Guys, I've got a problem w/ my Cargraphic Racing rim--it's leaking between the barrel halves right where the valve stem pokes through to the face of the rim. It's been driving me crazy since the tire is always low (loses 4psi/day)...finally confirmed it w/ the soapy water test. So, I figure I've got three options:

1) Send the wheel to one of the local repair shops--there's one near me (in the SF Bay Area) but the last time i was there it look three weeks to repair two scraped rims (they told me one week, but admittedly did a good repair).

2) Pull the rim apart myself and reseal. The only problem is I don't know the torque for the bolts and what sealant to use. Maybe some kind of RTV gasket stuff? A site I found said 15ft-lb for a 1/4" bolt.

3) Live with it and keep filling up my tire until the negative camber in the rear eats up the tire. Which should be soon. And then do either option 1 or 2.

Thoughts? And if anyone has the answers/advice to #2, that'd be really helpful...

Jeff

Edit: upon further googling it seems that just a bead of 100% silicon on the inside seam of the barrels could solve my problem vs. unscrewing some ungodly amount of bolts to reseal the barrels? hmm...still looking...

 

Get that fix asap by someone with a better turnaround time than the previous guys. You do not want to pull the rim apart and reseal it yourself unless you know exactly what you are doing.

 

Let me know if I can help.....

-Eli

 

why not just send it back to cargraphic and let them fix it? i doubt they would even charge you since it sounds like a manufacturing defect. they're great to deal with. ask for hershel or eric.

 

thanks guys for the advice. I'd send it back to Cargraphic, but I've had these for a few years so can't say it's a defect or not since it was holding air and then it wasn't...maybe the guys mounting the tire messed up the seal? hard to say either way.

Eli--sounds like you might have the answer. I'll PM you when I get out of work...

 

Sure thing, just trying to help out a fellow 6-speeder.......

-Eli

 

3 piece wheels I've had apart for painting etc...........1st, that's alot of hardware .......anyway, clean off all existing material..........assemble with reg silicone sealant......25'lbs.........wait 24 before mount.........good luck.

 

you got to love cargraphic. have a question and they pop right up on here and answer

 

2 days ago my wheel was leaking a little bit also so i thought it was a nail in the tire or something. But yesterday the leak gor really bad so i brought the car to the shop and my wheel was leaking in the same spot due to the chrome pealing off the lip which broke the seal. You should really get that fixed because the leak could get worse.

 

This board is great! Post a thread about rims and get advice from DIY'ers, the actual manufacturer of the rim, a rim repair shop, and guys who've had the same problem. awesome. I've also received some PMs from local guys and through that I've found a local shop that's going to help me out. So thanks a lot guys for the info...much appreciated!

Jeff

 

WE ARE A WEALTH OF KNOW-IT-ALLS

 

These forums are great! All the members are nice and we all share a similar interest in the best performance cars in the world. But these forums are not only fun but you can learn so much about your car and what to do in certain situations from experiences and knowledge that everyone shares.