If all else fails and you need it repaired right contact us anytime... www.fastforwardwheels.com

Repair only I'll do $125 with free return shipping...

-Eli

 

From doing tires for 5 years for les schwab this is very common. Without seeing any pictures you most likely will have to get the wheel straightened. There's a guy in the fife area and his name is Eric and he owns the Rim Doctor. He straightens and repaints wheels. Or another idea would go to les schwab, have them break the bead and if it's a small enough flat spot the could try and clean the bead than rub their tire chalk on the bead of the wheel. This creates a less air gap for the tire and rim. Or they can try tire sealer on the bead of the wheel too. It's a silicone based black tar basically that cures to a rubber texture.

 

that repair wouldn't excite me if I owned a car with z-rated tires and a 'new' family in it. I'd be much happier with a repaired rim than the 'duct taped' version imho

 

I agree with that, but if he is looking for a quick fix and not spend much money at all than this should fix it. I would highly recommend getting the rim repaired but this is another fix that is possible.

 

Thanks Mark and Gilbert.

Since I'm owed a little work from PPL, I'll see if I can roll these two (fixing the slow leak, and fixing the wheel scuff) items together. Hopefully, they are related enough for me to get it free, but if not I'll definately get it fixed to a high standard and write the appropriate check.

Thanks to all who've posted. I've learned much and will post the results.

I recently had my brother paint 8 wheels for me and liked it! I may have to take the M5 rims over to him as well. Flat black would probably go nicely don't you think?

Cheers,

Trevor

 

He fixed one of my HRE wheels when a friend curbed it, it looked brand new when I got it back and it took him an hour.

 

I dropped the car off at PPL today. After I told them what the Firestone guys told me, PP gave me a sense for what it coulde be and what it likely wouldn't be. After asking a few questions of me they were pretty certain that the wheel didn't have much of a flat spot and if it did, it certainly wouldn't be enough to cause a leak.

After taking things apart they discovered A CRACK in the wheel that started at the lip and progressed inward for about an inch. Given everything I've put this car through over the summer, I know that the crack wasn't there when I bought the car and I likely did it via a pot hole or curb or some other Daily Driving nonsense.

PPL is looking for a used wheel in good condition on my behalf and will apply the due bill credit toward that, which is nice of them but for the most part I expected them to be indifferent on that point.

The car is safe for around town driving and still leaks air at this point, but at least we know why!

I may have mentioned before that I'm fortunate in that I don't need to pay for general cosmetic wheel repairs (or paint work). So in the end, I'll have a good used wheel on the car and my brother is going to paint the wheels flat black like he did the Lotus wheels.

 

see post 8 in this thread :-)

 

a nod and a smile.

Thanks PJ! I'll let them buy it as I get $100 off that way.

 

of course!