Hey guys. I never really paid attention until I notice today but I found that on my rims (ZE Forged Mesh) that the valve stem holes are behind the spokes. This is great and all but even with the flush mount style valve stem adapters how the hell do you adjust tire pressure without taking off the wheels? Im running 17s and c5 brakes so its pretty tight in there and the valve stem is fairly close to being in line with the rotor without much space to get a air nozzle in there.

Is this just something Ill have to deal with for having pretty wheels or is there a way to air up or down my tires without taking the wheels off. As much as I would love it, airjacks and a pit crew are not in my plans or budget lol.

I have two sets of wheels that have the valve stem locations behind the wheel face. It really is a b*tch to get an air hose in there. I had to ditch one because the valve stem hits my brake kit. You can get special metal long tube valve stems but not sure if that will work nicely for you for a few different reasons. I'm sorry, I ran into that site on accident. Never bothered to save the link.

This was my post on another thread if you need a visual.
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2534420&postcount=32

I dont think Ill be able to make a stem like that work considering how close the brakes are (the caliper is within 3/16" from the spokes and a 1/8" from the hoop). I may cap those holes and have a shop drill new ones in front and Ill put the flush mount air valves in. That is unless there is a better way...

You can always put the valve stem on the backside of the wheel if you run out of options and absolutely must use those wheels. Talk about a PITA to simply put air in the tires though. I've considered this option but quickly dismissed it.

I paid quite a bit for these rims and they are far from an offset that is resale-able. I have a 17x11 (although its listed as a ten unless its measured from the inside of the lip) with a 4.5" backspace. The fronts are a 17x8 with a 4.5" backspace as well. There arent many cars that can easily run that wheel.

I also love the wheels and dont wanna get rid of them but there is no way in hell that this is going to work as is and Im definitely not going to take a loss on a set of custom wheels that I havent even ran yet. I talk to my machinist and he thinks he can make a set of plugs that will disappear into the lip when the are tightened down. He was thinking of making a set of plugs that had the same radius on them and when they are tightened down theyll flush up with the wheel and you wont be able to see em.

Truthfully Boze should do this to begin with. Im a bit irritated that I wasnt told about this issue and I did buy these from a dealer that advertises here and knew what brakes I was running. I may contact them as well as Boze to see what they suggest but its looking like Im gonna be spending some green to put air in my damn tires. This is such a stupid problem to have.

i can't quite picture what valve stem design you're describing but i'm interested! maybe there's hope for my other set of wheels still.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GGiPdww%2BL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

they look like this. they have a little cap and the stem is recessed and when you need to air em up you screw on a little adapter. Im hoping that my machinist can make the caps that cover them match the rim if not oh well but I can have the air valve behind the rim.

oh and I contacted Boze and they were of absolutely no help all the guy on the phone said was that if my brakes are that big then Im just going to have to deal with it???? He had no ideas for me other than what Ive already figured out, pretty lame.

Matt, Maybe there's hope for my wheels yet!!! Any idea where I can purchase a set of 4 of these? Looks like a simple bolt on part.

EDIT: Just found some! http://www.brandsport.com/grla-vs407c.html

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GGiPdww%2BL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

they look like this. they have a little cap and the stem is recessed and when you need to air em up you screw on a little adapter. Im hoping that my machinist can make the caps that cover them match the rim if not oh well but I can have the air valve behind the rim.

oh and I contacted Boze and they were of absolutely no help all the guy on the phone said was that if my brakes are that big then Im just going to have to deal with it???? He had no ideas for me other than what Ive already figured out, pretty lame.

I have those on my car, just make sure you don't lose the air attachment!

not that its a good scenario, but how often do you need to adjust the pressures? i know you couldnt even check them, but i guess id just live with it before i spent a bunch of money to fix it.

how noticeable is the short vavle stem that you have pictured? why dont you just drill a new one on the back of the wheel, and just leave those in behind the center towards the front? nobody would notice since the rotor should hide the new one.

???????

the cap sit almost flush with the rim , most of whats pictured actually is inside the wheel. At most it may protrude an 1/8". More or less if you look at that pic youll see a black ring on it. Those are rubber seals. Everything above that protrudes although the picture makes it look alot bigger than it is.

As far as checking air pressure? How bout every time it goes on the road? I got in the habit when I still rode sportbikes and I check any performance vehicle everytime it goes out. Hell my POS daily driver gets checked everytime I go to the gas station. Just think if you were to go to a HPDE or the like and had to pull the wheels to do pressure adjustments... That would be insane. I thought about putting them towards the inside lip and go that route but even then thats a big PITA as well..

This kind of thinking is the same as cars like VW that dont have a dipstick for automatic transmissions. In order to check the fluid you must drain it and to fill it you have to use a siphon tube like filling a manual trans. I a firm believer that form FOLLOWS function. BBS is a good example. On their RC II's which have the exposed hardware, one of the bolts is actually the valve stem. It nearly imposible to tell that its there but guess what?? You can fill your tires or at least check the pressure without getting out the floor jack and lug wrench.

I hope everyone can tell how irritated I am and that I wasnt very happy with the less than stellar service I got from the company. If I knew about this prior to getting them I woulda bought a different brand of wheel.

whats your plan at this point as far as the relocation of the stem?

i understand your frustration with the ability to check/adjust, i just dont do it like i should on my cars. at work we check our rigs out every morning; pump, lights, siren, brakes, motor, tire tread, pressures, etc.... it takes a while.

Being that I could probably spend a few hundred somewhere else, Im gone punch new holes in the inside lips and plug up the holes that are already drilled.

The machinist I have do all my custom CNC work said he could make a full setup for me but it'd be around 2-300 bucks. He said he could make it so they were undectable I figured I could get on my knees and fight with it. Totally fked up but, "It Is What It Is" thats how I get through life lol.

I dont like this compromise but I gotta spend my money in the right spots and this isnt a place I think justifies the cash.

BTW I bet there are other companies that can do custom offsets that dont do this. Im sorry they are a sponsor and Im not talking about them in the best light, but after I called them I wasnt really happy with the answer I got. I was so annoyed I hung up on the guy. I spent a good chunk of change on my wheels and to be told that I have to deal with that cause my brakes are too big wasnt much help. He suggested flushe valve stems and I said "how am I supposed to fill them" and he said, "well if your brakes are that big then youll just have to take them off" CLICK..

They wont get my business again nor a referal because of this. I deal with enough crap aftermarket engineering daily to know the companies that deserve the bump and this aint one of em. I like products that are well thought out for all potential uses as well as having a good customer service /tech team. They are the experts of their products and Im sure they should know how to deal with issues like this, since they dont ADIOS.

You live you learn. The rims otherwise are great. The fact I am gonna have to spend an extra 10 minutes checking the air is a different story.

Hey guys. I never really paid attention until I notice today but I found that on my rims (ZE Forged Mesh) that the valve stem holes are behind the spokes. This is great and all but even with the flush mount style valve stem adapters how the hell do you adjust tire pressure without taking off the wheels? Im running 17s and c5 brakes so its pretty tight in there and the valve stem is fairly close to being in line with the rotor without much space to get a air nozzle in there.

Is this just something Ill have to deal with for having pretty wheels or is there a way to air up or down my tires without taking the wheels off. As much as I would love it, airjacks and a pit crew are not in my plans or budget lol.

Do you have any pictures you can post? I have had my eye on some ZE Forged, but now I have thinking twice. Would like to see what you are talking about so I can better understand. Not to sound naive, but could you just change your brakes?

not that its a good scenario, but how often do you need to adjust the pressures?Between every run at an autocross, or every session of an HPDE, or every pass at a drag-strip... Tire pressure adjustments are an incredibly important tuning tool for ALL types of racing. At the last autocross, I was seeing 3PSI increases per run on my right-side tires as they warmed up, and I adjusted the pressures before every single run to try tightening up a loose car.

What about just drilling holes in the outside rim for regular valve stems? It might not be pretty, but it'll be functional. :) Something like these: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/BSP-999900/?image=large

Believe me its crossed my mind to do that more than once. A flush valve stem like I showed would stay fairly inconspicuous.

As far as a pic, there is a pic in the second post that gives you an idea of the problem. The hole fo rthe valve stem is about an inch behind the spokes, this just so happens to line up with just about any brake caliper on earth. If these were 20's it wouldnt be an issue, with 17s and a 13" brake setup there is barely any room at all for anything but the caliper.

I am probably gonna have to weld the holes shut and will more than like do them on the outside. As Derek said, you are constantly checking air pressure during an autocross and a HPDE at Infineon, Thunder hill or Mecca aka Laguna Seca will be mandatory just to keep the car safe let alone get good performance out of the car.

Im not going to say that you shouldnt get rims from this company but you need to really think about how this will affect you. I wasnt informed about this when I purchased them and I may have chose another company if I had. The rims otherwise are high quality, very nice looking, are available in custom finishes and offsets and are reasonably priced. The cons are a lack of customer support (at least my situation) and a lack of thought in this very important area ( and remember that the tire guy is gonna have to get to that spot to seat the bead while on the tire machine).

Truthfully, if you could get these wheels with the valve stem hole on the outside lip from the getgo then the wheels would be a great buy. Im just not happy that I have to modify them to make them work. Its also not something I coulda planned for, the wheel template for my brakes said it would fit and at no time was I aware of this little problem.

Matt I would think you could get that hole welded up and then with some sanding and polishing nobody would ever know it was there. Would take a bit of work though.

the hole behind the spokes can be welded and left as is, I could care less what it looks like since its in a spot that you can barely see even if you try to look for it. And I did make up mind, the hole is going on the outside, Im not gonna fck around with crawling under the car to adjust tire pressure or air em up. A set of flush caps will work fine.

Matt,

Come see me at Wingfoot on West Capitol ave. in West Sac. There are lots of chrome 90deg and similar valve stems available. We also have brass stems that can be bent to any shape. Also have air chucks to fit valves facing away. Something like that might work with the right stem. Might see something you could use. Anytime M-F, 7:30-5:00.

Matt,

My boss used to manage at Wheel Works and says he's seen this problem. The stem you want is called a "seneca style" valve stem.

Matt

I have 18" BOZE Fatals on my car and am running Wilwoods front and rear (13" rotors/6 piston calipers and 12" rotors/4 piston calipers, respectively) My valve stems are dead center in the largest openings in the wheels and face outward. They're easily accessible for air needs.

When I ordered mine, I ordered directly from BOZE and went over every aspect of the brakes, planned use for the car, etc. directly with them (With Zak - the "Z" in BOZE). He was very thorough in asking what I had and what I needed/wanted. BTW, I never knew of Zak before calling blind to order the wheels - so it wasn't like I got any special attention/service.

Did you buy yours through a dealer? Maybe something got lost in the communication between you, your dealer and BOZE? BOZE would only build what a dealer told them to build, if you didn't order directly. I'm sure if they knew you had big brakes they would have made sure of the correct location for your valve stems.

If you would like Zak's phone number, please PM me.