How do I get this off?

[PaulB81]

Hi All,

Went to put some air in the tyres of my e46 330ci (First time since i bought it) and discovered I couldnt get this off:



Is there some sort of trick to this? Never seen a cap like that before. Even tried with pliers but didnt like the way it was turning the whole stalk.

Any ideas ?

[marksx]

Looks like a normal valve cap that has probably oxidized and siezed on. Penetrating oil?

[Tommy Saxondale]

two pairs of grips, one to hold the stalk one to hold the cap. twist.

[SteveS Cup]

10mm socket!?

[66comanche]

Two pairs of pliers, HTH.

[jkh112]

looks like a cheap alloy cap. These can seize onto the brass valve thread. Penetrating oil may get it off, other wise it may be down to going to a tyre place to get the tyre removed and a new valve fitted. Fit either plastic valve caps, or brass cored metal caps.

[miniman]

Does it have a tiny allen screw in it?

e.g.

[vladcjelli]

marksx said:

Looks like a normal valve cap that has probably oxidized and siezed on. Penetrating oil?

Bit of WD first then this

Tommy Saxondale said:

two pairs of grips, one to hold the stalk one to hold the cap. twist.

Possibly with a bit of wiggling back and forth to work the oil into the threads.

[finlo]

PaulB81 said:

Hi All,

Went to put some air in the tyres of my e46 330ci (First time since i bought it) and discovered I couldnt get this off:



Is there some sort of trick to this? Never seen a cap like that before. Even tried with pliers but didnt like the way it was turning the whole stalk.

Any ideas ?

That wheel has had a shocking refurb at some point.

[T16OLE]

Simple as said above, a pliers to hold the stem and and spanner to undo the dust cap

[DannyVTS]

finlo said:

That wheel has had a shocking refurb at some point.

What makes you say that? Little spots of corrosion can happen on most older wheels..

[finlo]

DannyVTS said:

What makes you say that? Little spots of corrosion can happen on most older wheels..

Because the rattle can paint has all flaked off the unprepped original finnish!

[Mr2Mike]

Those st cheap alloy valve caps almost always corrode onto the valve stem eventually. Junior hacksaw and cut around it lengthways (being careful to avoid cutting into the brass valve stem thread) and lever it apart. Replace with cheap, reliable plastic caps that also don't attract little trainee pik eys.

[dougc]

finlo said:

Because the rattle can paint has all flaked off the unprepped original finnish!

Isn't that just where the wheel is clean, presumably from the OP's fingers trying to turn the cap??

[*Al*]

I had this problem once before, i held the stem with plier and twisted the cap off with some more pliers and guess what? The valve sheared and the tyre deflated immediately!

[finlo]

dougc said:

Isn't that just where the wheel is clean, presumably from the OP's fingers trying to turn the cap??

WWW.Specsavers.co.uk

[PaulB81]

That bit was where my fingers cleaned off some of the grime on the wheel.

[dougc]

finlo said:

WWW.Specsavers.co.uk

Elementary my dear finlo

[silver_lining]

I took a hack-saw to mine a few weeks ago, just had to be very careful! After a couple of cuts you should be able to ping the rest of it off fairly easily.

[AndrewW-G]