[Anglianman]

Had a very odd experience today. Whilst stopping off at my local hand car wash, one of the valves on the drivers near side wheel sheared off under pressure from the jet sprayer!

I ended up with a flat very quickly and had to wait for the Chrysler breakdown service to arrive (its contracted to Mondial assistance) and he admitted he seen this happen before to a Jeep.

He put the space saver on and I took the car to my local ATS where they fitted a new valve for £6 and I was away - except for the fact that it was a standard valve - not the pressure sensing one, which my local Chrysler garage (Marshalls at Cambridge) said they didnt have in stock.

On closer inspection of the wheels, I can see some very obvious and concerning corrosion, which the garage advised me would have to be photographed and sent to Chrysler USA for them to approve (or not!) my replacement wheels. £2000 for a complete set apparently.

My question is, should the valve heads be able to stand up to a fairly intense blast from a pressure washer? If you look at the design, they do seem to stick out a bit and are thinner than you might expect, I wonder if this makes them more vulnerable?

Should I insist on all 4 valves being replaced? Anyone else had this experience?