Tire Valve Stem Cracking

[philh]

TT is just under 2 years old. It's been sitting for almost a year, and I moved it from storage near our B&M to our new residence. Turned on TPMS, and I'm showing 50 PSI 😞 Got out my new Rigid air pump, and filled the tires...

Looking at the valve stems and they are cracked all over the stem. These are the cheap China Bombs that too many have reported "suddenly" blow, causing a lot of damage.

Even tho we will probably only have this TT for another year, I'm biting the bullet and putting on Goodyear tires tomorrow and adding a metal valve stem. We still have a trip planned to FL over Christmas.

[Nv_Guy]

I had a tire failure this last summer (1 yr old GY tires), after looking at the result I noticed the valve stem was gone. I have seen a lot of tire failures in my time (mine and others) and this is the first where the rubber stem was missing. End result, when I replaced the blown tire, the other 4 (included spare) got metal stems.

[Ron3rd]

If you're running external TPMS sensors metal stems are required.

[lhenry8113]

Metal valve stems are definitely the way to go with your Good Year tires. "China Bombs" do unbelievable damage when they blow to the wheel well as well as the RV interior around the wheel well area.

[Lwiddis]

American made valves stems never fail?

[Beverley_Ken]

Yes, good quality rubber, not. On a trailer that we had, after about 2 or 3 years, during the winter. I saw that one tire was flat and another very soft. The soft tire and the always covered spare had very bad cracks in the rubber valve stems. The flat tire, the stem had actually broken off. I'm glad it happened in my driveway and not on the highway.

Ken

[RoyF]

Metal stems are a good move. I don't know how many times I had to have a leaky valve stem replaced (and it's always during a trip) before switching to metal stems. And the cost of a good tire is cheap compared to the collateral damage caused by a blowout.