Citroen XM Forum

Water bath first.....flat after a day will show as it is a lot of air loss. It is possible to seal wheels (and engine blocks) in a vacuum chamber using a bath of ultra thin resin but that would cost more than a set of 2nd hand ones/restoration.

99% of the time it will be corrosion on or a nick in the rim.

Not heard of porus alloys.. did the tyre fitters clean up the tyre edge walls.on the wheels.. where the tyre lip contacts the wheel .. if they aren't cleaned up or still have corrosion on them they won't seal well..

I'll second the tyre bead not sealing, I've had this on two Xm that have stood for years.

Remove the wheel and lay down, deflate the tyre, run some soapy water into the bead then force the bead a little, then re-inflate. Even standing on the bead can be enough to re-seat it.
If the bead really won't seal there is sealing compund available at tyre centres.

Thanks for the reply’s guys. My thoughts are similar to yours, E.G. the beads are not sealing. Peter is taking the wheels to another guy, who is going to take the tyres off again and see what he can do. I think the issue is (correct me if I’m wrong) those particular alloys are quite rare, so sourcing another set would be hard. They actually look in decent condition, so I think I am better off getting the original set, sorted. Cheers…Derek

They pop up now n again. If they are the ones with the larger centre caps. I have a spare cap in stock. used but I think one or even 2 of the cap feet have broken off.

I would be very surprised if the wheels are faulty. I have acquired a couple of sets of these in poor condition, where the tyres wouldn't hold air, mainly due to being deflated for a long time.

It's always the bead seal that is the problem, and so far, always been sorted with the soapy water trick.

A good test is to lay the wheel flat and run soapy water into the bead, then leave it for half an hour. Bubbles indicate a weep.

citroenxm wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 13, 2022 12:37 pm

They pop up now n again. If they are the ones with the larger centre caps. I have a spare cap in stock. used but I think one or even 2 of the cap feet have broken off.

Thanks, That’s great but I do have all 4 centre caps, I know where to call me if I lose any though

Thanks for all of the replies, as people predicted, the alloys are NOT porous at all A different man has today removed the tyres from the rims, cleaned and sealed the beads and put new valves in and everything is good. I am not sure what the last guy was doing, maybe trying to save money, as they are only a temporary set of tyres, to enable Pete to move the car around more easily. When it’s sorted, it will need new boots before an MOT. Cheers everyone

dcz1643 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 15, 2022 1:40 pm

it will need new boots before an MOT.

I doubt that. No tyre fitter is gooing to supply and/or fit tyres not road legal, the legal implications are too great.

I suspect the tyres were originally fitted without any tyre soap, which enables them to slip on the rim, so seat properly.

Dieselman wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 16, 2022 8:46 am

dcz1643 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 15, 2022 1:40 pm

it will need new boots before an MOT.

I doubt that. No tyre fitter is gooing to supply and/or fit tyres not road legal, the legal implications are too great.

I suspect the tyres were originally fitted without any tyre soap, which enables them to slip on the rim, so seat properly.

I see your point, anyway the car won’t be driven on the temporary tyres. The fuel tank is being drained next, so hopefully we may soon have a running engine