Steel Valve Stems

[ckkevin]

I noticed the last couple of trips that when I top of the air on my trailer tires the valve stem seems to be cracking.  I assume this is due to the sun.  A local tire dealer suggested that I put steel valve stems on the tires.

Has anyone replaced their rubber valve stems with steel ones?

[MtnCamper]

Sure you can do that. but I would do it when I replaced the tires. If you can wait that long. You are going to have to break down the tire anyway, and if your tires are balanced, you would have to rebalance them.

[Preacher]

I had a Coleman Taos whose tires would constantly get low on me.  I finally figured out it was the valve stems leaking.  They would not hold up to 80lbs of air pressure as they got old.  I replaced them with more rubber ones that did the same thing.  My tire guy finally suggested the metal stems and that was the last of the problem.  As soon as I have to replace the tires on my Westlake, I will be putting metal stems on it also.

[mike4947]

Folks, there are two "standard" valve stems. "metal" ones and "rubber" ones. The metal ones are for tires that require 50 psi or more. One of the biggest mistakes tire dealers make is using the "passenger car" type rubber stems on our higher pressure tires.
Even with the correct stems replace them when you replace the tires. They dryrot just as fast, if not faster than the tires do.

[ckkevin]

Thanks for the information.  I will be replacing my rubber valve stems with steel ones as soon as I can.