TPMS with Westlake Valve Stem

[Rabbit]

Fun day yesterday on I-75 in Atlanta. The Lippert TPMS indicated one tire had dropped from its running pressure of 88psi to 46psi. Long story short, road service swamped the spare and we were on our way after two hours (there’s a lot more to that story, but that’d be another post). Today I looked at the flat and discovered the valve stem has slit. I’d read about valve stem failures with tpms sensors on them, but assumed the westlakes had metal stems for the higher pressure. Not so. I’ll take all the sensors off until I can have all the stems changed.

[Yoda]

Fun day yesterday on I-75 in Atlanta. The Lippert TPMS indicated one tire had dropped from its running pressure of 88psi to 46psi. Long story short, road service swamped the spare and we were on our way after two hours (there’s a lot more to that story, but that’d be another post). Today I looked at the flat and discovered the valve stem has slit. I’d read about valve stem failures with tpms sensors on them, but assumed the westlakes had metal stems for the higher pressure. Not so. I’ll take all the sensors off until I can have all the stems changed.

Westlakes on a new GD? I thought Grand design was using GY Endurance now and only had the Westlake as a spare? I would watch the tires closely if they are Load Range E there have been some reported failures. I am surprised the valve stems was the issue too as they should have held up better.

Glad you caught it.

Keith

[Country Campers]

I would guess that it would not matter what brand of tire compared to the valve stem. I believe that the tire and wheel is mounted and supplied by Lions Head so I would guess that the same valve stem is used on all sets.

Brian

[Rabbit]

Had the valve stem replaced at Discount Tire. The brass part had separated from the rubber. They said it was a high pressure stem and the failure was a fluke. They said the TPMS sensor on the other tires’ stems should be okay. But, now it worries me.

[Cate&Rob]

I had that same valve stem failure (ironically on I75 in Atlanta . . . what are the chances??) after I had replaced the tires which included new valve stems. I think the tire installer pulled too hard on the combination brass/rubber high pressure valve stem while installing it. I continued to run TireMinder TPMS sensors on these valve stems (which TireMinder said was OK) for many thousands of miles without a valve stem problem. (the whole TireMinder experience is another story . . . but it did find this valve stem leak in time to save the tire).

Rob

[Rabbit]

Rob, thanks for the reassurance.

[Bigdog3162]

Hello, searched for this issue and found this thread from 2022.

I have been running TST valve stem cap monitors on my tires but never had an issue until this trip. I used the same TST stem monitors on the Imagine when we went 6,000 miles on a trip in summer of 2022, no issue at all. I just got back from a 2,000 trip down south. Of the 4 tires on my 2022 GD Reflection 280RS I had three, yes THREE, rapid PSI loss tire flats on the trip! Fist one in Alabama and I thought it was a fluke. Second one outside Charlotte coming home on I-85, fun times. Third in Lynchburg, VA. All of these were on the original GY Endurance tires and valve stems from AUG 2022 purchase. I tried to call the tire warranty policy company from my dealer, no help, said their system was down, call back later. (Don't get me started on these add-on warranty policies) Took Tire #1 to local tire shop and they said tire was fine and installed a high pressure stem.

After tire #2 in Charlotte, I chanced continuing up the road with no spare. Then tire #3 in VA. I had to leave camper on the side of the road and get 2 tires repaired at local shop. Shop said the two tires were ok, but I insisted on getting a new tire for #3 since I had to slow-roll about a half mile at 20 psi to get to a safe pull-off spot. I got new high pressure stems on both of these repairs.

Either the factory (Lions Head) valve stems are crap, or the TST monitors somehow caused this. But, it is EXTREMELY interesting that all three failed this trip when I have never had issue before.

I am considering the purchase of the TST internal wheel band monitors to have a safe solution in the future. Has anyone had a good experience with an internal tire monitor?

Another interesting aspect - when we purchase the RV it came prepped for TireLInc monitoring (sticker on the side of the camper and transmitter booster setup in pass-thru), which is the same valve stem-mounted button monitor setup as TST, So, you would think GD or Lions Head would have made sure the stems were adequate for this type setup!!!!

At least I got pretty good at changing tires in a hazardous environment! (ha) I have a Safe-T-Jack pack that is pretty handy. I will also be buying spare #2 like I had setup with the Imagine.

Not feeling good right now.

[Country Campers]

Bigdog3162

Instead of the banded tire pressure sensors I would recommend that you get a set that you can use with the on board tire pressure sensor system in your GMC. There is a thread here somewhere about doing that with after market sensors or you could get GM sensors and have them installed inside the wheel just like the truck. The money spent on these sensors will be way better than the banded system.

Brian

[Bigdog3162]

Bigdog3162

Instead of the banded tire pressure sensors I would recommend that you get a set that you can use with the on board tire pressure sensor system in your GMC. There is a thread here somewhere about doing that with after market sensors or you could get GM sensors and have them installed inside the wheel just like the truck. The money spent on these sensors will be way better than the banded system.

Brian

I will look into that, thanks!

[acoleman43]

I will look into that, thanks!

I added the Ford trailer TPMS system to my trailer/truck about 2 years ago. I understand GM/Checy system is very similar.

The Ford trailer TPMS system uses Ford internal TPMS sensors and links directly to the trucks computer. The trailer tire pressure can be seen on the dash of the truck so you don't need an additional monitor. The cost was about $500 and required Forscan to turn on this option (would have been much cheaper and easier if the truck came from factory with this option).

Pros: No additional monitor, internal TPMS sensors, uses truck system to warn if pressure drops too low, no need to change out batteries in transmitter (or monitor)
Cons: Expensive, requires additional programming with truck, consists of an additional 12 pin connection from trailer to truck (I heard some of the newer truck may use bluetooth for this??), need to install TPMS sensors internally (remove tire, install sensor, install tire again).

[Yoda]

I believe the TST valve sensors require metal valve stem be used, or they are recommended. Have you talked to the folks at TST? Also the Westlake valve stems are literally junk as I have several go bad with just normal travel - until I up sized my tires and replaced my rims with Sendel and used thier metal valve stems - no issue now.

[Lonestar]

I believe the TST valve sensors require metal valve stem be used, or they are recommended. Have you talked to the folks at TST? .

Unless something has changed, I believe you are correct. I've run their TPMS for 14 years now (2 different systems) and have never had an issue using metal stems. If the OP is interested in keeping the existing sensors, a call to TST would solve the problem.