How are your valves, a truly chastening experience

niloc1951

In 2005 I took delivery of my new motorhome, it had Ducato Maxi 16" steel wheels.
I immediately took it to my local FIAT dealer who fitted lovely 16" FIAT alloys.
Fast forward five years and the original Michelin XC Camping tyres were showing signs of ageing so last May I invested in four new Michelin Agelis Camping which were fitted by a reputable tyre dealer.
Last week while parked up in San Marino my attention was drawn to the hissing of escaping air from one of my rear tyres.
The valve had failed, luckily for me not while I had been negotiating high speed motorway curves in Germany or the multiple hair-pin bends in the Alps or up to San Marino.
After changing the wheel I went to a recommended tyre dealer in Rimini who could not believe that rubber valves had been fitted to wheels that had tyres rated to 5.5 bar (80 p.s.i.) fitted as such valves have a maximum recommended pressure significantly lower.

While I now have gained yet another piece of valuable technical knowledge regarding tyre safety, surely the "professionals" in the industry in Ireland should have been ahead of me in the matter.

I now have solid metal bolt in valves fitted which are well able to cope with the pressure. AS I SHOULD HAVE HAD SINCE 2005.

A lucky escape ? Yes

BTW I have seen no reference to the inspection of valves to ascertain if the correct type are fitted relative to the recommended tyres in any of the RSA's roadworthiness test manuals.
Perhaps if they look in on this forum they should consider including such a check in the long-awaited test manual for motor caravans.

Someone else might not be as lucky as I was.

thetyreman

If the fiat dealer didnt fit high pressure valves in the alloys,id be inclined to make sure that the Alloys that they supplied were Commercial HeavyLoad Alloys and not just car Alloys,If you have nightmares about what a dodgey valve may do if it gives up the goast at speed,imagen what a wheel shattering would do (not trying to scare you but get this checked out)I wouldnt blame the tyre dealer that fitted the replacement tyres as much as he was probably working on the assumption that if the low pressure valves were ok for the last 4yrs plus then they will probably be ok,by the way did he evan replace the old rubber valves with new rubber valves when he was replaceing the tyres...

paddyp

Same thing happened me in february also 2005 ducato. You don't necessarily need the bolt on ones there are high pressure push fit ones. Search ebay.co.uk for high pressure tyre valves. I got a blank expression when I brought the issue up with the local tyre place.

niloc1951

thetyreman wrote: »

If the fiat dealer didnt fit high pressure valves in the alloys,id be inclined to make sure that the Alloys that they supplied were Commercial HeavyLoad Alloys and not just car Alloys,If you have nightmares about what a dodgey valve may do if it gives up the goast at speed,imagen what a wheel shattering would do (not trying to scare you but get this checked out)I wouldnt blame the tyre dealer that fitted the replacement tyres as much as he was probably working on the assumption that if the low pressure valves were ok for the last 4yrs plus then they will probably be ok,by the way did he evan replace the old rubber valves with new rubber valves when he was replaceing the tyres...

Wheels are heavy duty, as fitted to as an option and sometimes as standard to motorcaravans prior to delivery, on my model alloys were not available as an option.

AND, I would have expected a tyre fitter who knew his trade to have been aware of the requirement to fit appropriate valved to wheels fitted with heigh pressure tyres.
Incidentally, When I saw the spare wheel it had such valves fitted

Aidan_M_M

Every new Renault has rubber valves . Can't remeber off hand about the Ducato.

Seaswimmer

niloc1951 wrote: »

Fast forward five years and the original Michelin XC Camping tyres were showing signs of ageing so last May I invested in four new Michelin Agelis Camping which were fitted by a reputable tyre dealer.

Can I ask where you bought these tyres and how much they cost? I am looking to change my XC Camping tyres in the near future.

Aidan_M_M

my 2 cents worth.... My best mate sells tires , both wholesale and retail . His parents have had coachbuilts for donkey's years , they also have a Factory built Van conversion , and my mate has a semi-pro built VW Transporter.... and they reckon the only difference between XC tires and standard Van Michelins , is that the XC is better to resist damage from sun-light and being left parked up .

All our new campers used to come on XCs , but for the last few years now , most of them have Continentals , Semperits , or Dunlops.

thetyreman

Yea thats the only difference,,,

niloc1951

Only Michelin and Continental make tyres constructed to the 'camping pneu' standard, this is a special standard with an added safety margin to cover continuous high speed running at or over the maximum recommended rating of the tyre, as so often happens in reality. These tyres are also rated to be inflated to 5.5 bar and that pressure is recommended by both FIAT (see handbook) and the tyre manufacturers (see sidewall).
Since my incident I have looked at quite a number of different campers and all those fitted with 'camper' tyres have had metal valves.
FWIW, IMHO metal valves should be a must if 'CP' tyres are fitted and inflating over 4.5 bar.
There is no such thing as too big a safety margin !!!:D:D