Dont use metal valve caps.

[hardcore302]

Made a silly mistake and put metal valve caps on the Trax. It was 13 degrees in my part of New York. Pressure was low. Went to remove caps and discovered they were welded on. Tried some Channelocks, no dice. Was gonna borrow my friends torch, no dice. Replaced four stems. Stupid me.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Lighten up with the torch and just park it in a heated garage for an hour!

 

[Jetronic]

Made a silly mistake and put metal valve caps on the Trax. It was 13 degrees in my part of New York. Pressure was low. Went to remove caps and discovered they were welded on. Tried some Channelocks, no dice. Was gonna borrow my friends torch, no dice. Replaced four stems. Stupid me.

Happens a lot, Anti-seize on the threads works though. I stick to plastic caps myself.

 

[Jetronic]

Lighten up with the torch and just park it in a heated garage for an hour!

They can be corroded together just as easily as frozen together...

 

[Lubener]

Made a silly mistake and put metal valve caps on the Trax. It was 13 degrees in my part of New York. Pressure was low. Went to remove caps and discovered they were welded on. Tried some Channelocks, no dice. Was gonna borrow my friends torch, no dice. Replaced four stems. Stupid me.

Ease up on the over tightening of those caps.

 

[billt460]

Made a silly mistake and put metal valve caps on the Trax. It was 13 degrees in my part of New York. Pressure was low. Went to remove caps and discovered they were welded on. Tried some Channelocks, no dice. Was gonna borrow my friends torch, no dice. Replaced four stems. Stupid me.

Trying to understand here. Are you saying the caps were frozen on, or corroded on? Why did you replace the stems? Did you destroy them trying to remove the caps?

All of the metal valve caps I have are all Nickel, (Chrome) plated brass. I've had them on for years with no issues. As far as freezing, all you would have needed to do, was touch the top of the metal cap to a soldering gun for several seconds. That would have easily thawed, and expanded the cap to the point removal should have been possible.

 

[Oil Changer]

I'm required to use metal caps on my truck fleet.

 

[mrsilv04]

Wonder if this was some incompatibility between two metals... and then add in some road salt and brine for good measure.

 

[mightymousetech]

Aluminum TPMS sensors and metal valve caps is no bueno. And even a little salt to the mix and you get galvanic corrosion, then us techs are having to drill out the sensors. See this all the time. PITA.

 

[RooflessVW]

Metal caps on my cars with no issues.

https://shop.boeing.com/aviation-supply/p/637=3B

 

[ka9mnx]

Metal caps on my cars with no issues.

https://shop.boeing.com/aviation-supply/p/637=3B

We used these on the F-16's I used to work on. Wonder how much they cost?

 

[atikovi]

Lighten up with the torch and just park it in a heated garage for an hour!

Who heats their garage, especially in NY. Probably adds $100 to your heating bill.

 

[wings&wheels]

Metal caps on my cars with no issues.

https://shop.boeing.com/aviation-supply/p/637=3B

Hey, I am not the only overboard going nut that uses these!

 

[RooflessVW]

We used these on the F-16's I used to work on. Wonder how much they cost?

They're like $2 each without an 8130

 

[jeepman3071]

Here in the salt belt they can be a real nightmare to remove from the metal valve stems.

 

[PWMDMD]

Yup...had to cut them off, even after heating and using penetrating oil, with a Dremel. I nicked the end of one of the valve stems just enough that when you tried to put air into the tire it wouldn't seal. Just had new tires +1 new TPS sensor/valve stem replaced for my stupidity.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Mercedes and Autel both have plastic caps with built in o-rings.

 

[Rand]

dremel works good on em after they corrode together. you just score them in a couple places and they snap off.. no damage.

I've never had one "freeze on" .. abit of road salt and they dont move soon after.

 

[PimTac]

So, using a torch to heat valve stem caps is a approved method here? The OP might have made it on the local news or a viral video if someone was videoing him doing it.

For the want of loosening a valve stem cap the car was lost.

 

[RooflessVW]

Probably going to blow some minds here but the valve cap threads don't have to be dry.

And I figured that a bitoger's valve cap could never be on long enough to corrode in the first place...