Help!!

[Rach h]

Hi all.
Need a little bit of help and advice.
A little while ago I bought a nice new set of black ds3 metal dust caps. Had no problems with them until now. Ok, so I admit I haven't washed my car in a few weeks and it's a bit dirty and salty. I last checked my tyre pressures a couple of weeks ago, came to check them today and I can't get the caps off. They are stuck fast!! Tried wd40, pliers and they won't budge! I don't want to try too hard in case I pop a valve. Is my only option to take it to a garage to get all my valves replaced? Any body else had this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Jimbob]

That's a new one. Maybe a tyre depot might help without charging if they can get them off.
Have you tried mole grips and even more WD40?

JB

[idgiecat]

I had the same issue - I ended up using 2 sets of pliers - one to grip the cap and one to hold the valve stem - luckily this was enough to get the caps off - there was a build up of white "corrosion" under then. Since then I take them off and give them a wipe every week or so when i wash the car just to make sure they don't stick again!

[Dangerousfish]

I had the same issue with some cheap ones I bought off Amazon; come tyre replacement time I had to have the valves replaced

[scubagazza]

Be aware of using alloy dust caps on steel threaded valve stems, especially when roads have been gritted. The salt when wet causes a chemical reaction between the two different metals creating an electrical charge this creates a powdery residue from the reaction between two metals and effectively welds them together.

[cyclone]

Be aware of using alloy dust caps on steel threaded valve stems, especially when roads have been gritted. The salt when wet causes a chemical reaction between the two different metals creating an electrical charge this creates a powdery residue from the reaction between two metals and effectively welds them together.

It is called dissimilar metal corrosion or more correctly galvanic corrosion.

[Bigfeet]

And this is why I tell customers not to fit vanity caps....

Try heating the caps with a heat gun, normally does the trick.

[Jimbob]

And this is why I tell customers not to fit vainty caps.....

I promise not to fit "Vainty" caps if I ever find out what they are!

JB

[Clean Your Ride]

Funnily enough when my dice dustcaps arrived 2 weeks ago, the metal Citroën badged ones already on there would not undo. Had to use pliers, mole grips, WD40 and brute strength to get them off. Took a good 20 minutes for all 4.

Week later, 2 of the new ones get robbed.

What is it with people pinching off me this week? One more incident due now as bad luck always comes in threes.

Sent from my Experia Z tablet using Tapatalk

[Bigfeet]

I promise not to fit "Vainty" caps if I ever find out what they are!

JB

Blah blah blah!

[Rach h]

Well I have learned a lesson the hard way. Heat worked on one but the other three won't budge! Car is booked in the garage on Sunday to have three new valves fitted at a cost of £6.99 each. So for some "vanity caps" that cost me a few quid have ended up costing a lot more!! I just hate the looks of the plastic ones but I guess I'll have to put up with them. Thanks for all your comments.

[pmatil]

Also, metal caps get stolen very often (dunno why anyone would want then but they do).

[Dangerousfish]

Well I have learned a lesson the hard way. Heat worked on one but the other three won't budge! Car is booked in the garage on Sunday to have three new valves fitted at a cost of £6.99 each. So for some "vanity caps" that cost me a few quid have ended up costing a lot more!! I just hate the looks of the plastic ones but I guess I'll have to put up with them. Thanks for all your comments.

Edwardo may be able to make you some nicer plastic ones if you give him a shout

[Chris_Blue]

A good smear of grease helps- but not foolproof

[Rach h]

Hi all. Quick update. Took my car to halfords auto centre to have the valves changed and they managed to get the dust caps off! I have no idea how but hey they did. I now have some lovely looking plastic ones!! The best bit is it didn't cost me a penny! Went to hand over my card and he said no charge. Result! We'll done halfords. Lesson learned!