Am I'm onto something with valve stems?

[RPAspey]

Here's my theory, cheap valve stems could be causing some blowouts.

My observations:

two years ago, I had to replace a pair of tires on the same axle due to normal wear. the mechanic put new valve stems on the rims. they were the long, rubber type. a few hundred miles later, one of the tires blew out the sidewall. valve stem was completely gone, but all of the tire was there, more or less. took to same mechanic he looked at the tire and declared low air pressure caused problem. took to tire guy, he said same, but asked about valve stem. hummmm. I always check pressures before moving camper. anyway, mechanic replaced tire and stem, same kind.

a few thousand miles later, I stopped for fuel, and I had low pressure on other tire. filled and finished trip. a few days later, I heard a hiss, and that valve stem was leaking. took to mechanic, replaced with metal stem. no problems with that one since.

this weekend, I stopped for fuel, checked tire temps, the replacement tire for the first blowout was 15 degrees hotter than the others. I just dismissed it. then I pulled into a local WM to eat lunch. the hotter tire was leaking air from stem.

ok, could the two long valve stems caused the trouble. I have two other tires with short stems installed by same mechanic with double the miles, without trouble. could there be a vibration or mfgr defect? or am I just being over analytical.

I am now going to all metal stems anyway, in preparation for tpms.

[comfun1]

I recently put the Tire Traker TPMS on mine and though I hated to spend the money it has been, "great peace of mind." In years past I have had blow outs and fortunately someone has stopped me because I have never heard them or noticed a difference in the way the trailer tows. My fear is that when one blows the total weight is now carried by the other tire which at this point will be greatly overloaded and will soon fail also. When the second tire on the same side of the trailer fails it will probably result in a serious accident.

[RPAspey]

I fully understand wanting a piece if mind. After this latest issue, I would have ordered the tpms but I blew the modification budget for the year!

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by RPAspey

I fully understand wanting a piece if mind. After this latest issue, I would have ordered the tpms but I blew the modification budget for the year!

As you say, for peace of mind, if I were you, I would limit towing to short distances until the piggy bank fattened up and could afford the TST TMS. It is really worth the money just knowing your tires are all up to pressure without having to manually check them all the time plus it gives you "real time" notification if a tire drops to the preset pressure. Hopefully allowing time to pull over and stop before any real damage can occur.

[DDC]

Sounds like the long ones were the wrong diameter.

[LadyWindrider]

The rubber stems are only rated to 65 psi. Anything over that, and up to 90 psi, you need the metal ones. Anything over 90 and you need the metal ones that have a nut a then that screw down, like on a large truck/tractor trailer.

[RPAspey]

hey, that may be it, my tires are rated at max pressure of 65 psi which I keep them at religiously. when bouncing down the highway, the pressure surely goes above that. thus, could be the cause.

the metal stems I bought are the ones with a large nut on the outside. 125psi I think.

[RPAspey]

just to show how long the valve stem is, here's a pic.




2-1/2 inches long.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by RPAspey

hey, that may be it, my tires are rated at max pressure of 65 psi which I keep them at religiously. when bouncing down the highway, the pressure surely goes above that. thus, could be the cause.

the metal stems I bought are the ones with a large nut on the outside. 125psi I think.

I can guarantee the pressure goes up significantly after installing the TST TPS system and watching it go from 60# cold @ 72° to 69# @ 110° on our trip back from FL last week.

[RPAspey]

I measure mine regularly at 120 degrees in an ambient temp of 90 degrees. as a casual observation, usually, they are all similar ie. within 5-8 degrees. I've never seen the pressure rise more than a few pounds, not by as much as you've seen. but, I only check beforehand and maybe once during a 200 mile trip. more on longer trips.