Toyota Vios - Tyre Change - New And Repair Costs? Pressure?

[ihightower]

One day my front left tire was found flat. An assistant helped me to buy a second hand tire for THB700 and changed it.

After a few days of using it, I found the replaced tyre was losing pressure too.

I normally put pressure for 30 at gas station every sunday and the next sunday the pressure was found to be 22.

The assistant took the car to do a recheck of the tire and found that the tire itself doesn't have a problem (after putting through a water test). He suggested that it may be to do with the Rim of the tire which may have dust or rusty, etc. Anyway he has cleaned it for now and asked me to check for another week.

I have the following questions:

1) What is the correct tire pressure for Vios? Is 22 (front-left) ok to survive say for every week of resetting it to be 30 again.

2) What is the cost for replacement of new tire? Is THB700 for second hand reasonable?

3) How often should we totally replace the tire to NEW.. after how many Kms? Or is there such thing?

4) Why would the second hand tire lose pressure quickly.. any ideas?

5) What is wrong with taking the spare tyre at the back and replace it with the front-left? My assistant said, the spare tyre may not be ideal to replace as it may be too old. Is it true? Then why have the spare tyre at the back.

I have no idea about technicalities of the car.. so please help.

[bifftastic]

One day my front left tire was found flat. An assistant helped me to buy a second hand tire for THB700 and changed it.

After a few days of using it, I found the replaced tyre was losing pressure too.

I normally put pressure for 30 at gas station every sunday and the next sunday the pressure was found to be 22.

The assistant took the car to do a recheck of the tire and found that the tire itself doesn't have a problem (after putting through a water test). He suggested that it may be to do with the Rim of the tire which may have dust or rusty, etc. Anyway he has cleaned it for now and asked me to check for another week.

I have the following questions:

1) What is the correct tire pressure for Vios? Is 22 (front-left) ok to survive say for every week of resetting it to be 30 again.

2) What is the cost for replacement of new tire? Is THB700 for second hand reasonable?

3) How often should we totally replace the tire to NEW.. after how many Kms? Or is there such thing?

4) Why would the second hand tire lose pressure quickly.. any ideas?

5) What is wrong with taking the spare tyre at the back and replace it with the front-left? My assistant said, the spare tyre may not be ideal to replace as it may be too old. Is it true? Then why have the spare tyre at the back.

I have no idea about technicalities of the car.. so please help.

tyre pressures should be somewhere on the car or on the tyre itself. Mine (VW) has advised pressures on a sticker in the door well and the tyres themselves have them on the side.

I would stick the spare on and put the 700Bt tyre as the spare. As long as the spare is legal ie not bald/worn/damaged it shouldn't matter how old it is. See how the spare performs and if it's the same then you've had 3 different tyres on the same wheel with the same problem, which would mean it ain't the tyre.

With regard to when tyres should be replaced there's no hard and fast rule, it depends on how and where you drive, generally speaking if you spend more and get expensive brands they tend to last longer. Front tyres will wear more at the sides than rear tyres so you can rotate (put back on front and vice versa) to get more life out of them.

Just have a look at them from time to time and check there's enough tread. I've had slow leaks before and just kept an eye on them and when they started to go down too fast replaced with part-worn/puncture repaired 2nd hand.

No idea about prices in Thailand sorry

[metisdead]

If you have alloy wheels there could be a possibility of pores in the inside of the wheel, a magazine suggested spreading silicone on the inside of the wheel before mounting the tire.

Tire pressures are not unique for a Vios, common to all cars, if you check your tire pressures in the morning they will be less than if you checked pressure after driving the car as the air in the tire will be hot, in the morning the air will be cool. Pressures should be set when the tire is cool, preferably. If you consistently drive the car with low pressure you will wear out the tire quicker as the tire will wear on the outer tread quicker and you will have reduced fuel economy. Also you need to rotate your tires for a better life: http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/rotatingtires.html

I don't know what the cost of a new tire is, never had to buy one, or 4 yet. I've always sold the car before I needed to buy new tires!

Spare tires, well maybe you are running alloy wheels on the 4 corners of your car, the spare tire will have a steel wheel, and in some cases is meant to get you to a garage to get your damaged tire repaired/replaced.

This may not answer all your questions, maybe will give you an idea.

[007cableguy]

i've just had to change my front tyres at 50,000km which i thought was good as i drive hard .

paid 1500 baht for 2 nearly new goodyears

[katabeachbum]

Tyre pressure for your car is in the drivers doorwell and manual. The tyre pressure on the tyre is the max pressure this tyre can handle, and is normally much higher than correct pressure for your car. Pressure should be checked with cold tyres, which is very difficult here. Get your own meter (100-200 baht) and check pressure at home.

Lifetime pending on how car is used and parked. Sunshine and heat ages and hardens the tyre. I d say max 3 years for any tyre in LOS and max 50k km on a Vios. I get a new car or truck every year, and can notice reduced traction due to aging in only 6-9 months/20k km.

A leaking tyre can work ok at city speed, but if driven fast on highway its likely to blow up. Sometimes its hard to find a small leak even when submerged in water.

Huge quality difference between the world names like Goodyear, Michelin and Bridgestone and the cheap ones. Your tyre is your only contact with motherearth when driving so dont go cheap

Edited October 24, 2009 by katabeachbum

[ihightower]

I have replaced another tyre which was losing air again... through an assistant... for THB1,000 second hand.

And, they have kept and returned the old one in the bunk...

My question is.. is the old tyre (leaking air tyre) any worth for somebody for resale.. and get some $$$ (may be 100-200 baht or sthg)

or.. is it just throw-away and no use to anyone at all.

If yes, where should i sell it.

--

Question 2: I still feel that my tyre is losing air every few weeks (visually). even though the pressure just about looks right at 30.

What should be the problem?

Should I just replace all my tyres to new ones... and this problem will be gone once and for all. Or, will it still remain (even with new tyres) due to some other problems in the car... like a disloged metal near the tyre puncturing it every time (even though new one). Is there such a thing?

Edited January 31, 2010 by ihightower

[kartman]

Q1 Old tyres with holes are worth a fortune that's why you see piles of them outside tyre shops they keep them for a "rainy"day.

Q2 Your punture problem is because of the roads your driving on, in future you sould survey the route your taking first and check it for foreign objects ie nails,glass etc that should solve the problem wether using S/H or new tyres.

[mirthseeker]

I have replaced another tyre which was losing air again... through an assistant... for THB1,000 second hand.

And, they have kept and returned the old one in the bunk...

My question is.. is the old tyre (leaking air tyre) any worth for somebody for resale.. and get some $$ (may be 100-200 baht or sthg)

or.. is it just throw-away and no use to anyone at all.

If yes, where should i sell it.

--

Question 2: I still feel that my tyre is losing air every few weeks (visually). even though the pressure just about looks right at 30.

What should be the problem?

Should I just replace all my tyres to new ones... and this problem will be gone once and for all. Or, will it still remain (even with new tyres) due to some other problems in the car... like a disloged metal near the tyre puncturing it every time (even though new one). Is there such a thing?

I would never buy a second hand tyre. No-one can tell whether there has been internal damage due to rough treatment by the previous owner. It may have had damage which has been repaired, maybe badly (as the OP may have discovered, the first second hand tyre may have had a leak). Tyres are the only contact point with the road!

Whether you use one is up to you.

If you buy a new one, make sure you have even wear on both front tyres (the depth of tread - the grooves in the tyre). It's not so important to have equal wear on the back tyres. And if possible make sure there are good tyres on the front.

Unless your other 3 tyres are badly worn, (the tread (grooves) are less then 5 mm deep), then I wouldn't be replacing them all.

Don't believe your eyes if you think a tyre is going down slowly. Either get yourself a tyre gauge (as someone suggested earlier) (the auto section of any large supermarket), or at the service station check that all 4 tyres are the same pressure (remembering that when the tyres are hot, the pressure may be higher).

If it is going down slowly, take the car to a tyre service, and get them to fix it. Or get it fixed next time the car is serviced. Up to you, but don't drive on a tyre with low pressure, cornering and braking will become unpredictable, and maybe unsafe. And the tyre will wear more.

It might be the tyre itself, it might be a tyre valve, it may be a slow leak through the wheel metal. It might be something sharp on the wheel surface, as you say, but that is most unlikely, because they would have checked that when fitting your second hand tyres.

If they can't find the leak, maybe they can put a tube inside the tyre.

[ballbreaker]

My Vios requires 30 psi in front and 29 psi for rear.

Change tires when tread wears even with wear bar located between treads. I recently changed mine after 70,000 km.

Buy only new tires like Michelin or other name brand and rotate tires as specified in owners manual every 10,000 km.

[Digitalbanana]

Yes only buy new. A Vios set of 4 will cost around 10000THB.