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]

 

[DiyNutJob]

The bead breaker being fairly narrow, breaking the bead wasn't completely straightforward, but good enough. On the first clamp, the bead's mating surface was flipped into the open and the clamping began to slip. The next attempt was to the left of the starting position. Same thing happened. The third attempt was to the right of the starting position. This time, the clamp grip held and the bead was broken.

While the bead mating surface was in the open, the white debris on it was cleaned using a wetted brush. Once that part of the bead was broken, the mating surface was no longer accessible. Inspection and cleaning of the bead was only possible before the bead broke. Similar debris was on the whole bead. This could be the reason for the leak. The debris did not appear to be dried tyre paste because the shop used black paste. Nor did it appear to be dried soap because it was not soapy when wetted. My white paste reverted to being soapy once wet again.

There was one bad spot on the bead seat along with several developing bad spots. All these were patched. There were also lots of hair-sized scratches. These were lightly patched. There was nothing obviously wrong near the marked leaking spot. I would place the leak at 50% probability caused by debris. Sealant bands to block sideways leaking were also added.

Here's an experimental patch to deal with external broken paint. I wanted to see how well tyre sealant worked in this application, also to stop the corrosion spreading. Corrosion was infectious affecting all surrounding areas. The wheel cleaned up well. Along with scraping using old credit card, white spirit was effective in completely removing defunct foam pads of balancing weights.

 

[DiyNutJob]

The job is now complete. What remains is a time test. Both fronts have been equalized to 2.45 bar. Will see what happens at 2 week, 1 month, and 2 month intervals. Reg1 wheel has shop beads and DIY valve. Reg2 has DIY beads and valve.

A solution for a rim protector has been found, and that is to use printed PETG. The harder plastic will be better at distributing prying pressure. I will be able to change the thickness design until the right strength is achieved. Limitation of printing means that the protector can only be produced in short segments. For the initial prying-out of the front bead during dismounting, only 2 short segments of the protector are needed at the pry bar positions. For prying-in the front bead during mounting, a long chain of protector segments are needed. This can be achieved by duct-taping the short segments together. A protector to cover 75% of the rim edge is needed.

 

[Mottie]

Do you talk to yourself when you are alone too?

 

[DiyNutJob]

Do you talk to yourself when you are alone too?

No. I am always here having you to talk to.

 

[Mottie]

No. I am always here having you to talk to.

I'm doing my bit for care in the community. Looks like everybody else has had enough of this thread.

 

[DiyNutJob]

With lifetime no leaks largely in the bag, now money is no object. I will be saving so much in future years, frankly I think it should be illegal. So, here's the final spend to complete my tool set. To mount a tyre, a bare minimum of 3 pry bars are needed. I have 2 long ones for prying. This short one will be used for holding the rubber open. It will also be handy when the long bars are unwieldy at times.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Apparently, all season tyres are unsuitable for the japanese climate. Consequently, DIY tyre changing is big over there. This video is the closest to what I am trying to do. It appears that 3 long pry bars are needed for dismounting tyres. I could be short of one. But, I don't actually have a requirement to dismount tyres since leaks can be corrected without dismounting. I don't plan to get into puncher patching from the inside either.

 

[DiyNutJob]

The bead leak fix looks to be a good'n.

2026-09-18 10:00 china inflator with gauge
Reg1 2.45 bar
Reg2 2.45 bar

2026-10-04 16:30 standalone gauge
Reg1 2.425 bar
Reg2 2.415 bar