Tire Valve Stems?

[ultrarunner]

I've been around tires my entire life... the last 5 years I have a couple of stems go bad each year and all on bought with new tires with new stems at different shops.

Last year I had two new premium tires put on my Utility trailer... got a flat yesterday and couldn't find a puncture... sure enough, the valve stem is split.

This year got a flat on a two year old tire on the BMW and it was also a bad valve stem... and a month later the another one let go on the same car... so I had the two remaining changed.

Going back about 5 years there are several more... always rubber stems a year or two old...

I was thinking of going to metal but those are not foolproof either.

Is this just the way it is today... $200 tires taken out by a $2 rubber stem?

 

[dfkrug]

Yeah, all 4 of the stems on my trailer went out about the same time about 5 or so years after I bought it.

When I have new tires put on my vehicles, I do not have the stems replaced if they have been holding up. I
look for bulges in the bases of them. New stems may actually create a problem.

 

[stuckmotor]

I once got a flat because the end of the valve stem got pinched on the metal housing of a street drain.

 

[Gunny]

I've run into the same problems you're having Ultrarunner, bugs the heck out of me when I go to use a trailer or implement and it has a flat, used to have the stems fail on my fifth wheel on a pretty constant basis.
Since then, whenever I have a flat because of the valve stem, I replace it with one of the metal bolt in stems. Unless I need a long stem, I make sure to use the short stem to keep down the possibility of scrubbing it against something.
It's been about four years since I started doing this and I've never had one of the bolt in stems fail on me in that period.

I've got an HF manual tire changer, so it's no big problem to break the bead on a tire, replace the stem, then I air it up and if it's on something that needs a balanced tire, I'll just take it into town and have someone balance it for me.

 

[oosik]

I've had Les Schwab tires do all my tire work for the last 37 years. Only valve stem related problems - the last four years of the twenty seven years I owned the Ford 1700 tractor. The calcium chloride solution finally started taking out the valve stem on each rear tire every year. Real PITA. Major reason the M6040 has RimGuard.

Otherwise - all my vehicles - except motorcycle - ride on Toyo tires from Les Schwab. No valve stem nor tire problems.

 

[BHD]

I ended up with some bad valve stems, and since then I went with the metal clamp in stile of valves stem and have not had any problems since,

simualr to this, Amazon.com: Milton 47 TR 416 Clamp In Tubeless Tire Valve - Box of 5: Automotive

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have only had one issue with valve stems and that was when I replaced the tires (Sam's Club) on my truck. A few days after getting the new tires, I found one flat. Aired it up and found that the valve stem was leaking. Took it back to Sam's and the tech had to put in about 5 new stems before he got one that wouldn't leak. So far it is still holding. I have never had one fail from aging during the life of the tire.

Got one on the wife's 2003 SUV that is the original spare tire, so far no problems. Last time I needed anew tire, I bought a new one, put it on the spare tire rim and used the spare for the replacement. Got about 9K miles on it with no signs of any problems. I had been seeing lots of folks including my tire shop recommending that tires should be changed at 5 years so I decided to just run the spare (never been on the ground in its life) till it failed so as to get some use from it and to see if there was justification for the tire life span. So far I think it is about like the 3000 mile oil changes. My spare was always mounted under the vehicle away from sunlight and since it wasn't ever ran, it seemed to be just like new. Valve stem is still holding as expected also. It had leaked down to 25 PSI in the 15 years it had been under the car.

 

[mikester]

Made in China

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^My guess too...

 

[Tennsawdust]

Made in China

Last time I changed the tires on the mower I went through 4 before I found one that wouldn't split while being installed.

 

[Tennsawdust]

I've got an HF manual tire changer, so it's no big problem to break the bead on a tire, replace the stem, then I air it up and if it's on something that needs a balanced tire, I'll just take it into town and have someone balance it for me.

I've been kicking myself ever since I spent the $35 on one of those HF manual changers. Why, oh why did I not do that sooner?? It took me all of 10 minutes total to put a new front tire on the tractor. If I had driven into town to have it done it would have blown 2 hours easy.

 

[ruffdog]

Made in China valve stems dating back to 2006.:recall:

Warning: Chinese Made Valve Stems at pitstopsrq.com

My 2006 RTV900 had these bad stems so I replaced them with older US made truck stems....never had another problem.

 

[ultrarunner]

It does seem when people spend hundreds of dollars on each tire to be safe that a $1 stem can make the tire a moot point.

I wonder if Costco uses a better stem... I know they use Green Caps for Nitrogen and so far... I have never had a bad stem with a green stem cap.

Didn't make it to the parts store today... plan is to compress the tire and pop in a new stem... the other side.

Thanks for the recall info...

 

[Texasmark]

I've had Les Schwab tires do all my tire work for the last 37 years. Only valve stem related problems - the last four years of the twenty seven years I owned the Ford 1700 tractor. The calcium chloride solution finally started taking out the valve stem on each rear tire every year. Real PITA. Major reason the M6040 has RimGuard.

Otherwise - all my vehicles - except motorcycle - ride on Toyo tires from Les Schwab. No valve stem nor tire problems.

What do you want to bet that they used to be brass and today are cadmium plated steel......same thing with the tank bolts on your commode. Those little blue/white circles you put in the tank to keep the bowl blue eat away both the plating and the steel.

 

[PILOON]

Agree on the commode bowl bolts, been there.
Also have yet to see a small utility China tire (the small 5 and 6 inch ones) that holds air, even when tubed as well.

 

[ultrarunner]

I went to the tire shop, not the one where I bought the tire, and had the valve stem replaced.

They also balanced it and I was expecting to pay... said no charge... just remember us when you need tires...

I was very surprised... it was a busy shop with 6 bays and everyone working... took 10 minutes from rolling the tire out to putting loading it in the Samaria...

I noticed Slime sells a line of valves and accessories... might pick up some... metal and rubber.

Tire is not common and only found one manufacturer that still makes the heavy duty load rated 14 " tire...

They are made for the old VW bus which has a high GVW and regular 14 inch tires simply fall short.

I have found these bus tires top notch for trailers with 14" rims...

Here is a detailed explanation if anyone is interested or needs enhanced load with a 14" rim.

Tires & Safety (Bus/Vanagon/Eurovan) | BusDepot.com