Leak from the Rim! Not sure what to do.

Tires, shocks, sway bars, air bags... What crosswind?
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liferiders
Weekend Camper
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 12:03 pm
B190 Year: 1990
WBCCI: 0

Leak from the Rim! Not sure what to do.

Post by liferiders »

I came back from 200 mile trip Wisconsin. Parked my B190 on my driveway. And the next day,
I notice that one of the tires is completely flat. I was under the impression; something sharp may have got stuck in the tire to develop a small leak and it sat overnight, leaked all the air and went completely flat.
I took the wheel to the tire repair shop to fix the leak. But realized that the leak was not from the tire, but from the rim! That too, from one of those, small dime sized, ball shaped rivets. I have attached a pic of the source of the leak.
Not sure how it happened, but I was surprised it didn’t happen while on the road. Have anyone of you faced a similar situation?
Any idea as to why it burst sitting on my driveway and while not on the road? I am 100% sure it was alright when I parked the van.
Is the rim salvageable? if not, where can I buy one of these rims? Are the front ones the same as the rear ones? How can I find the model number for these rims? Any replacement model info? Will the newer 8 lug Econoline rims fit on my 1991 B190? I have seen some of your rigs being equipped with it. Thank you so much.
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skater
Site Admin
Posts: 2569
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:00 am
B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 13270
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: Leak from the Rim! Not sure what to do.

Post by skater »

First, those are the aluminum wheels that were optional for the B190. They may be rare, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's no longer available. Yours is the first I recall seeing with them, but there are certainly others out there. (Most had a steel wheel with a hubcap.) If you do need to replace the wheel, a call to Airstream might be in order to find out if they have any (make sure they don't sell you a trailer wheel - they had some that look similar but are almost certainly different wheels - lug pattern, number of lugs, offset, etc.) and/or can tell you who made them and what model they are.

A tire shop should be able to figure out what the issue with the wheel is and whether it's salvageable. I'd pull it off and take it to the shop, or you could also re-inflate it, drive it to a tire shop, and have them look at it.
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
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funtwodrv
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Posts: 49
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2010 12:00 am
Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: Leak from the Rim! Not sure what to do.

Post by funtwodrv »

Make sure I am following you on this one. Have you inflated the tire and sprayed soapy water on the rim and seen bubbles from around the rivet heads? If so, have a wheel refurbisher take the tire off and seal the rim from the inside. If you don't want to go to that much work and/or expense, stick a can of fix-o-flat in it and be done with it.
Just my two cents...

Gary
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