I posted this over on the wheels/tires forum, but put it here also hoping to hit a wider audience....

Here's the story, my wife took her Excursion to have a leaky front tire fixed. The guy at the tire shop told her the tire was fine, BUT the wheel - a Centerline (he says 2 piece wheel) is leaking on a 'weld' on the inside of the rim. When I say inside the rim, I mean the area where the tube used to be! It is my understanding that the type of Centerline rims that are on this truck would be of either the one piece, or two piece variety, with two piece meaning a one piece rim with the wheel center welded to the center of the rim. With this in mind, I can't see where there would be a weld inside the rim....not that I've ever seen a wheel that was welded in the center of the rim......

Anyone have any idea what this guy might be talking about?
Unfortunately I wasn't there, and this is all the info I have. I've tried the Centerline site, but I can't find much info on it, other than the way the one piece and two piece wheels are made (related above).

Oh, yeah, one last thing, the nice guy at the tire store did tell her that he could sell her a new set of aluminum rims (in 16" - not the original 16.5") and then sell her some close out tires in the proper size to go on them (the tires will soon need replacing, but....). Does anyone see any issues with downsizing the rims to 16's? I DO see some issues with the new rims/tires to replace the one possibly bad rim, that he said was probably in the $350.00 range - a quick check of prices shows it should be around $200.00 or so....

Thanks for any help!

Craig.

 

Stock rim size is 16".

I don't know much about the construciton of two-piece wheels so I cannot be of much assistance. However, with that fact in mind, if it were my leaky wheel, I'd get a second opinion.

 

Hmmmm....well then I guess someone put 16.5"s on it then before I bought it....I guess I'll be taking it somewhere else......

Thanks.

 

Well, you did say the rim was a Centerline, and Ford doesn't offer those ... so it's obviously not the original wheel. You didn't mention if your Centerline rims are steel or aluminum. I have seen standard steel "wagon wheels" (white 8-spoke wheels) leak where the center section was welded to the rim. If you buy aluminum wheels & tires, make certain the rims are rated for at least 3,200# per wheel, and the tires are Load Range "E".

 

Sorry, I should have noted they were aluminum......

A bit of checking today reveals that Center Line did indeed MAKE (as in past tense) a two piece wheel where you have 1/2 the rim and the center section as one piece, and the second 1/2 of the rim seperate. They then weld the rim down the middle making it one piece....that weld is apparently where the leak is occurring.

I talked to Center Line - who gave me this info - and they said the rims will do this if "stressed". The rim is true, and to my knowledge has not been abused since I've had the vehicle. They could not tell me how much "stress" would cause this, just that it could..... What gets me is that everything is fine and the rim just starts to leak...apparently nothing done to precipitate it....

I dunno whose brilliant idea it is to make something that you weld together like that, but I can tell you this.....those puppys are GONE, and something with a better design is going on - and a different brand.....tomorrow! Perhaps Center Line smartened up and that's why this wheel is NLA.

Thanks again for the info.

 

Had the same thing happen with a set of centerlines, actually alloy rim leaks are fairly common, GM makes a compound that you put on the inside of the rim (its sort of like epoxy) to seal up porous castings, rather than have to replace the whole rim. Might get you by till you have the $$$$ for exactly wht your after.
Good Luck, R.

 

Have you pulled any of the rims to see what the rated capacity is? That could be an argue-point on whether or not they been "stressed."

I have 3-piece aluminum rims on my GT40 replica ... two rim halves sandwiching a center section ... meaning TWO seams per rim which could leak. Before mounting the tires, I applied a skim-coat of silicone caulking. No leaks since 1994.