You aint gonna believe this

Post by **redline** » 13 Jan 2005 03:18 pm

So there I am in the petro; station with time to spare and thought I might as well check and pump up the tyres ,Now as some of you know being a slave to all things tacky (furry dice , whippy aerials leopard skin seat covers etc but certainly no Elvis figurines ) I have redline magazine aluminium valve caps on the car with the dinky little red R on the top (attention to detail is everything ) Guess what , the bloody things wont come off !!!! now what do I do , have even tried wd40 and pliers ,HELP , I dont want to go to kwik fit and get new valves , I might look a bit silly LOL

Post by **5lab** » 13 Jan 2005 03:26 pm

wrench and a hammer. solves everything.

Post by **redline** » 13 Jan 2005 03:36 pm

wrench and hammer versus little rubber valve stem

= no contest and flat tyre LOL, have just phoned a coupl of tyre places (using a false name of course ) and this is by all accounts a very common problem with ally valve caps and only repair is new valves and balancing at between £8

and £ 10

per rim perhaps when they see its a 300 they will be sympathetic sm67

when they stop laughing

Post by **5lab** » 13 Jan 2005 03:52 pm

heat em

or just dremel them off

Post by **special** » 13 Jan 2005 05:53 pm

redline wrote: have just phoned a coupl of tyre places (using a false name of course ) and this is by all accounts a very common problem with ally valve caps and only repair is new valves and balancing at between £8 and £ 10 per rim perhaps when they see its a 300 they will be sympathetic when they stop laughing

balencing for replacement valves that sounds a bit odd

Post by **wjp01908** » 13 Jan 2005 06:11 pm

Hi Mick

Ally and steel sticking together is quite common - you want something that will dissolve the oxides that have stuck the bits together.

I`ve heard ammonia is the thing to use but I wouldn`t know where to get some.

I`ve used coke ( as in cola - not solid fuel ! ) with some success on alloy seat posts stuck in steel bike frames. You could try rotating the wheel so the valve is at the top and drip some into the edge of the cap if poss. Let it soak a while. Diet Coke would be a bit less sticky

The merest smear of Vaseline on the valve threads should keep them free in the future.

Will

Post by **Geez** » 13 Jan 2005 08:44 pm

Hi guys its confession time! I got exactly same problem, I bought some a those really tacky valve caps with the little l e d 's on top at MAX POWER last year, thought they d look cool over Christmas

I tried exactly the same as Redline to check tyre pressures and found that they had stuck solid

Still have nt got em off. Didnt say noyhin before cos I was too embarrassed

Gonna try some of that penetrating grease you can get from spares shops before my tyres go completely flat

Post by **redline** » 14 Jan 2005 09:57 am

Oh ,not just me then , that makes me feel better, will try the coke method later , led valve caps , now that is tacky, at least mine continued the redline theme LOL

Post by **Geez** » 14 Jan 2005 12:28 pm

Yeeah I know, they did actually look ok for about 10 minutes and got some admiring glances although these did mainly come from the under 5's in my daughters class at school. But it was my small contribution to keeping the spirit of Christmas alive and well, only trouble is we are fast approaching mid Jan and I still cant get em off!!!

Post by **wjp01908** » 14 Jan 2005 03:57 pm

"Ally and steel sticking together is quite common"

Actually it occurs to me that valve stems are made of brass....

Shouldn`t make any difference though to getting them off

Will

Post by **Geez** » 16 Jan 2005 09:59 am

Mick, did you manage to get your nuts sorted yet?

Post by **morgan105** » 17 Jan 2005 01:39 am

Plenty of WD40 and let soak then try a pair of molegrips or pliers, valves are'nt as thin as you'd think. (works for me!)

When putting back on, use a bit of copper grease as what is used on manifold bolts to stop the nuts seizing on threads. Vaseline is ok but is petrolium based and when heats up it melts away.

Hope you have luck! as the worst that can happen is you end up with a flat tyre and need a new valve and balance but your already facing flat tyres and stuck on caps, what can you lose?

Post by **Cornholio** » 16 Aug 2006 02:29 pm

Just searching for something else and came across this amusing little thread.

Did you ever get 'em off?

Post by **Nick C** » 16 Aug 2006 03:11 pm

It's amazing what you can do with coca-cola isn't it - I've heard before that the NYPD use to clear up blood stains from the highway!

Post by **redline** » 16 Aug 2006 04:08 pm

god ,talk about waking the dead,
the offending valve caps were removed by replacing the valves ,

the work was carried out by a very amused tyre fitter who charged me a tenner and then told me to forget it as I had given him such a good laugh