:( has any one had the problem that i have? i bought some STi replica valve caps off of ebay for $4.00 and put them on about 2 months ago. (i guess the price can say for itself huh!) today i tried to take them off but they wont budge. what gives? i just assumed that since they are metal that maybe they are frozen on. (i live in wisconsin, -20 below 0 degrees outside) i tried to heat the valve caps with a blow drier , but that did not work. i also tried pouring hot water on them and still nothing. finally i used grip tight wrenches and nothing except for the rubber tearing off of the valve. hopefully there are no air leaks. any info or other alternatives will be gratefully appreciated. :(

replace the whole valve or try some penetrating oil

yea your pretty much screwed when those chinsy valve stem caps fuse to the stem your not gonna get them of with out destroying them or ripping the valve.

your gonna have to have the valve stems replaced.

Jay

no solutions for you but the same thing happened to me before...

it snowed and the ice that formed on the wheel somehow SUPERGLUE the cap to the valve stem...I also tried the blowdrier but that did not work. I thought about using a cigarrete lighter to melt off the ice but somehow I thought that was not the brightest thing to do :p

anyway the only way was for the temperature to come up. How about taking your car to a car wash (hot)??? :confused:

have not tried the car wash yet. will try as soon as temperature gets above zero. still way too cold here yet in WI. thanks for the info.

This happened to me about two years ago, and I had to have new stems put on all my wheels, which involved remount and balance also. What happens is those cheap aluminum caps react to the brass stems and causes the metal to fuse together, and you can't get them off. This sucks. So just buy chrome/brass caps from now on. I know it is nice to have custom valve caps with subaru logos on them or what not, but it is not worth the $$ to get wheels/tires balanced and remounted for a valve stem.

ANDY

Could be galvanic corrosion. Dissimilar metals touching and with an electrolyte (salty roads where you live?) will result in corrosion. Brass stem + aluminum (assumption) = corroded aluminum. Try Liquid Wrench and let is soak. If that doesn't work try filing through or Dremeling off the cap. Removing material from the cap or splitting it should allow you to break the cap off the stem. Just be careful not to damage the threads on the stem.

Could be galvanic corrosion. Dissimilar metals touching and with an electrolyte (salty roads where you live?) will result in corrosion. Brass stem + aluminum (assumption) = corroded aluminum. Try Liquid Wrench and let is soak. If that doesn't work try filing through or Dremeling off the cap. Removing material from the cap or splitting it should allow you to break the cap off the stem. Just be careful not to damage the threads on the stem.

That is exactly what happened to mine, I just couldn't remember the term. Brass and Aluminum don't mix together so well. I ended up twisting the stem off, and having to put on an OEM wheel to get to the tire shop to have all 4 remounted and rebalanced. (they pulled all the valve stems, and you have to dismount all the tires to put new stems in since they pull through the rim. I don't know what to tell you. If you find a way to get them off with out damage, post up how you did it. And stay away from "el cheapo" stem caps from now on. Use only "brass chromies"

DP