Is it possible to change the stock rubber air valve stem to a metal air valve stem?

A friend needed air in his Acura MDX tires. It was alot easier to inflate his tires with the metal air valve stems than the rubber air valve stems on my Fit.

I was thinking if possible to change the rubber air valve stems on my Fit wheels to metal air valve stems.


My friend's metal air valve stem on his Acura MDX.

 

I don't see why you can't just go to Discount Tires or any other tire place and ask for it, you'll just pay more for it. Metal valve stems are usually used in conjunction with TPMS.

 

I plan to.

Just asking if anyone has ever wondered or actually switched from rubber air valve stems to metal ones.

If I can switch to metal air valve stems I'll post pics and give my review.

 

Called my local Discount Tire.

I have to buy a whole new set of TPMS sensors for the metal air valves.

The current sensors on my wheels will not support metal air valve stems.

63 dollars for each sensor.

Total cost with tax is north of 240 dollars.

I'm going for it.

Will post pics when done.

 

I did it with a set of 90-ish Prelude wheels I had on my CRX, for looks and convenience. Metal stems are a thing independent from TPMS sensors.

Don't you have a GK? There's no sensors in GK wheels.
The GK TPMS system works by measuring wheel speed - it's part of the ABS/VSA unit. The "calibrate" function teaches the ABS/VSA unit exactly how fast each tire should spin while traveling in a straight line. A tire with low air pressure shrinks a little bit, which makes it spin faster. When the unit sees one tire spinning faster than the rest, it throws a tire pressure warning.

Valve stems get installed from the "inside" of the tire / wheel - the part with air pressure in it. A tire shop should charge for mount & balance to install them. Regular rubber valve stems are dirt cheap, often provided as part of the mount & balance fee. That is, they shouldn't complain about not turning a profit on customer-supplied metal stems if they don't have them in stock.

Metal valve stems are heavier than rubber style, so a wheel re-balance is necessary. I recommend getting the shortest stems that fit in the socket on your wheels to minimize that weight. See how far down the existing valve stems you can comfortably get your fingers - imagine the fill cap being there. Measure how far up the stem your imaginary cap is with respect to the wheel, shop for stems about that size. Under no circumstances should the stem extend out past the edge of the rim. Such a setup will turn a curb-rub incident into a flat tire.

 

I'll post a review after a day to report how the Metal Air Valves are doing.

 

Going to my local Discount Tire on Saturday morning.

I'll post pics after the install.

 

I'm at Discount Tire now.

According to the Tire Tech,

I can get metal air valves installed.

They have the metal air valves in stock.

And my left front tire has a slow air leak.

Out the door price with installation and left front tire air leak fixed is
96 dollars.

I'm due for new tires soon.

I'm upgrading to Yokohama Avid Ascend Tires. 195/50/16

 

Looks like a decent tire, based on the customer surveys on TireRack.com 👍

 

[img alt="Looks great.

No more fumbling rubber air valve stems to deal with."]https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fitfreak.net-vbulletin/2000x901/20260425_113242_1ea15c78d2a500dbc51070f650d6a11d5a fcd644.jpg[/img]
Looks great. No more fumbling rubber air valve stems to deal with.

 

 

Aww, no metal valve caps?

 

I'm using the valve caps I had on the rubber valve caps.

I took that picture without the valve cap on to show the metal air valve stem on the wheel.

 

With the air valve cap on.

 

So far so good on the first full day.

No air leaks.

Tire Pressure is good all around.

Much easier to fill tires with air with my air compressor.