tires won't air down??? (1 Viewer)

[concretejungle]

Had some Nitto 315 75 r16 tires mounted a few weeks ago. I decided to have them put the equal tire balancer in them instead of loading them up with weights. Last weekend i went wheelin, and when i tried to air down, it sounded like my valve stems were clogged.

Can the equal stuff clogg up the valves?

 

[Josh83]

Yes. Moisture makes it clump up. You must air them up with dry air.

 

[slick621]

Equal also recommends using a certain type of valve. From their website:

13. Why do I need to use the AirX Filtered Valve Core or valve stem filter extensions?
The AirX Filtered Valve Core and the valve stem filter extensions are designed to ensure that the valve core seats properly when using EQUAL and that dust particles and contaminants do not cause any air loss.


I think you can get them from www.expeditionexchange.com for a fair price, but I don't know if it would help prevent clogging.

 

[emtee]

Are you using the 'AirX' valve cores? I believe they recommend swapping out the stock cores for these filtered types to prevent clogging... http://imiproducts.com/equal/faqs.aspx

 

[agent orange]

Equal will eat up valve cores too, i do some work on heavy equipment and tires that have run equal have core that will strip and snap really easy, it sucks.

 

[Josh83]

My BB's never clog my valve stems by the way.

 

[GXO]

www.innovativebalancing.com

I have them in my 37s Alex and they work fine. I miss calculated due to swampers being hugely heavy, but I have 4 more oz. coming to fix that.

I have drier stems in mine and no issues.

 

[cruiser-poor]

When I tried running Equal I found that even with the specially-screened valve stems, the tires were slower to release air than a normal tire. I found it helpful to blow a quick shot of air into the tire before beginning the air down. This seemed to help dislodge any partial blockage.

BTW, I didn't find Equal very effective at dynamically balancing my tires (275/85/16 BFG MT), i.e. not worth the trouble.

 

[Tools R Us]

Just remove the cores to air down?

 

[GXO]

that would taste sweet if you did....equal in your face!

 

[concretejungle]

Just remove the cores to air down?

i thought about it, but i didn't have a proper tool other than needle nose pliers to remove it. Plus, by the time i got to the trail head and realized i had forgoten to air down back at the gas station, no one had a compressor close by; so i was worried that if the valve needle got out and it lost all the air, i didn't have a way to air back up.

don't you just need a pair of needle nose plier to screw the needle out?

 

[Tools R Us]

i thought about it, but i didn't have a proper tool other than needle nose pliers to remove it. Plus, by the time i got to the trail head and realized i had forgoten to air down back at the gas station, no one had a compressor close by; so i was worried that if the valve needle got out and it lost all the air, i didn't have a way to air back up.

don't you just need a pair of needle nose plier to screw the needle out?

I use a screwdriver style core tool, available from most parts, bicycle stores. Removing the core is a fast and easy way to air down once you get the hang of it, practice a few times at home, close to air.

 

[-Spike-]

Also, Harbor Freight sells a small tire repair kit that includes several cores, along with some other handy tire repair stuff. Alternatively, in a pinch you could either put on the spare, or pull the core from the spare and use it in your trail tire, if you lost/broke the core removing it.

-Spike

 

[IBCRUSN]

Ditto what Mr. Kunz said

From Innovative Balancing
Filtered Valve Core COR-01
Filtered Valve Cores $0.99

Concrete,
You have now found out why many folks don't use Equal. I seriously considered the stuff for quite a while then settled on Centramatic. Not happy with balancing the fronts only at tire rotation I then found Innovative Balancing and haven't looked back. I have it both sets of tires for the 80, the wifes car and our trailer. I never have to worry about clumping and that's piece of mind.

Good luck with it though I'd hate to think about dismounting tires to get rid of it. I hope the filtered cores do the trick.

 

[concretejungle]

the funny thing is that on their website, in the FAQ section it says that the product is a poly-plastic type product that does not absorb water and will not clump. But it does say you need filtered cores.

 

[dogcatch'n]

The inner core of the valve stem screws out/in, get the tool at the auto parts store, it's cheap...

You can also get extra cores that go in the stem incase one goes bad....cheap also...

 

[concretejungle]

The inner core of the valve stem screws out/in, get the tool at the auto parts store, it's cheap...

You can also get extra cores that go in the stem incase one goes bad....cheap also...

I am going to do that, thanks again.

I was addressing the clumping issue in the previous post.

Funny thing i have noticed about the equal is how i will have a wobble and then it will work itself out. strange.

 

[Nay]

Ditto what Mr. Kunz said

From Innovative Balancing
Filtered Valve Core COR-01
Filtered Valve Cores $0.99

Concrete,
You have now found out why many folks don't use Equal. I seriously considered the stuff for quite a while then settled on Centramatic. Not happy with balancing the fronts only at tire rotation I then found Innovative Balancing and haven't looked back. I have it both sets of tires for the 80, the wifes car and our trailer. I never have to worry about clumping and that's piece of mind.

Good luck with it though I'd hate to think about dismounting tires to get rid of it. I hope the filtered cores do the trick.

I am seriously considering the Innovative Balancing Dyna Beads - that would take away the only downside of running trxus (frequent rebalancing with a lot of weight).

So you just replace the valve core with a new filtered valve core and buy the beads and applicator and you are good to go?

A 10 ply 35x12.5x16 needs 10 oz per tire. Anybody not had these work? Sorry for the hijack...

 

[george_tlc]

For removing the valves/core you can just replace the plastic valve caps with the metal style that have the 'tool' built in to remove the valves. I usually replace a couple of the plastic caps with the metal style - that way I always have the tool on hand or on the tyre

cheers,
george.