Colby Valve Emergency Valve Stem Replacement (Black)

I don't usually bother with product reviews, but this one was such an enormous help! A corroded valve stem came off with the cap when I tried to add air to the tire, and my tire went completely flat. I can fix a lot of things -- from my roof to my dishwasher, but I've never had much luck with auto repair: I don't have the muscle to use hand tools on a car (I have to jump up and down on the wrench to even loosen a lug nut), and no garage means no extensive collection of specialized power tools which could compensate. The alley where I park is not entirely paved, so even positioning a jack is not easy or safe. Add in cold or rainy weather (meaning numb fingers and slippery mud), and I can *maybe* install new windshield wipers... There was NO way I could have done a traditional valve replacement, even a temporary one to limp the car to a repair shop. I tried walking to the one auto parts store within reach, but they had nothing to offer that would do the trick.These valve stems really seemed too good to be true, but my only other option was getting a tow truck and that's NOT cheap (and getting one to where I live is also not a simple proposition, either). So I ordered them and waited the two days for shipping (this was one occasion where I would have gladly paid extra for overnighting them, but expedited shipping wasn't available?). When they arrived, I studied the design and instructions. It wasn't immediately obvious what the instructions meant by "lip of black seal" which had to be "flush against wheel", but after unscrewing the wing nut from the main body of the stem, I realized the black part on the bottom of the main brass body of the stem, right under the brass washer, is actually a hard rubber, and is meant to get pushed down the widening stem bottom to flare around the inside of the wheel to create a seal. So "lip of black seal" is the fat round rubber lip under the brass washer, and the wingnut forces it down the flared bottom of the brass stem. It is an extremely simple and extremely clever design (clever because it's so simple and foolproof). And yes, it works perfectly and EXACTLY as advertised. All I had to do was push the old broken valve stem into the tire (there was a split and corroded collar around it, holding it in place, which I broke off with some pliers) and push the Colby Emergency valve firmly into the hole that was left. I did bring a toothbrush along and cleaned around the hole as much as possible to make extra sure I would get a good seal, but I don't know if that was strictly necessary. Then I tightened the wingnut on top as much as I could (which also bares more threaded stem at the top to connect a pump or compressor). The tire inflated like a charm (during the inflation process, it becomes possible to turn the wingnut further to tighten the seal, and I took full advantage of this, since I didn't have anything handy to supplement what I could manage with my fingers). There are even valve caps in the package, in case yours became unusable along with the valve, as mine did.The whole procedure took maybe 10-15 minutes, and yes, that was in pretty nasty conditions: barely above freezing with a drizzle and barely enough light to see what I was doing. It wasn't 100% tool free, because I did need pliers to get the old, broken valve stem out of the way, BUT your mileage may vary on that point, based on how you came to need an emergency valve stem replacement in the first place. In any case, pliers are something that most people will have on hand or be able to get hold of relatively easily (neighbors, gas stations, convenience stores are all likely to have some). The installation process itself is really as straightforward as the package promises -- which is rare in my experience. It works really well, too: the seal will hold, you can inflate your tire and drive right away (my tire actually stayed inflated overnight, but I imagine that depends on how well you manage to tighten the wingnut). I love that there are two of them in the pack, too, so I can keep one in the car for emergencies.I just wish these things were more widely known and available, because 2-day Prime shipping is great, but "emergency" implies you might not have the luxury of staying put that long, and most people (including myself) don't realize that their tires might go flat not just from a puncture, but from a broken valve stem, right up until it happens. It's really hard to be prepared for something you aren't aware of. And without the option of a spare tire (my car doesn't have one as standard equipment, and doesn't have room for one without installing some non-standard 3rd party kit to carry it), in who knows what conditions and with a bare minimum of tools cars are equipped with, all the tire repair kits in the world won't help. So the second replacement stem along with the packaging, which I was careful to remove undamaged, went into my purse for now, and I'll try to do a little show-and-tell at nearby auto parts stores and gas stations, on the off chance they can be persuaded to start stocking these, and after (probably) developing a bit of a reputation as a crank, it'll be going into the glove compartment, just in case!

worked great and saved me from having to go the tire dealer to get a new valve put in

Works great

Awesome pice of kit to add to my tire repair kit on my RZR 1000s side by side. I have destroyed a tire valve that was sliced off by a rock. This unit got me back on the trail within minutes. Very satisfied.

I would have given this item a perfect 5 of 5 but installing on a 1992 five-star pony wheel was a bear.The pointy butterfly was painful to my fingers, even wearing Lether gloves.And the butterfly's wear just scrapping the inner lip of the rim.I would make an additional item or modification in getting ride of the butterflies for a hex head.Would I buy this again, YES. I had a boy wash my car with a broom and he busted of the valve stems. Later when I was trying to get the car to the shop for repairs, I was trying to figure out how I could fix this when I found this awesome product. They held air for 27 miles at 55mph. great product otherwise.