Metal Valve Stems

[DJDJGE7734]

I had a tire leak down to 0 psi and a break in the side wall. It was an inner tire with less than 100 miles, and had to be replaced. The company guy who came out to repair the tire told me the valve was too loose (moved back and forth). He turned the nut two full turns but not tight. What are the torque settings for this? All the rest of the valve stems also were loose. What’s up? I can’t find any info. This cost me $740 for replacement at a campground.

[tbutler]

Was the company guy from the company that installed the tires? Did they install new valve stems or check them? Seems like this would be their responsibility if they did the work. Is this a new unit? How many miles on the motor home?

We've had metal valve stems and extensions on our motor home which is now approaching seven years old and never had a problem. I recently had metal valve stems installed on our car, 20,000 miles or so since then with no problems. For motor home tires at pressures near 100 psi you have to use metal stems with metal caps to ensure they hold pressure but they should be checked after install to be sure they are holding pressure. A little spittle around the base of the stem and also on the top of the valve to check for loose valve stem will let you know if they are leaking. Daily checks of tire pressure before driving will let you know if a tire has a slow leak. A tire monitoring system will let you know before a tire reaches zero pressure and it generally costs less than what you just spent on a replacement tire!

To my knowledge there is no torque specification for valve stems. Check for leaks with soapy water or a little saliva once the tires are at running pressure.