Flat tyre but no puncture and missing security wheel nut key

Quartz

Quartz

Quartz

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I have a 2013 Skoda Yeti Elegance 4x4 TD with a flat tyre. It loses pressure rapidly. The soap test reveals no puncture, nor a leaking valve, though I cannot check the back side of the tyre (see below). The thing is, this wheel failed similarly 6 months ago and I, expecting a puncture, had the tyre replaced. That tyre was less than 6 months old with only 1000 miles done. I've barely driven it since. Less than 500 miles, anyway. So I suspect that there's an issue with the wheel itself. Or maybe it's just bad luck. Any ideas?

So I need to get it to a garage. And I need to change the wheel to get it there. But some technician in the past decade has removed the key for the security wheel nut. Which one do I need to order?

And can you spec me a foot pump while I'm here? I broke one and the other - AA - seems to be very poor quality. Or are they all the same these days and should I just get a cheap one from whereever?
 
Quartz said:
I have a 2013 Skoda Yeti Elegance 4x4 TD with a flat tyre. It loses pressure rapidly. The soap test reveals no puncture, nor a leaking valve, though I cannot check the back side of the tyre (see below). The thing is, this wheel failed similarly 6 months ago and I, expecting a puncture, had the tyre replaced. That tyre was less than 6 months old with only 1000 miles done. I've barely driven it since. Less than 500 miles, anyway. So I suspect that there's an issue with the wheel itself. Or maybe it's just bad luck. Any ideas?

So I need to get it to a garage. And I need to change the wheel to get it there. But some technician in the past decade has removed the key for the security wheel nut. Which one do I need to order?

And can you spec me a foot pump while I'm here? I broke one and the other - AA - seems to be very poor quality. Or are they all the same these days and should I just get a cheap one from whereever?
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Call your local main dealer and explain to them the issue. They'll likely ask for the VIN and find which one you need on the system, and ask you to bring along a copy of your ID and V5C when you collect the key.

Secondly, forget a footpump, just get this one for £15. I've got it and it works great.

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Check all the internal holes for locking key
Ashtray, door bins, glovebox etc, assuming the last time it would have been used was that tyre being fitted. They often put them inside when they have been used

It sounds like you have a wheel issue indeed, either a crack of some edge damage so the tyre cannot quite seal on the edge.
Oh you dont have to drive up and down curbs do you, sometimes you can kind of pinch the edge and let a bit of air out.
 
You might consider getting some of that sealing foam stuff that claims to fix a leak and inflate a tyre in seconds, just to get you to the tyre place, where, depending on modernity, they will have everyting ranging from state of the art locking nut removal tools to some steroid enhanced gorilla with a chisel, a lump hammer and a never been defeated attitude.
 
Mason- said:
Had similar issues in the past. Was a corroded alloy causing the tyre to not seal properly. Any signs of corrosion on your wheel?
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None on the outside.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Ashtray, door bins, glovebox etc, assuming the last time it would have been used was that tyre being fitted.
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I found it eventually. Down the back of a seat.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Oh you dont have to drive up and down curbs do you,
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No.

Gaygle said:
Secondly, forget a footpump, just get this one for £15. I've got it and it works great.
Click to expand...

Noted with thanks.
 
Quartz said:
None on the outside.



I found it eventually. Down the back of a seat.



No.



Noted with thanks.
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funny i was going to say seat, easy to happen since they often stick it on the passenger seat which is easy to miss especially if dark
in my experience its always somewhere inside, just a game of hide and seek

last time my other halfs went in they hid the car key in the car we only realised when we got home we hadnt got the key but we must have as we had driven home...
it was in the wiper "recess"! we found out after searching for like 5 minutes and giving up and calling them
 
Can confirm - when I was losing pressure rapidly I found I had a small crack in my alloy which you couldn't see with the naked eye, but showed up when you coated it with soapy water. When the garage took the tyre off it allowed the crack to split apart and you could see it plain as day, but when it was fitted you couldn't see it.
 
I'm back home and my first task was to change that tyre. I have installed the emergency spare and I then did a soap test on the flat tyre. I may have spotted something but it seems a bit small:

kLAUmys.jpg

But then again, I think I saw fluid flowing in.

Edit: that's the inside rim of the tyre.
 
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Probably not so long as you haven't driven on it whilst flat, or at least only a few yards. Very low profile tyres are more likely to suffer sidewall damage when they have the vehicle's weight on them whilst flat than taller profile ones.
 
corrosion on the alloy wheel maybe, take it to a tyre fitting specialist, they have seen it all before

i dont know what to say about the locking nut key, you need to guard those with your life.

for pumping tyres get a mini pump that runs off your lighter socket, not any kind of foot pump
 
I'd guess at corrosion too. Especially as the car is a few years old. I've found the places I've used for tyres can work their magic and make it seal good. Are you saying the first time it happened you just threw away a perfectly good tyre?
 
Chris Wilson said:
Looks like the tyre bead is leaking on the rim quite badly, the tyre needs taking off and the rim cleaning properly and then the tyre putting back on with some gloop and testing again, (before balancing it in case it has to come off again, or something's buggered).
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what do you expect the going rate for cleaning rim + rebalancing tyre to be ?
... haven't rung around yet, but, swapped in spare 3 weeks ago , after 'clipping' bank at edge of road which pushed earth in between wheel/tyre giving a slow leak.
 
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