Strange tire incident

[markuszoom5]

Last morning I started driving and the low tire pressure light came on. I turned around and drove back home. Checked tire pressure and 3 tires were 34 and the right rear was 26. I checked tire and cannot see any damage or nail. Added air to spec and drove around also checked this AM and no air is lost. Now I know that nobody let air out of my tire. What the heck could have happened?

 

[Rally Man]

It's happened to me as well. Checked my tire with no damage.

 

[sac02]

 

[Robotazky]

Sometimes hitting a bump can cause it under the right conditions, which is kinda scary.

Maybe you had just enough grit in the valve stem to cause it to stick open a tiny amount.

 

[markuszoom5]

aliens, bumps, grit, all valid explanations. If they start glowing or levitating I will let you know.

 

[sac02]

Not every leak is visible externally like a large nail or screw. You can easily pick up a staple, piece of wire, etc that you can't see but will still leak air slowly.

Also, you said you checked it after 1 day and it hadn't lost any air. 1 day isn't a lot of time for a slow leak.

When was the last time (before your light came on) that you checked tire pressure? No clue what your tire maintenance habits are like, but most people who rely on the light to come on won't check tire pressures ever, or maybe once a year when it starts to get cold. That's a lot of time for a slow leak to work on that tire - you could be losing 0.1psi per day, which wouldn't register as significant in your 1 day test (if you could even detect it reliably) but 0.1psi per day would take only 2.5 months to leak down from 34 to 26psi.

 

[MTec007]

My favorite way of checking for leaks is dish soap & water in a spray bottle. Take the tire off and spray the whole tire, a little at a time. If there is a leak, even a small one, it will start bubbling. It could be a tread leak, valve stem or even around the bead.

 

[Robotazky]

aliens, bumps, grit, all valid explanations. If they start glowing or levitating I will let you know.

I don't care about your tire, so don't bother.

I was trying to be helpful.

 

[thaxman]

Bad valve stem or unseated bead are most likely. Use a dunk tank or you may never find out what really did it.