Greetings,

I have a 2013 Dyna Switchback which has polished aluminum rims on the inside of where the tire goes. I change out the tire last summer, have since put about 5k miles on it, and all was good until a few weeks ago. Went to go for a ride and noticed the pressure was down about 5psi after about 5 days. Filled it, went for a ride and all was fine. Didn't ride for a couple of weeks and noticed the psi was down from 36 to about 15psi.

My buddy came over and we did a test. We filled up the tire and wet the tire and rim. Noticed bubbles coming between the tire and the rim. Last night, the same buddy brought over his tools for tire changing. Broke the bead and noticed a white'ish, chalky'ish , gritty substance all around the bead of the tire and also the inside of the rim.

Does anyone know what this is from? When I had installed the tire, I used a soapy water mixture to lube the tire for installation. My buddy is theorizing that the soapy mixture made the aluminum rim oxidize on the inside. The current tire is the 2nd one installed, and I had also used the soapy mixture for lube on the previous install and had no issue.

Also, would you buy a new tire? I'm wondering if the strength of the tire has been compromised in some way.

 

Depending on what type of soap you used , could very well be oxidized from that . I would use a mixture of liquid dish soap to clean it up and reinstall . make sure you clean up the rim very well where the tire seats the rim , using some fine steel wool or fine emery cloth .

I don't think you have anything to worry about when it comes to the tire , just clean up the edge .

 

Phew....thanks!

 

If you used water from a municipal source, it had chlorine in it and will oxidise aluminum. Use Ru-Glyde.

Ru-Glyde Tire Mounting and Rubber Lubricant

 

Like others stated that white crap is the aluminum oxidizing. This is common with aluminum wheels when they aren't cleaned up and mounted properly. Happens in car/trucks all the time. Clean it up and remount it and you should be fine.

 

Excellent....thank you!