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I'm still looking for the car keys to my '55 but took time off to go to the store today, or tried to. I decided to take the '51 but when I walked into the garage the first thing I saw as a flat tire. Realizing that the Packard Gods do NOT what me to drive a Packard this weekend I gave in and took the DD instead.

When I got back I went to change the tire. What I saw when I looked over the tire gave me the feeling of ice cubes sliding down my spine. The tire valve stem has a big crack in it that is deep enough to let the tire go flat. I saw that the stem was bent a little off to one side when I went to take the wheel shell off but I never dreamed the stem was rotten enough to crack through like it did. When the Wheel Shell was off, the crack disappeared.

This is a car I usually let loose on the freeway at least once every two weeks and run between 60 - 70 mph and the car seems like it wants more when I'm doing it. The tires that are on the car came with it so I'm not sure how old they are but I'm going to find out. My guess is they are newer than the stems.

In the mean time! I'm going to check the stems on each and every one of my cars and that includes the DDs before I go anywhere in any of them.

You all might want to do the same!

IIRC, there was a big advisory about rotten valve stems on the market just recently. Don't know if your car might have had one or if yours was the original but recent cars are not exempt.

Some how I missed that one, Howard, but come Monday, there are going to be new stems on all the cars around here.

I guess the Packard Gods are looking after me after all.

Happy it didn't leave you stranded!

There is a bigger point here: if it is made from/with rubber, check it from time to time.

I see a lot of cars on elderly tires (who knows on valve stems) with hoses and belts from the dark ages. Most of that stuff is relatively inexpensive to simply replace. The first time you have to call Captain Hook, you have lost.

Preventive maintenance is a good idea.....

When I had had my fire truck some twenty years I got concerned about brake lines so asked the mechanic to change them. He declined, because they looked new. I asked him to give them a physical check so he got under and pulled on one hose. The look on his face when it disintegrated was a real Kodak moment.

i changed over to brass stems.. long ones, but still need an adapter to fill the tire.

G'day Jim,

One of the guys in our club, with a '52 200, had a continuing problem where the wheel covers "rotated" and cut into his valve stems. Maybe this is what happened to yours? For a number of years he drove without wheel covers, only putting them on for shows and display purposes. He did fix the problem, maybe it was metal stems, and I can ask him if you like?

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I think that is what happened here as well as I'm sure I didn't put them on that way.

If you wouldn't mind I would like to know what others have done to "stem" the problem

In the mean time, Pat, I'll make checking the wheel covers to see if any have "walked" part of my pre-drive inspection. When I saw what happened, I'd say that being simply stranded was better than the image that flashed through my mind. Neither are a way that I'd want to end a drive.

Riki, where did you find brass stems?

Hi Jim,

I'm the Aussi guy with the '52 valve stem problems (ie rotating full rim hub caps wearing into the rubber valve stem). New stems are the go from my point of view.
I have tried brass stems and found them to stop the rotation one wheel but not another (as soon as the hub cap put any force on the valve stem it just leaked) my tire guy tried fixing it without success.
My final solution was to have standard rubber stems on all the wheels but I use Permatex Black Silicone Adhesive Sealant in 3 places around the hub cap to bond it to the wheel rim (standard silicone sealant just shears). It works like a treat and I placed it where I us a tire lever to remove the hub cap just to break the bond.

Cheers, Jeff

Jim,

try a truck parts shop, i think that is where my came from, or truck tire shop..

Use a pair of pliers to bend more grip into the wheel cover tangs. It is ss so not real ez to do, it CAN be done.