For those without TPMS: check your stems!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by hobbit, Dec 4, 2007.

  1. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    I've gotten to the bottom of another little mystery lately,
    which strike paranoia into any owners prior to '06 when TPMS
    became the norm. Especially if you've replaced the Integrities
    with something else. Your tire valve stems may be in jeopardy --
    read this for the lowdown.
    .
    Now, I'd like to ask the community a favor: if anyone within
    the sound of my keyboard replaces their OEM tires in the nearish
    future, any chance you can determine the make of the valves
    originally installed by Toyota? You'd have to make sure the
    tire installers save a couple of the old valves for you.
    Hopefully this will mesh nicely with someone's upgrade plans
    and we'll have a little more information.
    .
    _H*
     
    #1 hobbit, Dec 4, 2007
  2. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    Bumping this in an attempt to get un-buried by last night's spam,
    because I think it's an important safety message...
    .
    _H*
     
    #2 hobbit, Dec 5, 2007
  3. judymcfarland

    judymcfarland Queen of Moral Indignation

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    Metal valve stems

    Thanks, Hobbit for posting this thread with a link to your interesting discussion. A lot of tech-type things go over my gray head, but I found your writing to be clear & understandable.

    Now, I wonder. When we lived in Pasadena, CA in the mid-60's, we were told that we should replace all our rubber valve stems with metal ones because the air quality was so bad that the rubber rotted - and sure enough, we had 5 flat tires (including the full size spare on the '65 Dodge Dart) within 2 years due to valve stem failure. So my questions are:
    1. do they still have this problem in California or has the air quality improved
    2. do all California cars come with metal valve stems
    3. should I consider getting metal valve stems when I replace the OEM Bridgestone Turanzas?
     
    #3 judymcfarland, Dec 5, 2007
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Ohhhh! The title includes the word
    vicissitudes

    Should be required reading for everyone with a $0.25 word like that in the title!
    Nice work Hobbit.
     
    #4 efusco, Dec 5, 2007
  5. ScottY

    ScottY New Member

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    As usual, very nice write up!

    I changed my tires to the Goodyear CT's about 1.5 year ago. I inspected the valve stems during lunch time after reading this, and didn't spot any cracks on mine. FYI, I'm running my tires at 38psi instead of 41 for a softer ride.
     
    #5 ScottY, Dec 5, 2007
  6. Anyasmom

    Anyasmom New Member

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    Very informative but scarey! I need to replace my OEMS soon. How do I make sure I'm not getting the "cheap" stems? Does it make a difference if I use a general tire store or one like Goodyear? The problem with goodyear is that they insist the comfort treds don't come in the upgraded size and besides I will void my warranty by using anything but 185's.:(
     
    #6 Anyasmom, Dec 5, 2007
  7. Betelgeuse

    Betelgeuse Active Member

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    "Void your warranty"?!? Which warranty? Will they not warranty the tires on the Prius? Surely you're not implying that you'll void any Toyota warranty?
     
    #7 Betelgeuse, Sep 21, 2008
  8. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    the stems in question had to be installed between i think late 2006 and mid 2007, it was a bad batch that was the subject of a recall. our car got new tires in spring 2007 and i'm one of the lucky few that had 4 flat tires within a 10 day stretch.
     
    #8 galaxee, Sep 21, 2008
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