Leaky Valve Stems

[kanyonkitty]

I'm tired of the valve stems leaking. On sunday, I removed both tires on the door side of Sunny. They are at the shop, getting the valve stems replaced, hopefully with metal bolt-in stems if possible with my aluminum wheels. When I get those tires back, I will put them back on Sunny, and move my equiptment over to the drivers side and repeat the process. It would have been nice to have been able to remove ALL 4 at once, but "I" wasn't sure of that procedure. It's currently 70 degrees here, and I'm hoping to get the tires back this evening, so I can start on the other side.





Since I have the wheels off, should I do anything else right now? Brakes & bearings will get checked beginning of March before I head to Walterboro, SC for spring break.

Kitty

 

[RPierce]

Kitty do you know for sure your valve stems are leaking? If I remember you had new tires put on not to long ago. Make sure they put Bead sealer on your rims when they remount them. When I worked in a auto garage we always used it on aluminum rims or rims that were rusted and pitted. For some reason aluminum rims are sometimes hard to get to seal. Just thought I would mention it.

Good Luck

 

[kanyonkitty]

Thanks for the heads up Bob. I remember the guy taking what looked like a mini-mop and slopping something around the edges of the tires before he aired them up. One thing I did notice when I was re-installing the RR pressure pro sensor, was that the valve stem turned with my fingers. I am guessing that is not supposed to happen. The right hand tires are still with good neighbor at his tire place. Hope to know something soon. But, WOW, is that Pressure Pro monitoring system great.

 

[JohnGB]

Kitty

You are right. The valve stem is not suppose to rotate. Problem no. 1. And as Bob said, alum rims can be an issue with tire bead leaks around the rim. Most have a coating on them to help offset corrosion. Once the tire is taken off the next one can have issues. But they have bead sealers that help over come this.

The mop looking goop you where referring to is normal to help the tire machine peel off the old tire off the rim and to install the new one. The rubber lube makes the tire machine work the tire on the rim easier. This is generally standard practice even on steel rim. And yes sometimes it is both lube and sealant pending the brand.

If your going to a tire shop and you tell them you have a slow leak and to fix it, well any good shop knows these things and should be able to fix you right up.

I have alum rims on our vehicles and the steel rims on the TT’s. The TT’s never loose air, the vehicles, well not so lucky.

Good luck

John

PS if you want to check that valve stem, put a little soapy water around the valve stem and wiggle it. If it is a leak source it will bubble up.

 

[Sunline Fan]

Message content deleted by author.

 

[nickster60]

I like to use the high pressure stems(the ones withe the metal on them) on my trailer tires. I use them on my lanscaping trailers. They seem to last longer and if you scuff them on a curb they dont break or suffer much damage.