Metal Valve Caps Snapping on a Ford Focus | Hometyre Mobile Valve Replacements in North London

We recently had a new customer call us to say that he had snapped his tyre valve while trying to inflate his tyres. Having looked at the condition of the others, the other three were also stuck and he did not want to risk anymore damage. Located just up the road in Barnet and ensuring that the tyres themselves were fine, I booked him in and headed over!

Upon initial inspection, all four tyres were indeed perfectly fine but the valves were looking a bit worse for wear. Looking at the other 3, they were absolutely seized on, nothing would move them and if we tried any harder, we would probably damage the valve or risk the valves integrity. They would all need to be replaced!

Loosened all the wheel nuts and jacked the car up, first 2 wheels off (one was flat due to the damaged valve) and released the air from the other. Flattened the tyre so we could get to the valve without removing the tyre from the wheel and cut the old valves out, in goes a set of brand new replacement valves with a lovely new plastic valve caps. Tyres pumped up they are put back on the car and the process is repeated for the other 2 wheels. Did not have to do the spare as the car did not come with one, just the bottle of liquid and a pump to seal any puncture.

Last check is to ensure that all the wheel nuts are torqued to the manufacture's specification.

If you're looking at fitting aftermarket caps onto your wheels, ensure they are either plastic or have a plastic lining so that they don't corrode onto the metal stem and cause you problems in the future!

But, if your heart is set on a particular valve cap made completely out of metal, it's best to spray the cap with a small bit of WD40 or other lubricant to help prevent the corrosion!

If you're having trouble with one of your rubber valves or have an issue with the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) give us a call on 0333 444 5454 or 01743 861183!