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Valve Stems: Rubber vs Metal...?

   
Old 01-20-2006, 10:30 AM
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Default Valve Stems: Rubber vs Metal...?
I had my winter tires mounted yesterday and I noticed that when I got home, my valve stems were black. I took a closer look and they were all rubber now. Apparently, the shop who did it pulled the metal ones out. (Going to call and find out why.) But I was wondering if there is a difference of having metal vs rubber ones? Does it matter?
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Old 01-20-2006, 10:42 AM
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Default I melted plastic caps at the track, but the stems were rubber or rubber over metal--never checked.
So I would guess you are OK.
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Old 01-20-2006, 10:47 AM
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metal valve stems = bling.
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Old 01-20-2006, 10:47 AM
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Old 01-20-2006, 10:52 AM
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where do you buy them?
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Old 01-20-2006, 10:55 AM
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does anyone know what size the valve stems are on factory wheels?
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Old 01-20-2006, 10:59 AM
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Default I had two rubber ones fail on my current set of GT1s fwiw. Don't know if that really
means much, but it was irritating having to get new wheels because of it.
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Old 01-20-2006, 11:01 AM
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Default why did you need new wheels? couldn't you just replace the stems? or did it
fail suddenly and cause a blow-out kind of thing?
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Old 01-20-2006, 11:03 AM
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Default One failed catastrophically. The other was a slow (but sometimes quick) leak that dropped
enough air to allow a pothole to severely bend the wheel. :-(
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Old 01-20-2006, 11:17 AM
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Default i've seen aluminum valve stems fail...
...i think ideall you want super short hard rubber ones. they can take a little bending (the Aluminum cannot) and the shorter they are, the less can go wrong.
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