Valve question

[Quiroule]

I will be getting new Maxxis tires from Discount Tire Direct. They offer valves at $3.00, here is their description: ‘Valve stems come in both rubber and metal varieties. The valves we provide are rubber with a protective chrome sleeve and metal cap.’

Is-that what you call metal valve.

Thanks

[BOWWOW]

The metal valves that I know are chrome with a rubber seal or gasket on the interior side of the wheel and usually have a 9/16" nut on the outside with a chrome valve cap. The only down side to them are if you off road you 5er like I sometimes do you could break one off on a rock. The rubber ones will bend but they can also get cut off. The metal one will cost double.

[denverpilot]

Those are backward from traditional metal stems, which are usually metal inside with a rubber coating or sleeve to protect the wheel.

All sorts of options, all have plusses and minuses. I don't think Discount does the traditional variety because they don't want the liability of paying for someone's expensive custom wheels they "demanded" have metal stems installed into. As a company they're pretty conservative and tend towards stuff that works for the majority of customers. (Which I like, but you'd have to go elsewhere to do the traditional metal stems if that's what you really want.)

[bsmith0404]

Metal stems are a 2 piece "metal" with a rubber gasket to seal on the wheel and a nut on the outside to hold it in place. The rubber with a chrome sleeve is just a decorative sleeve to look nicer on wheels. If you have a Discount Tire near you, my experience is they will match DTD prices and install metal stems for no charge if you request them. I have never paid for metal stems on my truck or RV.

BTW, the high pressure rubber stems are fine if you are just running a standard set-up. If you plan to add a tire pressure monitoring system, get the metal stems. The rubber flex will cause the sensors to rub on the wheels and leave a scuff mark. I use the metal ones on the RV for the TPMS, I use metal on the truck for the extenders I use for the dual wheels. On the truck the rubber stems turn/flex and eventually cut from the weight of the extensions.

[Ken / Claudia]

The rubber stems failed on my truck 2 times. Conditions were around 3500 lbs weight on them, 80 psi, outside air air temps 95 once , about 100 the other. Traveling on freeway 60 -70 mph after several hours. The rubber stems split were they connect to at the wheel causing a blow out like affect. So, that was on my 1 ton at a metro tire shop. The rural tire shop said never put rubber stems on vehicle as heavy as mine because they do fail due to weight and heat. Since than metal stems have never been a problem. I put them on my trailers just in case, acouple bucks more in cost than rubber and will not rot or split. I call them cheap insurance.

[CWtheMan]

The rubber stems failed on my truck 2 times. Conditions were around 3500 lbs weight on them, 80 psi, outside air air temps 95 once , about 100 the other. Traveling on freeway 60 -70 mph after several hours. The rubber stems split were they connect to at the wheel causing a blow out like affect. So, that was on my 1 ton at a metro tire shop. The rural tire shop said never put rubber stems on vehicle as heavy as mine because they do fail due to weight and heat. Since than metal stems have never been a problem. I put them on my trailers just in case, acouple bucks more in cost than rubber and will not rot or split. I call them cheap insurance.

Did you always have LRE tires on your truck? Normally snap-in rubber stems are only good up to 50 PSI with some manufacturers advertising them to 65 PSI. The snap-in rubber with steel neck is good up to 80 PSI. The all steel bolt in stems are normally good to 150 PSI+.

CW

[Ken / Claudia]

The tire guy said the rubber stems were good to 120 psi but, I do not know what type etc or were he was getting the information from. The tires are toyo MT 285/75/16 E I think rated at 3740 lb at 80 psi on Factory wheels. I since upgraded the wheels got another set of same tires.

[Quiroule]

Thank you all,

I will get a full metal stem to go with my new load rage E Maxxis tires.

I also found this interesting link to Tire Valve Type.

Have many safes trips.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=208

[Ken / Claudia]

That was a good post about the stems. I think I had 65 psi rubber stems in my 80 psi tires by looking at the photos. Like I said I do not know how or why the tire guy told me they were good up to 120 psi, clearly they were not. I may be over worried but, now will only use full metal stems on trucks and RVs. My boat as about 1000 lbs on each 14" tire with max psi 50 so, those are rubber. Last tire change on my camry they left in the old stems, I had them put new ones in before I left.