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Old 06-12-2010, 05:04 PM   #1
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I was checking the air pressure in my 2 year old tires the other day, and discovered that the rubber valve stems were seriously cracked. I was very surprised, as my trailer is stored under cover and the tires are not subject to continuous sunlight. The valve stems were installed along with the new tires.

I did a search on the internet, and sure enough, as many as 30 million defective made in China valve stems are in circulation. They are made of plain rubber and typically fail in a couple of years as they are not UV and ozone resistant. Apparently these defective parts were made in 2006 and may have been installed between 2006 and 2007, perhaps even later (I think my tires were installed 2008). Tire valve stem failure can cause the tire to completely deflate in seconds, which could easily cause a serious accident - if your tires fall within this time span, inspect them today!

I replaced mine with metal valve stems this time, no more worries about rotting rubber valve stems.

Steve.
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Old 06-12-2010, 05:47 PM   #2
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I think this was posted before, But anyway its good to remind everyone again. This has been brought up in other forums also.
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Old 06-12-2010, 11:06 PM   #3
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I think this was posted before, But anyway its good to remind everyone again. This has been brought up in other forums also.
Sorry if this is old news, I must have missed the previous post. Still, the condition of the valve stems shocked me, I have never seen this amount of deterioration in such a short time.

Steve.
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Old 06-13-2010, 06:03 AM   #4
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Hi: Steve C... I found the same shocking situation when checking tire pressure on our '07 Escape 5.0. All three stems were bad. The spare had never been on the ground. I didn't go the metal route tho and it cost $10.00 ea. to have them replaced with new rubber stems. Seems they're the weak link and probably more the cause of tire failures than the tires!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie
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Old 06-13-2010, 06:07 AM   #5
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Hi: Steve C... I found the same shocking situation when checking tire pressure on our '07 Escape 5.0. All three stems were bad. The spare had never been on the ground. I didn't go the metal route tho and it cost $10.00 ea. to have them replaced with new rubber stems. Seems they're the weak link and probably more the cause of tire failures than the tires!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie
Well, now Dang it, I've got one more thing to check out. Thanks so much for bringing this up again. How's that old thing go?, "for want of a 2 cent item, the Battleship was sunk" or something like that. This China crap is about to really chap my butt!

EKW
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Old 06-13-2010, 06:52 AM   #6
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Sorry if this is old news, I must have missed the previous post. Still, the condition of the valve stems shocked me, I have never seen this amount of deterioration in such a short time.

Steve.
It is old news, but new news for newer members. Thanks for the reminder, lots of folks are getting ready for summer camping season. Don't want to see someone parked along side the road due to a minor issue that turned into a major problem
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Old 06-13-2010, 08:30 AM   #7
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***This China crap is about to really chap my butt!**

Try some nice AMERICAN "bathroom tissue" - less chapping.


Quote:
Well, now Dang it, I've got one more thing to check out. Thanks so much for bringing this up again. How's that old thing go?, "for want of a 2 cent item, the Battleship was sunk" or something like that. This China crap is about to really chap my butt!

EKW
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Old 06-13-2010, 08:41 AM   #8
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A corn cob would really be American, wouldn't it! Ha ha,

EKW
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Old 06-13-2010, 09:30 AM   #9
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Hi: Alan Weinel... Speaking of T.P. I've got a roll here from down east!!! " It's rough...It's tough and it doesn't take (^[at]% off anyone".
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie
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Old 06-13-2010, 09:42 AM   #10
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Having owned our Casita for two years, I have replaced the tires once (blow out due to stem) and replaced the stems 3 times. I check them and find they are faulty. Once while up the Miracle Mile in WY, no services! I got it to town without a issue but I have come to believe the tire stems are all bad and they need to be changed yearly. Works for me.................
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Old 06-13-2010, 09:51 AM   #11
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Hi: All... Trouble with 30 million bad stems is this. Where are they all??? The new ones at the tire dealers look good till they've been in service for a year or so. While checking the tire pressures just wiggle the stem and if cracks open up tow direct to tire dealer...do not pass go!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie
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Old 07-01-2010, 10:27 PM   #12
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Last week I installed some tire pressure monitor's on my trailer tires, the instructions said to not use
rubber valve stems, so I took the wheels off to take them to a tire shop to have the stems replaced.
After removing the tires, I inspected them and found 2 of them had broken belts that couldn't be seen
with the wheels on the trailer. So I now have 4 new tires, with METAL valve stems, and tire pressure monitors on all of them.
It puts my mind at ease to be able to see the pressure and the temp of the tires while I am driving down
the road.
These are the monitors I bought, the seem to work great so far.
http://shop.tsttruck.com/
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Old 07-02-2010, 06:42 AM   #13
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I looked into tire monitor's but all were sold in 4's

I emailed one company and asked about buying just 2 and got NO reply. (

Bill K

Quote:
Last week I installed some tire pressure monitor's on my trailer tires, the instructions said to not use
rubber valve stems, so I took the wheels off to take them to a tire shop to have the stems replaced.
After removing the tires, I inspected them and found 2 of them had broken belts that couldn't be seen
with the wheels on the trailer. So I now have 4 new tires, with METAL valve stems, and tire pressure monitors on all of them.
It puts my mind at ease to be able to see the pressure and the temp of the tires while I am driving down
the road.
These are the monitors I bought, the seem to work great so far.
http://shop.tsttruck.com/
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Old 07-02-2010, 01:04 PM   #14
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Quote:
I looked into tire monitor's but all were sold in 4's

I emailed one company and asked about buying just 2 and got NO reply. (

Bill K
Bill,

The company I bought mine from will sell 2 of them and the monitor.

http://shop.tsttruck.com/product.sc?produc...mp;categoryId=1

Tom R.
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Old 07-02-2010, 07:52 PM   #15
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Thanks Tom, I will check them out.

Bill K

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Bill,

The company I bought mine from will sell 2 of them and the monitor.

http://shop.tsttruck.com/product.sc?produc...mp;categoryId=1

Tom R.
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Old 07-02-2010, 10:48 PM   #16
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Quote:
Thanks Tom, I will check them out.

Bill K
I've only used mine on one trip of about 500 miles, but they worked OK
I put new tires on, put 80 lbs of air in them when we installed the tires.
When I put the monitors on they showed 78-80 lbs in them. The trailer has
been parked for 10 days, the monitor still shows about the same and the temp.
on the shady side of the trailer is about the same as the outside air temp.

Tom R
Kennewick, WA
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