yogi

I had a new set of tires installed just a couple of weeks ago. I drove it once about 15 or 20 miles. The next day I noticed I had a flat tire while parked in the driveway. The valve stem was about 3/4 severed right where it goes through my front Fuch wheel. I took the wheel and tire back to the shop and they replaced the valve stem. I put it back on the car. I took the car for a ride today, the first drive since having it fixed. I went about 15 or 20 miles and the car starting pulling to one side while driving on the highway. I pulled over and the same wheel and tire has the same 3/4 sever right where the valve stem goes through the hole in the Fuch wheel. The previous tires were on the same wheels for four years with no problems. Can anyone guess or suggest anything before I take it back to the shop? Thanks,

Jerry Baer
87 coupe

theiceman

i have metal valve stems in my Fuchs with re-enforcment pieces stuck to the rim.

yogi

Thanks for the reply. My front wheels and this is the wheel it happened to are Fuchs 16 x 6, and they have no support. The rears are 16 x 7 and they have the support you mention. It's an independent Porsche mechanic who I use. He is the same person who installed my tires 4 years ago. I'm going to take the advice of going to metal valve stems. My daily driver is a Scion TC and it came with metal valve stems. thanks,

Jerry Baer
87 coupe

theiceman

when you take it to him I am sure he will do this for sure. Sounds like you may have something on the rim cutting into it. I think the metal stems look better anyway

dvkk

It is the valve stems. You're a victim of the latest China crap product.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/saf...stem-reca.html

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?se...lls&id=6321302

TA911-64

I must say I'm thrilled we're talking TIRES and not CYLINDERS!! When I first saw the post I expected to see a picture of an exploded piston!! Whew!

theiceman

that is what i thought when I first tuned in too, expected to see pics of grenaded engine...phew....

dshepp806

+1. Amen.

Doyle

Ed Hughes

The fronts aren't usually a problem. MY guess it is the cheap Chinese crap mentioned above. When are American compaines going to realize that Chinese crap isn't cheap after all?

theiceman

I read a really good commercial in an industrial magazine about fstners and it talked about the most expensive fastners ...

the most expensive fastners are the ones that fail .. compared to this others are dirt cheap

dvkk

It isn't the companies that are to blame. It's people like you and me that demand CHEAP. It will never go away, just look at the full parking lot at Wal-Mart.

Ed Hughes

I hear what you're saying, in that Americans in general are to blame. But not all....I do try to look for value, and not necessarily price. I can truthfully count on three fingers the number of times I've walked into a Walmart.

rusnak

It depends on what you're buying, but generally I pay more for quality. Electrical components and parts, tools, lubricants, and tires I go with the best that I can find. I might cut a few corners on coffee, underwear, ketchup, and toilet paper. Ok, maybe not toilet paper.

Bull

When American consumers stop flocking to that cheap crap at the point of purchase.

yogi

I just want to let you all know the valve stem that broke was not Made In China. It says German on the bottom, they are the only ones the mechanic uses. It turns out that even though my tire and sidewalls looked fine from the outside, there were four blisters that formed on the inside from this happening while I was going 80 mph. So I had to get a new tire and it was fitted with a metal valve stem. The mechanic could not figure out what caused the valve stem to sever twice on this one tire. The wheel was fine and he is the same person that put the previous tire on that wheel and that stem lasted over 4 years.

Jerry Baer
87 coupe