innomind

It's been harsh winter in NYC. Yesterday evening I parked my ES300H with right side wheels submerged in the icy puddle, meaning the water reached almost to the bottom of the brake rotors. Today I noticed that the rear back wheel looks flat. I check the wheel pressure in the dashboard, and I get 33psi on all wheels but 13psi on that flat one. I have no clue why the pressure drop didn't happen to the front right wheel. I pumped that flat tire and drove over 20 miles that day, no tire pressure drop.

So, the moral: Don't park/submerge your wheels in ice cold puddles.

SLH

That seems like too much of a pressure drop to be caused by just the temperature. According to the ideal gas law, for a constant volume, reducing temperature from 80F to 0F should reduce the pressure from 33 psi to 28 psi. Ice water is not even that cold.

Perhaps the cold temperature affected the seal of the valve or the bead, or of a patch or plug in the tire.

I would suggest a different moral --- I keep a small air-compressor in my trunk. Small 12-volt compressors sell for about $30, and stow easily until they are needed.

Mike728

That's probably the case. Water soaked into the bead and then froze, causing the leak. Filling the tire should resolve the issue.

Arty101

I'm thinking the same. Water froze into the bead and broke the seal causing the leak. NBD, but try not letting that happen again unless you bring a portable air compressor.

Nelexus88

Along the same line of thinking, the rubber tire and alloy wheel have different rates of expansion and contraction.. Parking in the ice water may have caused the bead seal to leak due to the rapid temperature change. I once has a set of cheap tires on alloy wheels (80s GM product) that would lose several pounds overnight when the first winter cold snap hit. One went totally flat due to a bead leak.

Arty101

That makes sense.

innomind

What I am puzzled about is that both right side wheels were submerged but only the rear one lost air. Go figure..

Arty101

The seal could have broke on a seam? At least it's okay now?