Stupid Valve Stems

01silverado2500 · July 20, 2005

Well I had 2 valve stems let go in the matter of 4 days on my HD. The first one started leaking as we were towing the trailer and the second one went out when we got home a few days later. All of the stems were replaced last May when we got the new tires. I also had one of the original ones failed when we first got the truck. I cant believe this, and they are suppose to be the Heavy Duty ones with that metal part on them. I just looked at my new Sierra and it has the same style stems and after this I may have them changed to the regular kind.

Anyone else have this kind of problem? It just seems odd for 2 of them to go in the matter of 200 miles.

01silverado2500 · July 20, 2005

Oh and what I mean by fail, the metal stem broke away from the rubber part that goes into the wheel.

WileE1 · July 21, 2005

Just an idea but do you take your truck through an automated car wash?

My family owns a car wash and the thing is nutorious for damaging them....

Just an idea seems pretty weird ...theres gotta be something out of the ordinary going on?

Have a tire place that only uses the little all metal ones change them out...they are a bit more but they will last the life of the wheel under normal circumstances

Wingnut · July 22, 2005

Weird...I've done some crazy stuff in my rigs, and I've never even considered the valve stems, nor have I had one go bad.

Now watch, I'll break one off next weekend when I hit the river

WileE1 · July 22, 2005

No doubt!

Next thing you know the General is adding an extra 100000 miles on to the warranty and there is post after post to try and figure out the years affected most...oh and don't forget about the 20 polls.....

01silverado2500 · July 22, 2005

no automatic car wash for my truck, and even when i clean the wheels myself i use a small sponge and I am careful around the stems. I guess it was just a bad batch of them when I got my tires changed. I think Im going to take the time this week to get the other 2 replaced just to be safe.

melbertbloosfan · July 22, 2005

Go with the metal, bolt-in, type. Pep-boys has them for about $10 a set. Have the tire guys break the top bead, install the metal stems (tight!!), and then refill with air (or whipped cream if you prefer, duh). If you don't rotate the tire on the rim - no new balance needed.

Good luck!