An Internet search I did over the weekend revealed that these valve stems were the object of a government and Sears safety recall. I was never informed as a Sears customer and I don't remember this as a news story reported anywhere. Information about this recall and the cheaply made Chinese imports that were constructed of an inferior rubber that can't withstand prolonged exposure to ozone can be found by doing a simple Google search using "Chinese valve stems" or "Sears and valve stems."
I obviously managed to keep my front-wheel-drive Honda under control and survived the blowout. Some Good Samaritans from Virginia stopped and helped me change the tough Yokohama tire which had holes you could stick your fingers through in the sidewalls, shredded belts, and a burned smell--evidence of severe underinflation. The tire managed to hold on long enough for me to get off the road safely.
If you still have rubber valve stems on your car that were purchased during this period, have them inspected and replaced. You have to have the tires deflated and dismounted for the technician to find the identification number on the stem. Sears stems have a stock numbers that are listed in their customer safety notice which is online.
This is dangerous. Apparently there have been numerous accidents and at least one fatality associated with these junk Chinese valve stems causing tire failure at high speeds. They are the subject of a lawsuit.
If anyone has personal experience with this, please respond to this post.
Cheap chinese sh!t will be the death of us.
Literally and figuratively.
Crap, got a tire that I bought new with only 6,000 miles on it. I have put air in about every five days and no one can figure out where the leak is coming from.
Now I will check into the valve stem.
Thanks for posting.
Flat tire ping.
I work for a business that buys chinese made tires for the company vehicles. They are the worst tires I have ever dealt with in my life. I simply cannot believe they even allow these things in the country. They are flat out dangerous tires.
With that said, I believe the new tarrifs on these chinese tires have taken effect because last week I priced 20 tires for our work vehicles and low and behold now the cheapest firestones are less than the chinese brand, so we can buy firestone`s now.
You may want to check the age of your tires while you are at it . It seams that a bunch of companies that have been selling tires as new have been selling tires that although never used are way past their expiration dates (yes tires have expiration dates)and the company you got your valve stems from has been caught selling some of them really old new tires too.
Tires are coded with a date of manufacture . Usually this date is stamped on the back side of the tire so you need to get under the car to see it. If the date on your tires is more than 6 years you should change them (even if you bought them as new as recently as a couple of months ago)
as tires age the adhesive that binds the threads deteriorates and can cause sever blow outs.
Stores have been caught selling these tires as old as 12 years recently and there has been very little info in the news about this.
Here is a link that shows you how to check the date your tires were manufactured.
http://20somethingfinance.com/how-old-are-your-tires-your-safety-may-depend-on-the-answer/
If I'm not mistaken, the valve stems can be replaced without dismounting the tire. I think that I'd skip the dismounting and just replace the stems if I had any concerns about the possibility of having them in my wheels.
I had Sears install four new tires on a Land Rover Discovery in October of 2006. To date, three of the stems have failed. The fourth didn’t have a chance to fail because that tire was punctured and had to be repaired. I suspected foul play until I did a web search for ‘Sears defective valve stems’ just today. Sears never alerted me as to the problem.