newish tire won't stay pressurized

[tahoejeff]

my '08 vibe is around 13 months old and has 5000 miles on it. the right rear tire has needed a top off approx once a month for the last 6 months. now with winter coming, i finally want to fix it.aside from the obvious (look for a nail), what would you guess is wrong?could the bead be leaking after so short a time? i don't recall hitting any deep potholes or curbs.could the valve stem or valve be bad already? 30 years ago, i used to change valves (the metal insert) on bikes and cars. anything different now with the pressure sensing system? if you think it's the valve, could i just jack it up to take off pressure, replace the valve, then fill to proper pressure...or could the bead possibly break loose with all of the air out?

[Kamikaze]

Bead leak or valve stem/core if it's not a small hole in the tire...Take it to a tire shop, they should be able to dunk it in water and see if there's any air bubbles from the tire, bead, or valve stem.I do tire repair at my job, so these are the normal things to look for, if they can't find anything, my suggestion would be to have them break down the tire, have them check the inside of the tire for any foreign objects, reseal, new valve stem... and then if you still have a leak, you know it's something else... and yes... I've seen a wheel bead leak less than 1 year old.If you want to try and replace the valve core, you can, I'd suggest jacking up the car, let all the air out, replace core, and fill back up.. no threre's nothing weird about our valve cores, they are the same as any other one (we don't have the actual sensors in the rim of the wheel so you don't need to worry about getting the special aluminum core)

[1oldbanjo]

Jack the car up and take the wheel off. Get a bucket and put some dishwashing soap or car wash soap in the bucket and put water in the bucket and make a really soapy mix. Lay the tire/wheel flat on the back and then use the brush and soap it up really good. As the suds start rolling off the surfaces watch for an area that starts making more bubbles instead of less. If the surface is flat there will be a thin pool of soapy water that collects where the tire and wheel lip meet - look at this area very closely for air bubles. Take the valve cap off the valve stem and put a little soapy water in the valve stem - if it blows bubbles it is leaking. If you don't find anything on the front roll the tire over and repeat on the backside. Then soap up the tread carefully and look for bubbles coming out of a small hole somewhere on the tire. The only thing you might be able to repair is the valve core leak by tightenting or replacing the valve core.