I have a 2007 Azera Limited with about 13,500 miles on it.

The past few weeks I have noticed that my front driver's side tire seems to be leaking air at the rate of about 1-2psi per day.

It has happened thrice now in the past month. I keep my tires inflated to 35psi. However, this front driver's side tire loses about 7-8 psi every week & sets off the TPMS. All the other tires lose maybe about 1-2 a month. (I check them monthly)

Now, there are 3 possible reasons. A nail or some minor tear on the tire. The other reason might be a faulty Metal Valve Stem or the tire rim.

If it turns out to be a problem with the valve stem or the rim, would it be covered by the warranty? Would the warranty be Hyundai's or Michelins?

This post has been edited by wobbly_ears: Oct 12 2008, 09:22 PM

If it's the rim and caused by a manufacturing error the warranty should work. I'm betting on a nail/screw embedded in the tire - hopefully it's not on or next to a sidewall and you can have it plugged.

Mine did the same thing twice on two different tires. Once it was the valve stem and the other was a tiny piece of metal. My local Firestone didn't charge me anything to fix them (they service 4 cars for me and the manager knows a good customer when he sees one :clap: ).

Hey, thanks guys! I'm planning to take it to a local tire shop near work today. Or, do you think I am better pff taking it to the dealer?

The reason I'm asking this question is that with the recent reports on recall of Chinese made generic valve stems & the fact that it has TPMS? Also, since there are so few Azzys on the road here, would hey have OEM metal valves at my local Firestone or NTB?

Get yourself some kiddie bubble solution and a spray bottle and spray the valve stem and along the bead (where the wheel and the tire meet) in and out. Spray all around the tire too.
If there is a leak you will make pretty bubbles.
Good luck. :57:

You guys were right on target. It was a small nail right on the sidewall. Probably one of the remnants from Hurricane Ike. (I have been driving in areas in Houston where the fences are still down)

Went to NTB to get a new Michelin & my heart almost jumped to my mouth when I looked at the price!

$180 later, I was out on a new tire at 13800 miles.

Sigh. **** you Hyundai for choosing a really expensive OEM tire...

you probably have a nail in the tire, i had a nail in mine for about 5 months brought my car in for oilchanges and balance and another time for 30k service and the **** techs didnt even tell me i had a nail i mean they rotated and balanced all the tires how could they of not spotted the nail ?
it kind of got me worried to the point where if i dont ask for the tech to look for something they wont tell you its wrong... =\

I have had two nails removed in the same time six months ago and have never had a leak in my tire. Matter of fact none of my tires loose air. I have 16,000 miles on the car and the tires hold air just fine.

I've had three tires go flat because of nails. Just this past weekend one of them had a nail near the side wall and at an extreme angle. The Tire guys wouldn't fix it because they said the patch wouldn't hold. They also demonstrated to me how the Michelin tires are (in their opinion) too flexible in the side wall. It looked like they could almost turn it inside out. BTW, I've never seen the tire pressure monitor come on in all three incidents. I think it may not work.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/puzzled.gif)

So the question follows: What are you doing for a replacement tire?

Your TPMS should activate your dash indicator at any psi below 25 lbs.
Another trip to the stealership?

BTW, don't give up on the factory rep idea. Keep putting the screws to Hyundai and perhaps,
just maybe, the higher ups will get the message and develop a better replacement shock.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif)

Delfin

Interesting on the nails. I had a nail on the very left side by the side wall but still in the tread. Wal-Mart won't touch it and wanted me to buy a new tire. Very expensive. I took it to my buddy at Tire Discounters and they fixed it free of charge. He said this particular Michelin tire is great on a car. They rarely have problems. I have driven the car seven thousand miles since and no air loss.

Sure like your bottom sign off. The suspension on my 2006 Azera sucks as%

Yeah slow leak is almost always a nail, but I have put patches into tires... I don't know why you wouldn't, you have to get the tire off the car and it takes a bit of elbow grease, but ultimately, it works, the tires don't leak. I'm thinking of a set of 10-year-old tires I had on a low mileage Taurus we sold early last year. The tread was getting somewhat low (52k miles) so it kept picking things up... from where, I know not. It simply had a propensity for finding sharp metal refuse. I had 3 patches in one front tire and 2 in the other, and they were just fine. Replaced the tires before selling because of the tread, not the patches.

You only replaced one tire? Hmm...

I wouldn't fault them for it, even a nail with a big flat head can be hard to spot in the tread - a small nail will almost disappear into the rubber. The only way to find it is if you know there's a problem, an air leak. Usually I take off the wheel, hose it off, then spray it all around with a spray bottle with a bunch of dish soap and water, shaken well. It starts to foam around the leak. Out of maybe a dozen nails and screws I have pulled out of tires on my cars, I would have been able to see only 1 or 2 without the soapy water, and even at that, there's NO way I would have noticed them without being aware of a problem, an air leak, that would prompt me to look for it.