Absolutely not. Your valve stems should not leak at all. Mine don't. I
spent 25 years in the car business, have had numerous alloy wheels over
time and have never had a valve stem leak when pushed off to the side
like that, except on the rare occasion that a stem was bad, such as when
aged, rotted or split, as you indicated might be possible. The stems are
made of similar (rubber like composite material) to the tires and they
do eventually break down, oxidize and decay over time just like tires
do. Any good tire/wheel shop should always recommend the replacement of
valve stems when mounting new tires. That's normal SOP at most tire
places.
I guess it is possible that the wrong size/type valve stems may have
been mounted in the wheels too though. Different type valve stems are
used for steel and alloy wheels. Alloy wheels are much thicker than
steel wheels so they require a longer neck where it fits to the wheel.
Either way, they should NOT leak at all. Do ALL of them leak?
-Jerry Erbesfield
73 B Black Beauty roadster
jerbesfield@mindspring.com
website- http://jerbesfield.home.mindspring.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Andrew B. Lundgren
Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2002 11:18 PM
To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Stem leaks on alloy wheels.
I bought some alloy knockoffs from a fellow lister for my B to replace
my worn out wire wheels.
Today I had tires installed on them. When I got home I was cleaning
them and discovered that if I push the stems over to one side that they
leak air. I have to push them over quite a ways to make that happen.
I don't think that should happen. I think I have stems that don't fit
right or are worn out/rotten. (If they are worn out I expected the tired
place to replace them with new ones.)
Am I off base here? Is it normal for them to leak a little when pushed
all the way over? Do they "set in" over a few days?
I am planning on going back on Monday to have the stems fixed. Just
want to confirm that they should not do this.
(The wheels aren't on my MG yet, the hubs aren't here yet, but the
wheels/tires look good now.)
Thanks!
--
Andrew Lundgren
lundgren@byu.net
http://www.Lundgren.us
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