Forum Discussion

thetechie01's avatar
thetechie01
Explorer
Oct 18, 2014

Check your valve stems!

Well, it happend... First flat on the trailer.

I got new tires when I bought the TT 3.5 years ago, I opted for 10-ply to replace the 8-ply that were shot. Took it to the local Goodyear shop and they provided the tires and did the install. Well my last trip, I decided to air them up to the max 80PSI (I had been running them at 65) and 30 miles from home, I saw the tread of my tire fly off in my mirror! I was able to get right over to the side of the road and stopped with no further damage than the tire. Long story short, got to les schwab and got a new tire. They found the cause, the Goodyear shop used rubber valve stems instead of metal, and the valve stem blew out. The rubber ones are only rated for 65PSI... Go figure! They put a metal one on there, and got me on my way (after setting all the tires to 62PSI) Now I just gotta get the other three changed out...
  • ol_Bombero-JC's avatar
    ol_Bombero-JC
    Explorer
    Oct 31, 2014
    thetechie01 wrote:
    Yep. I agree. I just figured the shop mounting the tires would know what they were doing.. Well I won't go back there again!


    *Any* tire shop -from Mom & Pop to Costco- will have a big turnover of the guys doing the labor.
    Frequently they were employed at Taco Bell or Mickey D's the previous week.

    It's *YOUR* job to check up on them.

    Another frequent "flaw" is employees using air impacts on the lugs when mounting rims.
    Lugs should be "snugged" with the impact, then torqued with a torque wrench.

    Frequent statement:
    "My impact is set for xx pounds, no problem".
    Yeah, right!

    Don't be afraid to call BS on that.
    It will be your wasted time (not theirs) when you have a stud they broke replaced.
    (Been there - experienced that, lesson learned!)..:(

    ~
  • Ron3rd's avatar
    Ron3rd
    Explorer III
    Oct 30, 2014
    When we got the new trailer, we had metal stems installed at America's Tire and the wheels balanced. Cost me $70 but well worth the peace of mine. I also have a TST TPMS system brought over from my old trailer and had trouble with rubber stems using the TST, even though TST told me I could do it. After 2 rubber stems failed, that made a believer out of me regarding Steel Valve Stems.
  • peirek's avatar
    peirek
    Explorer
    Oct 30, 2014
    Metal valve stems are all I use on my TT and TVs. I highly recommend for the few dollars more, especially if you are using screw on TPMS sensors. I also balanced my TT tires with the TPMS sensors in place. Tire shop (Discount) thought I was nuts, but in all cases the weights used to balance the assembly were directly or nearly directly across from the stem and sensor.
  • CavemanCharlie's avatar
    CavemanCharlie
    Explorer III
    Oct 20, 2014
    I'm sure this is all true. You say when you bought the trailer you put on new tires. Does this mean you bought a used trailer? If you did when you had the new tires put on did they install new valve stems? Or, did the cheapen out and used the old ones? If they did the age of the stem might have also contributed to the failure.
  • Lowsuv's avatar
    Lowsuv
    Explorer
    Oct 19, 2014
    johnnycap wrote:
    There are two types of rubber snap in valves...standard and high pressure.

    That is my understanding also .
    There are rubber high pressure stems .
    They can be identified by their length because they are 1 /4 inch longer .
  • HJGyswyt's avatar
    HJGyswyt
    Explorer
    Oct 19, 2014
    Several years ago a co-worker of mine bought a new GM truck and offered me his tires and wheels for $400. Nice factory aluminum wheels & Firestone tires. Made my older Suburban look much newer, and cheaper than a set of tires from any shop. But his tire shop had to remove the factory sensors inside the tire/wheel before I got them and they put rubber stems in place of the metal ones, and sure enough, I lost two of them on the road and eventually has Les Schwab put steelies in and had no problems since.

    On my older 96 pickup with aftermarket aluminum wheels I've had an ongoing corrosion problem with the steel valve stems. The local Les Schwab has been very patient since once or twice a year I bring it in with leaking valve stems, and they have to ream the hole and reinsert new stems. But they have never charged me since I'm using their Toyo brand tires.

    Hans
  • NHIrish's avatar
    NHIrish
    Explorer
    Oct 19, 2014
    JIMNLIN wrote:
    I use high pressure rubber valve stems on all of my trailers and trucks. Their rated to 100 psi and come OEM on all 2500/3500 trucks with E rated tires.

    A few years back there was a nation wide recall on the std duty 60 psi rated rubber valve stems that were made in china.


    True...there are high pressure rubber valve stems.

    Metal come with issue also...nuts can loosen etc. Bottom line is that many of the guys that work in tire shops don't know much about tires...and nothing about valve stems.
  • artguys's avatar
    artguys
    Explorer
    Oct 19, 2014
    OK...you caught the stem issue. Now the wheels. In looking at the pic they appear to be low end original equipment steel that came with the unit. The fact that they're steel is good as they flex and and allow the tires to work less, but because they are the OE wheels they too may not be rated for use with the higher pressures.
  • wmoses's avatar
    wmoses
    Explorer
    Oct 19, 2014
    Another solution to bending of rubber valve stems due to the centrifugal force on the stem-mounted TPMS sensors is to use a rubber sleeve over the valve stem. The rubber sleeve is a 1/2" piece of rubber fuel line with the appropriate inner diameter. Works perfectly with no need to switch (immediately) to metal stems. Besides not all rims allow the fitting of metal stems.
  • rexlion's avatar
    rexlion
    Explorer
    Oct 19, 2014
    I believe the high pressure stems have a coppery colored metal, with a rubber cover that ends partway up. When using TPM that screws onto the end of the stem, I always insist on ALL-metal valve stems, which are usually shiny metal (looks like stainless to me) with no rubber visible; the monitors can put a lot of side to side torque on the stem and weaken one that isn't strong enough. TST's website states, "The added weight of the sensor on a rubber valve stem could cause problems that will be avoided by using metal valve stems."

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