[Sanidhya mukund]

Hello all!

I am in urgent need of some help. I have a 2013 manufactured, 2014 registered Mercedes C200 CGI. It is the facelifted W204 model.

My car had 2012 made Michelin tyres from the factory. The car has run just 28k, but since the Michelins were 10 years old, I decided to get them changed last month. I got it done at the authorised Mercedes Benz dealership. They have fitted new Continental tyres. Post the tyre change, the car came to my home, a distance of nearly 30 KM from the service centre just fine. The next day, I used it for my 100 KM commute and reached my home just fine. However, when I wanted to go somewhere at night, I noticed that the rear RHS tyre has gone flat. I took the car to a tyre wala about 100 Metres from my place who said that the valve is damaged. I simply asked him to replace the tyre with the Stepney and kept the new continental in the boot.

The next day, I took it to the Merc service centre and they replaced the damaged valve free of cost. The car ran alright for another day, doing 100 KM with no issues. However, the day after that, after travelling about 50 KM, there was again a flat tyre, but this time the front left. Once again, I got the Stepney fitted and took the car to the Mercedes Service centre. My SA, very cooperatively said that this may be a batch issue with the valves and replaced all of them free of charge. The car ran fine for the next couple of days. However, on the third day, there was an air loss from the tyre again, this time the rear right!

I got the valve changed at a local tyre shop. I told my Merc SA that one of the tyres has again started to loose air, and he asked me to bring the car again, so that he can diagnose why this is happening. I haven’t yet gotten the time to take it there, but the car has now also started to pull towards the left.


So dear BHPians, please help me. Why do you think my brand new tyre valves keep giving up every now and then? What could be the cause?
What surprises me the most is that the tyres run fine for a few days, but give up randomly every few days.

This has totally destroyed my peace of mind; I simply cannot risk long distance driving in a car that keeps having random tyre valve failures.

Anxiously awaiting your responses,

Sanidhya

[ajayc123]

I would try to isolate the problem.

The simplest first step could be to try valves from some other brand.

If this doesn’t work, then inspect the tyres, and lastly the rims.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

This has totally destroyed my peace of mind; I simply cannot risk long distance driving in a car that keeps having random tyre valve failures.

I can understand your predicament when you have a car you can't trust.

Faulty valves is my first guess. Did they immerse the wheels in water to do a leak test? If Can you try after market valves? Also, please check for bent rims and any impact damage. New tyres should not fail.

[CSA]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

I am in urgent need of some help. I have a 2013 manufactured, 2014 registered Mercedes C200 CGI. It is the facelifted W204 model.

Try these Triton Steel Valve stems I am sure you will never regret your purchase I bought these from Amazon.
Link - https://www.amazon.in/Steel-Valve-TU...%2C312&sr=8-11

[Sanidhya mukund]

Originally Posted by R2D2

I can understand your predicament when you have a car you can't trust.

Faulty valves is my first guess. Did they immerse the wheels in water to do a leak test? If Can you try after market valves? Also, please check for bent rims and any impact damage. New tyres should not fail.

They did not even have to immerse the wheel to check for leaks. When the leak happens, it is so rapid that one can actually hear the air escaping!

What really puzzles me is that whenever we replace the valves, they work fine for a couple of hundred kilometres and then give up all of a sudden, and when they do, the air leaks really rapidly. The tyre goes flat in under a minute!

I am sure the rims are okay, reason being, the Merc SA said that only one of my rims has a slight deflection, but it is nothing to worry about. Plus my car only has 17 inch rims, so they should not be as damage prone as 18 or 19 inchers of other cars.

[SS-Traveller]

If you can definitely isolate that the valve area is where the leak is happening every time, it could be either of 3 things:
- faulty valve / valve stem;
- corrosion of rim around the valve neck area; or
- improper fitment of valve, with dust, lint etc. between the valve collar and rim.

[lapis_lazuli]

Check if they are properly applying "makkhan" (bead seal). That creates the final seal for micro gaps. Ideally they need to scrape off the earlier seal but here they don't do that. You'll see them using a paint brush and dipping it in the bucket of sealant (it's some Desi glue type sealant with dilute consistency) and coating the rim surface where the tyre sits. If not done properly might cause leakage.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Sanidhya mukund

They did not even have to immerse the wheel to check for leaks. When the leak happens, it is so rapid that one can actually hear the air escaping!

I don't believe M-B valves are of such poor quality (or at least I hope not ) so I can suspect a fitting or a seating issue. A sudden rapid leak could only be caused by a damaged part. Using the car possibly damages the seal between the valve and rim and causes the leak.

When I changed my tyres they cleaned the area around the valve seat of any dust and debris after cutting off the old one with a blade and then installed the new valve. I don't have to top off tyre pressure (nitrogen) for months on end! In fact I have very rarely experienced valve failures in all the years since I began to drive/ride.

I would recommend trying after market valves and having them fitted by a reputed tyre shop in your city. Maybe the M-B tech fitting the valves/tyres is making a mistake.

[Cresterk]

Take it to a reputed third party tyre shop and have them inspect it.

[AKSarkar1]

I coincidentally happen to also own a 2014 Mercedes C220 and got the tyres changed a month ago, this is the 3rd set of tyres on the car, no issues of deflation so far.

Seems to me that there has been an incorrect method used while fitting the new tyres or some issue with one of the parts.

Please get the car checked with an independent and reputable tyre specialist in your city, the service centres are surprisingly incompetent when it comes to this issue. The tyres on higher end cars like Mercs are even more problematic when not fit right because of their low profile.

[bobbyblr]

Hi Sanidhya,

As menioned by @lapis_lazuli a tyre mounting grease or paste has to be applied on both the wheel rims & tubeless tyres before assembling the tubeless tyres.
Six months ago I got my Alto tyres changed from tube to tubeless from Tyre Professionals (a unit of Madhus Tyre Centre) in Bangalore & saw the technician applying a white paste on both the wheel rims & tubeless tyres before assembling.

You can also try installing a tube inside the tubeless tyres.
Since my tubes were only 3 years old, one of the Tyre Professionals technician only recommended to use the old tubes in the new tubeless tyres.

[androdev]

It's either punctures, defective valves or bent rims. Visit a reputed tire/wheel balancing shop and they should take care of it.

[KGS]

I faced a similar situation (not exactly the same) with my bike.

My bike started losing pressure slowly after a couple of punctures. I suspected shoddy puncture repair job but after thorough analysis I got to know, tyres were losing air from the contact point with the rim.

Instead of roadside puncture repair guys, I took my bike to a tyre shop and they cleaned the whole wheel from inside and put some solution to maintain the proper grip between tyre and wheel. It helped me a lot.

There was no leakage of air pressure after that.

@Sanidhya : If not already done, please do get the wheels checked and cleaned once, it may help.

[Apex1815]

I believe you have installed the Tyres of the Same size & specification as per OEM recommendation.

How is the condition of your Rims/Wheels ?
Are there bends on the wheels to which the Tires have not fit well ?
Sometimes minor bends on the wheels (which are generally not noticed visually) also lead to the Air dissipation from the side.

[Dushyanth]

Dear Sanidhya,
I too had experienced the same issue with my bike Pulsar-220 which occurred after changing the stock tyres to a new set it was only with the front tyre. I was also clueless as I was inflating tyres once every 3 days which was very annoying at first but I only used bike for short commutes <10 kilometres from home.

Took it to the Bajaj service centre where they were clueless as well, later a wise mechanic removed the entire wheel from the bike and inflated it above the recommended PSI by around 20-25% and immersed the whole wheel inside a water tank and later he found out that the air was escaping from the sidewalls where the tyre is in contact with the rim! So it was concluded that the tyre fitment was not done properly. Mind you I got it fitted by a machine as I was not comfortable with getting it fitted manually because of any damage to the rims. Later the same mechanic removed the tyre and refitted it manually after assuring me that nothing is going to happen. And it has been a happy ever after!

I suggest you to take your car to a good tyre shop and get all the tyres refitted.