Enamel for alloy wheel?

[DiyNutJob]

Following inspection, I only found one bad spot on the tyre bead seat. This was about 1/4 wheel away from the marked leak location.

The loose paint and aluminium corrosion powder were scraped away using a wood chisel. The debris was prevented from going into the wheel or onto the bead, and vacuumed away.

The area was washed and then patched up using bead sealant. The rough finish will be flattened by the tyre.

Since there was no issue near the marked leak spot, sideways progression of a leak elsewhere was suspected. Sealant bands like this were put at regular intervals on the bead seat to block sideways leaking. Another possibility for the leak was debris introduced by the shop during tyre mounting.

 

[DiyNutJob]

A combination of playing the wheel like a basket ball, and plenty of tyre paste/soap on the bead seat and reachable tyre rubber allowed me to seat the front bead on the first attempt. The reason it worked was that the bouncing produced internal air and mechanical shock waves that pushed+flexed the bead out. The paste assisted the bead to go further than it could otherwise. The tyre rubber was extremely stiff. No form of hand or other bodily manipulation was possible excepts through using the screwfix f-clamps I bought earlier in the project. I went to bed last night thinking I would have a serious struggle on my hands. But luck favoured me and I succeeded with no more front leaks.

I allowed the sealant to cure overnight because I noticed the previously used sealant on the play wheel remained very stretchy and soft after months. There was some risk that insufficient curing could cause the sealant to be easily displaced when rubbed by the tyre during seating.

The leak on the back was significantly more aggressive compared to when I first examined it months ago. With the process now worked out and well oiled, I don't anticipate any drama in dealing with this.

 

[Mottie]