daviddwight Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Having had Motorhomes for nearly twenty years this is the first time I have had to buy new tyres for currant Motorhome should I have steel or rubber valves. The supplier of the tyres would have to order in steel valves for me. Whats other folks advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 With out a doubt fit metal valves you can get them cheaply from ebay if they try to rip you off just wonder what sort of tyre place doesn't stock metal valves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeamRienza Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Current advice from the tyre manufacturers is that if you use camper type tyres then the rear pressures should be 80psi, irrespective of axle weight. This points towards steel valves being pretty essential. Davy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 The big tyre chains don't carry steel valves, you would need to supply your own. I have 6 Alloy wheels fitted and recently renewed the back 4. These are the valves I bought (they are about halfway down the page). They are for Alloys but a phone call to the company will tell you if they are suitable for steel rims as well. I found them to be very helpful. http://www.tyresave.co.uk/15-16-inch-alloys/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 I think (having paged through David’s 104 postings :-( :-( ) that his motorhome may be a 2012 Auto-Trail Tracker. If that’s correct, then the vehicle will have originally been fitted with ‘camping-car’ tyres and metal clamp-in valves. Due to the high inflation pressures that Fiat and Auto-Trail advise be used for ‘camping-car’ tyres, tyre-valves designed to cope with such pressures should always be fitted, NOT the ordinary rubber snap-in valves normally fitted to cars. Historically, this meant fitting metal clamp-in valves of the type shown in 747’s link and, although Schrader and Alligator now market ultra-high-pressure snap-in valves that make life easier for the tyre-fitter, it’s likely to be easier to source metal clamp-in valves than the specialised snap-in type. Clamp-in valves come in two varieties - those that use a rubber O-ring to seal against the wheel rim (1st attached photo) or those that use a stepped rubber washer (2nd attached photo) The clamp-in valves fitted as original equipment to Fiat Ducatos are made by Schrader and are the O-ring-seal type, but these are not easy to source in small quantities and the stepped-washer type is much more readily obtained. Both types need a degree of expertise when fitting as it’s possible to under or over tighten them. Clamp-in valves come in various lengths, diameters and designs, and some are easier to fit than others - but a competent tyre-fitter should have considered such factors when ordering valves. (A small point... Clamp-in valves are often referred to as ‘steel’. Stainless-steel valves are marketed (for alloy wheels) as are light alloy valves, but most clamp-in valves are made of brass, either nickel-plated or not.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 747 - 2018-03-14 11:38 PM The big tyre chains don't carry steel valves, you would need to supply your own. / ATS carry them as a stock item in our local dept 4 High Pressure Tyre Valve TR600 HP Tubeless Snap in Van Trailer Camper £2.68 ebay 4 BOLT IN CHROME SILVER METAL CAR WHEEL TYRE VALVES £6.99 ebay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 daviddwight - 2018-03-14 9:25 PM Having had Motorhomes for nearly twenty years this is the first time I have had to buy new tyres for currant Motorhome should I have steel or rubber valves. The supplier of the tyres would have to order in steel valves for me. Whats other folks advice? A year or so ago, after my van had been parked on the drive for a couple of weeks, one of the front tyres decided to deflate. It turned out to be a split in the rubber valve - although what caused it was unknown. As my drive slopes quite a bit I called the RAC to change the wheel and the fella that came said he had seen this happen on several occasions. So I would suggest metal valves every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 witzend - 2018-03-15 9:51 AM 747 - 2018-03-14 11:38 PM The big tyre chains don't carry steel valves, you would need to supply your own. / ATS carry them as a stock item in our local dept 4 High Pressure Tyre Valve TR600 HP Tubeless Snap in Van Trailer Camper £2.68 ebay 4 BOLT IN CHROME SILVER METAL CAR WHEEL TYRE VALVES £6.99 ebay The 1st attached photo shows a TR600 snap-in valve. The valve’s rubber base is differently shaped to a ‘car’ snap-in valve, but (just like a car valve) it will seen that the brass stem of a TR600 valve does not extend beyond its base. The German-made TR600 valve that was original equipment (OE) on Mk 6 Ford Transits in the mid-2000s earned a reputation for failure - two spiit on my Hobby motorhome - and it was far from unknown for the stem to completely separate from the base. The 2nd attached photo shows the Schrader high-pressure snap-in valve that Ford changed to for OE when the Mk 7 Transit was introduced. This is a much more robust design with the valve’s stem protruding beneath the base and there’s no chance that the stem can be ‘lost’. The TR600 valve is not really a competitor for a metal clamp-in valve, whereas the Schrader valve is. The trouble with buying cheap tyre valves on-line is their provenance is usually not stated. The stainless-steel valves in this advert https://www.neobrothers.co.uk/set-alloy-wheel-tyre-valves-stainless-steel-saab-900-9-3--9-5-5148-p.asp certainly look high quality and the quoted Part Number matches up, but such information is generally not available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 witzend - 2018-03-15 9:51 AM 747 - 2018-03-14 11:38 PM The big tyre chains don't carry steel valves, you would need to supply your own. / ATS carry them as a stock item in our local dept 4 High Pressure Tyre Valve TR600 HP Tubeless Snap in Van Trailer Camper £2.68 ebay 4 BOLT IN CHROME SILVER METAL CAR WHEEL TYRE VALVES £6.99 ebay The new steel valves I bought might seem expensive but I still saved money because I got a good price on the 4 new tyres compared to what it would have cost if I had bought from ATS, so I am not complaining. I also am very reluctant to buy off ebay due to the amount of fakes on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Probably a silly question .... but with metal valves if they are already fitted to the wheels, why do they need to be replaced? (I can see that rubber ones may deteriorate) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 I changed mine because my van is almost 12 years old and I had no idea how old the valves were. Now I know. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 It’s standard practice when replacing car tyres to change the tyre-valve as well. This is because a) removing/replacing a rubber snap-in valve is easy and b) the price of a rubber snap-in valve wiill be a few pence when a tyre-fitting firm bulk-buys. Metal clamp-in valves a) take more effort and skill to remove/replace and b) cost more per valve, so there less incentive for a tyre-fitting firm to be prepared to replace them as a matter of course. David’s valves will now be 6 years or so old and (assuming they are clamp-in type) although the valves’ metal components may be OK, there’s still a vital rubber seal at each valve’s base that can deteriorate despite it being hidden inside the wheel-rim. It’s quite common when replacing a tyre on a wheel fitted with a clamp-in valve to just replace the valve’s core and it’s sometimes possible to obtain replacement rubber seals. The thing is though that if David’s 6-year-old valves are not replaced now and the new tyres last, say, another 6 years, the original valves (and their base-seals) will be 12 years old. So it’s probably better to replace all the original valves now, rather than risk an elderly base-seal leaking in the short-term future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 laimeduck - 2018-03-15 1:42 PM Probably a silly question .... but with metal valves if they are already fitted to the wheels, why do they need to be replaced? Still have rubber seals between valves and wheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 747 - 2018-03-15 1:32 PM The new steel valves I bought might seem expensive but I still saved money because I got a good price on the 4 new tyres compared to what it would have cost if I had bought from ATS, so I am not complaining. I didn't suggest buying tyres or valves from ATS you said 747 -The big tyre chains don't carry steel valves, you would need to supply your own. I just pointed out that ATS do keep theses as a stock item 747 I also am very reluctant to buy off ebay due to the amount of fakes on there. You just need to check feed back to see if anyone is selling fakes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 I let your point about ATS stocking high pressure valves go the first time you mentioned it because the large Gateshead Branch did not a few years ago. I needed two front tyres on my last van and enquired if they could supply them. The answer was no but if I supplied them, they would fit them free of charge. Perhaps they have changed their policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 I bought 4 new Michelin tyres in August last year & KwikFit didn't have metal valves. Didn't seem to know about them either - they had to phone their Technical Dept to ask about them. (I only used KwikFit because they had a deal on the Michelin Agilis Camping tyres and were much cheaper than anywhere else locally. I wouldn't normally touch them with a barge pole!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daviddwight Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 Thanks Derek, I will source schrader steel valves the tyres are priced at £125 each, yes you were correct with make and age of Motorhome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I believe the Schrader tyre valve fitted as original equpiment to Ducatos is the 65765-68 valve shown here http://www.schraderinternational.com/catalog/GB/HTML/AFTERMARKET%20PRODUCTS%20CATALOGUE%20-%20EDITION%2018/files/assets/basic-html/page13.html In my posting of 2 March 2017 2:02 PM on this thread http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/High-pressure-bolt-in-tyre-valves/46453/ I mentioned that Schrader normally only makets the valve in a minimum quantity of 10. Also that the standard plastic wheel-trims that 2006-onwards Ducatos generally have may not fit properly if the valve design differs significantly from the design of the 65765-68 valve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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