jeffmo

I'm looking for a little advice here...

The situation is: Bought a CPO A6 last summer from dealer A. Just took it to dealer B for 35000 mile service and state inspection, which includes checking tire pressures. They notified me that the metal valve stem caps had adhered to the valve stems. They had attempted to remove one which damaged the valve stem. They informed me that Audi recommends using only plastic valve stem caps for exactly this reason. They charged me $75 to replace the valve stem, remount and balance the tire. The other three wheels have the same problem, but I refused to pay another $225 to take care of it.

I did not put metal caps on- the car was sold to me that way as a CPO! It seems to me that if there were potentially damaging aftermarket valve caps which Audi recommends avoiding, they should have been replaced with the correct ones during the CPO inspection. So I contacted dealer A to express my disatisfaction, but they were unwilling to do anything for me.

So my question is, where do you think I should take it from here?

a. pay dealer B to do the work and then try to get reimbursed by AoA
b. take it to dealer A (an hour away) and insist that they take care of it
c. order valve stems and get a tire shop to install them
d. call AoA and try to arrange a deal before bringing the car in

I should add that I have since attempted to remove one of the caps myself, which damaged another valve and resulted in immediate loss of pressure. Tire is low but not flat, the cap is the only thing holding the air in. So I'll need to take care of this in the next few days.

Thanks!

Reef

Jeffmo,

I have recently experienced the same problem on my 08 Audi A4. I put aftermarket chrome valve caps on. I hadnt checked them over the winter and this spring I realized the caps had seized to the valve stem, all four. Using channel locks and a wrench I broke one valve stem attempting to get the cap off. Luckily no air is escaping. Audi dealership informed me that metal caps will seize to aluminum stems and reccomends that i only use plastic caps.

Audi dealership quoted me at $125 each for parts and labor to replace the valve stems. I refuse to pay this much money for this problem. I have gone online and found replacement TPMS valve stems for $13 each at autopartswarehouse.com and am contemplating purchasing them from there.

I feel your pain and have been searching the internet frantically trying to find a solution to this problem. Also I need to replace 3 worn tires too so i have come to two conclusions:
A) order the valve stems online and tires online and pay someone to install it or...
B) go through dealership and just eat ramon noodles for the next month

also I have found that Walmarts that have a tire and lube service will mount and balance tires. My brother took his wifes Volvo S40 and they mounted and balanced new tires for the cheapest ive seen.

Hope this helps