Get some tubes put in, derf. That's what I'd do. Hell of a lot cheaper than new wheels.

 

On the subject of "new wheels", I see all kinds of offers for 97sc2 wheels that have been refurbished.....however wouldn't they potentially/eventually have the same porosity issues (if indeed that is why I am losing air so evenly amongst the tires)?

I had a tire on the 95SC2 that I would have to fill with air every 3 days. Drove on it that way for months. Finally got fed up and went to a highly recommended hole in the wall tire shop in the seedy part of town. Guys working there looked like they had broken out of prison from the deep south. ZZ Top beards the whole 9 yards....

Put the wheel+tire in the dunk tank. 35psi. 40 psi. 45psi. 50 psi. Not one damn bubble.

Dismounted the tire. bad corrosion along the edge of the rim where the tire meets the wheel surface.
Would only leak under the weight of the car which I suppose deformed the seal just enough to leak.

5 min of gentle wire brushing with a power tool and I was good to go.
If I find out they are not bent, I may have them clean up the corrosion on all 4 of these to hopefully stop the air loss. might also ask them about the silicone sealant discussed earlier in the thread.

 

Hi ho, hi ho, back to the seedy shop you go?

 

Aluminum rim tire air leak?
O.K., My Saturn, like a few other people on the forum, has been owned since 1996, it is parked outside and while it is not driven often the tire rot problem has forced replacement of tires when rot got bad enough to affect the tire. The current ones were put on new about 4 years ago, all four. It is dry here (surprise!) so rim damage is not an issue. Along with the Saturn, my Chrysler T&C purchased new Dec 2008 was wearing Chrysler 300 aluminum wheels purchased used in 2010 up until the time it was totaled, those wheels are now on a Mobility Dodge Caravan I am placing back in service for a friend who owns it. My Spirit has aluminum wheels purchased at a swap meet before I moved to Arizona some time before 1995. My Hornet is using 2005 Ford Shelby Cobra wheels. The '74 Hornet is resting on Ford Pick up aluminum wheels purchased at a yard sale about 10 years ago and my 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan is on aluminum wheels that came with it.
The point? Nothing is leaking air or showing the symptoms of it.
Rubber, according to a tire recap business I was friendly with when I was in the service in North Carolina would not guarantee that his tires would not throw a tread unless it was sold and mounted with a tube in it. At that point in time recapping tires was a big business and there were three of them in Raleigh one of which did guarantee a tubeless tire when recapped and mounted with out a tube.
At that time one of my shipmates had a Chevy Impala convertible and as service people money was tight and he put recapped tires on the front, found a back road and wound it up to 100 mph and threw the caps twice. I talked him into going to my friends shop and buying tires there and using a tube. '
Mounted that way he never threw a tread. Nor did I on anything I owned when mounting a cap with a tube.
The reason presented for working was rubber is a poor retainer of air and when a tire was capped, the air would work up through the old casing and get trapped under the new rubber cap, create a bubble and cause the cap to separate.
The point, I don't see a problem with a tire mounted on an aluminum rim loosing air unless there is corrosion of the wheel at the mounting surfaces, '
I don't see corrosion here as a problem due to lack of moisture which makes sense. So the idea of a corroded rim causing leakage makes sense. If corrosion exists.
I do not believe that aluminum rims are prone to corrosion any more than steel is and steel would be a problem where road salt is used. As would aluminum. Actually I raise the same question with aluminum Ford Trucks when road salt is a problem, but then again I would not SEE it either where I live.

The first question I would raise is?
What ever happened to tire recapping as a business, I have not seen automobile tires recapped in over two decades. Large trucks yes but cars no.
I don't see aluminum wheels as a problem unless corroded. The same with steel. Bent aluminum wheels I don't see a problem as much as I would see bent steel wheels. But I don't know. Bent steel wheels I think would bend different the aluminum if for no other reason than most aluminum are shaped for cosmetic reasons and probably would bend to be unserviceable. More so than steel wheels. '
But internal ply shifting of the tires is something that over the some 50+ years of driving I have seen a whole lot of.
Front wheel drive cars have CV joints on the half shafts going to the wheel and tire with a bearing on the steering knuckle to let things turn. I have lost two bearings and at least a half a dozen CV joints for one reason or another. I can see a CV joint acting weird causing vibration problems with engine loading being a variable. The ones I lost by in large caused a vibration when making turns and I don't remember much more than that. I have usually purchased a half shaft and changed them out myself. I am getting older now and I am not sure what I would do but I probably would still change them out myself. But with a vibration coming in at a specific speed causing steering wheel vibration, something serious is plaguing you, it is not typical of the front wheel bearing to be a problem. The fact that when turning the spring turns which is definitely not good (I have the whole assembly for one side in a parts stash) and may be part of the problem. Don't know but maybe the CV joint?
O.k., I rambled, it's morning and I am half asleep.
Later
John

 

I THINK recapping and selling tires for regular passenger vehicles was outlawed years ago, UNC. But, I'm not sure. They SHOULD outlaw them on tractor trailers! I've been beside and behind recaps when they've come loose on rigs. NOT a fun experience. They can do major damage to cars and trucks that are in the vicinity when they come loose. Why in the hell it's still okay to sell and use them anymore is beyond me. As far as I'm concerned, tractor trailers are the LAST things that need to be running recaps.

 

well -----

My wife and I did a visual check on the wheels and tires. I know, too slow a rotation by hand but there was nothing obvious, inside or outside wheel edges or tires, no obvious tread irregularities and no out of roundness could be felt. No side to side wobble.

In a related unrelated matter, my upper torque axis mount failed the No 2 pencil test.
I already had the new one on hand so I swapped it out. Vibration dampened by 90%.

Whatever the vibrations were coming from, it was feeding back through the engine/tranny combo and the mount was apparently not doing any vibration isolation.

With the new mount, the vibe at 63 is noticeable because I know it is there.
I probably should deal with it, but I'll wait till after inspection in Nov.

After I cleaned the EGR, the pcm has been trying to re establish idle, which I assume is so different because the pintle is moving properly and letting more exhaust gases recirculate.

I actually threw a System Rich code P0172 a few times, prob for the same reason.
All seems ok for now --- idle almost relearned.

 

When I lost my computer a year + back I also lost a professional series service program that I used heavily to diagnose and basically work with Saturn service needs. An attempt to salvage that program failed. Well? Reality is I obtained the program through an "X" mechanic retired and now gone it was handy as heck. I miss it as the explanations of problems were well done. I never did purchase a factory service manual for my Saturn as between that program and my dollar two ninety eight service document purchased from the auto-parts store allowed me to work not only on mine but on any model Saturn made (and untold numbers of other vehicles too).
Probably I will not be able to chase down additional service literature but I will check swap meets as I get to them.
As far as tools, the two most important tools I have discovered that are essential when working on todays more modern (rather than say, the 1930 Model A Ford I owned at one point in time) is a scan tool that allows one not only to read the codes generated but exercise individual parts of the car as needed and a fuel pressure gauge as not only is fuel pressure an indicator that fuel is actually getting to the car but a variable in many cases as to how well it may run.
Have a good day!
John

 

I have a very similar problem with my '02 Saturn SL1. The front end and steering wheel vibrate at speeds between 50mph and 60mph, but only under load. I have good tires on it; Generals with only about 5,000 miles on them. They are rotated, checked for air and balance, regularly. I thought at first it was the balancer at the tire shop and had them rotated twice right after I bought them. It did the same with the old tires too. We took a trip from here in PA to WV and of course had several hills to contend with. The poor thing felt like it was going to shake itself apart struggling up those hills. I also thought at first that I had a bunch of bad tires because I didn't notice the vibration was just under load. It has the standard steel wheels on it and the standard wheel covers. And it does not make a particle of difference which tires are on the front. It's very faithful in that sense. :-) I have no idea what it can be. I thought I'd toss it around here before I talk to my mechanic and see what we come up with. Thanks to everyone for your help. It has 106k miles on it.
I sure do like the car, but it does use about 1 qt of oil to 1,000 miles. I had a Mazda Rotary engine and that was engineered to use that amount of oil because of the seals and never thought anything of it. I was surprised when I saw that this Saturn was using that much. So, I just put up with it because it doesn't smoke, doesn't leak, and runs fine. YEA for Saturns!

 

You might want to have someone check your axles, Ron. You might have a defective CV joint in one of them. If so, just replace the whole axle. It's a lot easier and cheaper to do that, than the joint. Go figure.

 

Thanks, Man. I did wonder about the CV joints and even wondered about a motor mount. I'll have to get it looked at and see what the scoop is.
YEA for Saturns!
Ron K