[Maddawg]

Here's one from the who would have thunk it collection. I bought some aluminum valve stem caps at Wal-Mart for all our cars. Good looking little addition for a couple of bucks. This weekend I go to check the tire pressures on our Explorer and have a heck of a time getting the valve caps off (please no flames about my masculinity, I have the strength of 10 mortal men). Was afraid I was going to twist off the valve stem on one and ended up having to hold the stem with vise grips while I put pliers on the cap to get it off.
Looks like the threads had been contaminated either by road grime or a reaction between the two different metals. Anyway, if anyone else has these little goodies you might think about putting a drop of oil or WD40 on the threads before putting the caps on.

 

[roushraven99]

Good idea.

 

[Badkharma]

10 Mortal men?? Ha. Try 10 immortal men. :grin: uh...

 

[schmedlap]

I had the same problem and found that they are very easy to cross-thread.

 

[donwil]

Thanks for the heads up. I have the same ones and will be putting some lubricant on them.

 

[Maddawg]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2002-03-13 09:14, schmedlap wrote:
I had the same problem and found that they are very easy to cross-thread.

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

Definitely true, aluminum is relatively soft and will be prone to cross-threading but that didn't happen on mine. Cleaned them up and they went on and off fine for all 4 wheels.

Karl, the ones I got sound a little different than what you describe. If yours have a plastic insert then there can't be a metal reaction and they probably seal out road grime better so you shouldn't have this problem. Mine have an o-ring type seal inside the top but the threads are bare aluminum.

 

[Maddawg]

Karl, the caps currently on your Bullitt you are describing are the same ones I had the problem with. Dave