappy” wheels from their supplier, and why would they want to order a higher spec. alloy for wheels on mass produced cars? I think that answers your question.
Corrosion on the inside of the wheel. Not just in relation to powder coating this also goes for paint as the corrosion spreads. Sadly the inner side seal is likely to corrode and many Jap manufacturers suffer terribly with poor quality wheels and corrosion.
Speaking with my refurber at length the base metal from the Jap’s (excluding the likes of BBS) are fairly dull grey and white poor overall in comparison with many of the German makes where the metal tends to be far cleaner and clearly of a higher level of integrity (whether this is still true is another question entirely as he had come across a slight lowering of quality from the German brands as production moved further away from Germany and towards the Czech Republic for example (BMW wheels for example in a majority are being made in greater quantity there now instead of Germany, the only “German” made bits are the BMW Roundels and the TPMS sensor system!).
At most I think my Winter set made it about 5 years before severe corrosion set in on them, one wheel suffered then another (I just replaced the second corroded one because of time), in the end though all 5 went for refurb. My Summers lasted only 6 months before refurb because of kerbing nevermind. The biggest difference though is Jap wheels tend to be only up to around £250 per wheel, the German makes in majority are virtually double that per wheel.
Most of the corrosion problems could equally be put down to the amount of water in the air we use to fill them. It’s not unusual to find a relatively large amount of water inside a tyre. Dodgy compressors filling tyres with wet air and oxygen is a recipe for corrosion. Nitrogen might remedy that as it excludes the oxygen, but that’s another debate.
As mentioned above in the first few replies at the top, tyre valves get old on little-used cars.
I had a problem like this earlier this month on nine year old tyres and valves.
No problem when I bought the car, no time to check pressures but they looked OK and I had means of fixing minor tyre problems and TPMS was happy; did 130 miles to home . OK.
Three more local trips. OK.
Another long trip, crucially after having checked pressures properly with a gauge for the first time; all spot on 29 as they should be. But only 30 miles later on the M1 TPMS goes beep and the dreaded light shows. Put lots more air (40) in low offside rear at Toddington and hope it lasted to Weedon where four new ones awaited. OK.
Checked the tyre pressure before removal; still 40! OK
Checked the tyre; immaculate, no puncture. OK
All that is left is the nine-year-old valve insert I disturbed when I checked the pressure at home, even though it passed the spit-test at Toddington.