Hello All I searched the archives and have not found a similar issue. I drive my 348 about once a month (that is my first problem I know) A bout 6 months ago my front passenger tire was flat. All other tires were fine. I took it to a tire shop and they said there was no hole in the tire but the valve stem was loose, they tightened it and I was on my way. 3 Months later my tire was flat again. I called a local Ferrari Mechanic and he provided me with a complete Ferrari Valve Stem Assembly. I went back to the store and they put the new valve stem assembly and they cleaned the inside of the rim (with a soft electric polisher) so the tire could get a better grip on a clean surface. Drove the car a couple of times everything was perfect. 2 Weeks later the tire is flat again. Anyone experience this before and have a suggestion as to what can be the problem? Thank you in advance Jean-Louis
I like to start with the low tech approach. Pull the wheel and tire and put it in a big bucket of water, maybe one of those kiddie pools. If your leak is really slow you might have to wait awhile.
Does your 348 have stock Ferrari wheels, or aftermarket wheels (3 piece?)? Do your wheels have normal rubber valve stems, or metal/threaded stems? Are your tires up-to-date, or are they pretty old, possibly with age cracks in the sidewalls? As suggested, the thing to do is put the tire/wheel into a dunk tank and look for bubbles. If the tire goes flat in two weeks, then it's losing air pretty quickly, and the source of the leak should be easy to identify. Don't use the "stop leak" products to fix it except as an emergency measure to get you home.
Mix some dish soap and water together in a spray bottle and go to town. Examine the tread area at the tires max pressure. If thats to no avail, then drop the pressure down to about 20 and check the bead (where the tire and wheel meet) area as well as the valve stem.
Thank you all for your suggestions. The tires are about 5 years old, but they have no cracks and plenty of tread left. When they put the tire initially in the dunk tank they thought that it was coming out of the valve. But I should have them re dunk the tire. I will let you all know what happens. Thank you all for your suggestions. Jean-Louis
Old tires like old gasoline are not good for your car. Tires continue to vulcanize as they sit unsude on the shelf or on your car. Thus, after a year or two, they no longer have the traction they used to have.
This probably isn't it, but here's a quick story from my days at Ford. One of the ride & handling engineers I got to know shared that he'd previously had a tire that was going flat on a random basis, just like yours. He took it in for service several times but they couldn't find the leak. After several occurances, he finally realized it only happened on rainy-wet days. After processing this for awhile, he put it in his bathtub for a couple of days and it went flat. In the end it turned out to be a wood splinter that was swelling when exposed to moisture, opening enough of a hole in the tire to allow the air to escape. Like I said, probably not the issue but the water dunk treatment also worked in this case, just differently.
Yes I have but not with my F car it was with my BMW the results I found were not only interesting but a little disturbing as well..,.. It was my BFF playing a joke on me damn it anyways Remember D.T.A ..............Don't trust anyone .
