Gosh Darn Valve Stems Keep Leaking!!!!!

[Alan Peters]

I've been to a tire shop (4 different shops) to have the valve stems replace on all 4 because of leaks. 9 yes 9 times this year. My question is the tires bad? To much heat? Or something??? I refuse to use fix-a-flat stuff because it gunks up the rim. I've had the tires balanced and aligned. I lose somewhere between 7-10lbs a month. Fronts are kept at 30 and the rears at 35.

 

[Bill Cooksley]

What I do on my old wheels that leak some is I use the steel valve stems (chrome typ) and use a little RTV on the rubber washer they don't leak good luck. Bill

 

[Travis Munday]

Have the wheels checked for runout, radial and lateral. The wheels themselves may be out-of-round and causing the tire to not seat properly.



Tires could be bad, just maybe a bad batch from the company.



With the stems being replaced this many times, unless they were incorrectly installed each time, it almost points to something else being the cause. The valve stem bore may be too big, or too thick to get a proper seat, though. Older Porsche/VW wheels have this problem.

 

[Mike Wilson]

Factory or aftermarket wheels? Your member profile shows an '03. If these

are the stock wheels, I would have thought this problem would have shown up by

now. If not, it might be a small amount of rust around the valve stem hole due to

the many replacement stems that you have had installed and the shop scratching

the paint/coating away from the hole on the many replacements.

Let me/us know, Big Al, I'm curios about this...



P.S...How did they diagnose where the leak was coming from? The most common is

to submerse the tire/wheel assembly in water (with some air pressure left in the tire)

to see where the bubbles (leak) come from...



I'll be on the site for a while, let me/us know!!

 

[Todd Z]

Did they install the Long valve stems ????



Those tend to bend under driving and can wear...



I actually have the chrome bent flat on mine from driving fast...



Also they sell screw in stems, and I allways put a Little bead sealer on the stem before I install them, Then they never leak..



Todd Z

 

[Richard L]

Leaking valve stems has nothing to do with the tires, alighnement, wheel balance, etc.



The valvestems are either defective or do not fit the rim properly. It's possible that there may be some corrosion around the valvestem hole in the wheel that is not allowing it to seal properly. Some RTV should solve that problem.



Someone may have not installed the little valve in the stem properly and it may need to be tightened? Or as I said, they may be cheap valvestems, or a bad lot of valvestems and are defective. You may want to go to a different tire store to have new valvestems installed. If they don't leak you should get your money back from the shop that is installing the bad/defective valvestems.



...Rich

 

[Fudged Undies]

What Rich L said. A valve stem has nothing to do with the tire, only the wheel or stem itself. One of those two is problematic. I would check the stem seat in the wheel for a chip or dent. That being said which part of the stem is leaking? The stem itself of the seat?

 

[Alan Peters]

They are factory wheels with original Goodyear tires. My guess is the seat is leaking. The longer stems as Todd mention are being used. The tire shops do use a submersible tub to test for leaks. I have the day off tomorrow and will hit a Discount Tire. I've been to 3 different Belle Tires. I'll post any results tomorrow evening, but I had to put air in the fronts this morning, lost 11lbs from this time last week.

 

[EddieS'04]

I always use stubies for valve stems they dont flex as much at speed. I had a set of wheels once that the alloy would oxidize at the seat. Discount tire had to buff the seat and use bead sealer to stop the leaks.