Metal Valve Stem Installers

[jimnphyl]

Does anyone have a recommendation of a tire shop, preferably in Southern California, that can:
. Properly install the correct all steel/metal valve stems (the standard type, not the extender type), and
. Properly remove and re-install the Dicor hose valve extenders?

I have had bad experiences which lead me to conclude that the tire shops previously used for my motorhome were clueless as to the above. Also, I called a local truck tire shop, thinking they should know, and they informed me that all-metal valve stems for my wheel/tire did not exist, further shaking my confidence in tire shops. Beyond the above conditions, I understand that the steel valve stems should be torqued to certain specifications, and, so if a tire shop did that too, it would be “extra creditâ€

[41Woodie]

Jim, last winter I was returning from Arizona and found myself in Silver City, New Mexico for the night. My wife hollered at me about a noise coming from the BF and after checking it out I discovered that one of the hard rubber valve stems on the rear duals had fractured and blown out while the coach was parked.
I found a small family tire shop in Silver City that would come out and fix the tire but after an examination we all agreed to replace all of the rubber valve stems with metal stems because of the danger of a fracture when using extenders. There was no hesitation on their part that would indicate that metal stems for our wheels were hard to obtain or non-existant. From what I know from a lifetime of fiddling with cars but certainly not representing myself as an expert I'd say that the shop that told you there was no metal stem was full of beans. There's nothing weird nor mysterious about the wheels on my BF. A stem is a stem and as long as the hole and stem are matching diameters I can't imagine a problem.
I know that this isn't answering where to take your BF for stem installation but maybe it'll help you recognize BS when you hear it from a shop.

[whemme]

Jim & Phyllis,

One shop that I know can both supply the metal valves stems and do the installation work is the Tire Man located at

517 West Inyoken Road
Ridgecrest, CA 93555
Toll Free: 888-889-8996

Besides just standard metal valve stems they also have the custom made full length metal valve stems that will replace both your existing rubber valve stems and the flexible valve stem extenders, which is what I would recommend, rather than using short metal valve stems and reusing the flexible valve stem extenders.

Another source for both short metal valve stems and also extended custom made metal valve stems is Borg Tire Supply. But I don't think that they have an installation facility. But you could call them and check. They have two locations in Southern CA.

One in Tujunga, CA north of LA at toll free 800-300-2674 and their other location near San Diego at toll free 888-550-2674.

[bigdipper]

Don't know about CA, but Discount Tire in AZ has good rep for being knowledgeable about tires and related subjects. They installed my metal valve stems.
Ralph

[bcope01]

Jim, my local Discount Tire installed their in-house standard metal valve stems in my BFT last year without any problems. It is not rocket science. Can even be done without removing the wheels from the coach or re-balancing the wheel & tire. Just break the bead and install. After that they re-installed the Dicor valve extenders. No problems since.

Bill