Valve Stem Caps with Location Labels?

[Aaron10647]

Does anybody know of a mfg/vendor that sells valve stem caps with location labels (RF, LF, RR, LR)?

I have summer/winter tires that I rotate in for two vehicles and typically i stick a piece of tape to the inside of the wheel with the location written in sharpie. Every season there is one or two wheels that loose the tape or just get difficult to read. Is there a better way to do this?

 

[dragonballz]

I use a tire crayon/chalk. I write the location on the tread of the tire. Once the tires are put to use, the chalk wears off so theres no residue or anything from adesives like your labels.

 

[66HertzClone]

I didn't drop the extra cash for wheels, but bought four snow tires for my wife's X5. I take them to the local tire shop to have them switched back and forth, they mark the tires with a tire crayon. If you have a P touch label printer I would think a discreetly applied label along the inside of the wheel lip would last a long time.

 

[Applesauce]

Sharpie on the rim works fine, too - wipes right off with alcohol.

 

[jjjrmx5]

Sharpie on the rim works fine, too - wipes right off with alcohol.

Last time I checked Black sharpie does NOT come off with alcohol. Nor adhesive remover.

For winter and track wheels, I use a yellow grease pencil or use good 3M green painters/bodyshop tape and stick to face or lip once wheel is cleaned and dry. I just mark the tape with a good pen or marker.

Never had a problem with the tape falling off and in fact it usually stays on all winter if hidden under the center cap of the OEM wheels or BBS's I run in the summer.

I;ve never seen labeled valve stem caps aside from mfgr logos. Never placement I.D.

 

[Squankum]

Ditto on the tire crayon, available in the part of your auto parts store devoted to tire stuff.

Went through this with autox tires for years. At the end of the day, I'd write on the tread what corner I had just taken them off of. Buddy who co-drove my car sometimes didn't like this, putting tires on the next weekend, he thought that what I'd written down was where they should go next time. If you're a one-man operation, just use whatever protocol you like.

And yep, it wears off with driving. With tires with actual tread blocks on them, sometimes you have to write big and repeatedly across the tread face, but li'l yellow tire crayon gets the job done.

The other use for tire crayon is to circle the foreign object/hole you've spent five minutes looking for and could barely see, because as soon as you look away, you may go blind trying to find it again. My fuzzy memory says even bicycle inner tube patch kits have a tiny tire crayon for this very same reason.

 

[jeremy v]

I took a can of spray paint (you could do it with a paint pen as well) and painted simple 1" diameter black dots on the backside of my 5 spoke alloy rims. One wheel gets one dot on one spoke, the next wheel gets 2 dots one on each of 2 spokes, etc. up to 5 dots (one dot on each spoke) for the spare wheel.

I then have a chart I keep in the glove box that shows what dot numbers to put in what position each time I rotate or swap out the wheels and tires. You don't see anything visually without removing the wheels and taking a quick glance at the back.

 

[fxt]

that is a great idea, valve stem caps with locations on them.


but i just mark the center caps for when i change wheels over for winter to summer

 

[rlitman]

Last time I checked Black sharpie does NOT come off with alcohol. Nor adhesive remover.

Yes it does. Sharpie is shellac based. Alcohol takes it right off. Other permanent markers may not be so easy to remove though.

Like others here, I would mark each wheel with chalk when removed for the season. Since I was swapping tires twice a year, I would use that as an opportunity to do a tire rotation. So when a tire came off, it would be chalked with its position, but when it went back on, I would use the position it came off of as a reference, and put it into its new position.

Because of that, a permanent mark of the wheel position on the tires wouldn't necessarily make sense.

 

[Applesauce]

Yes it does. Sharpie is shellac based. Alcohol takes it right off. Other permanent markers may not be so easy to remove though.

Thanks. Was just going to suggest he check again! Even nylon-based plastics generally won't absorb even a hint of the ink.

 

[davesnothere]

I would imagine you could write on chrome caps with a sharpie, no problem.

 

[Frosthy]

Could put a colored zip tie around a spoke and keep a list of color/corner. Shouldn't effect wheel balance at all.

 

[JJThrasher]

I use my tread depth gauge, and just put them on where the wear says they should be next.

 

[4xdog]

...Sharpie is shellac based...

Are you sure about that? Any sources you can refer one to?

 

[rlitman]

Am I sure? Yes. Any sources? No. Their formula is most likely a "trade secret", and is not publicly disclosed, but based on the types of surfaces that it will write on, and the solvents that can remove it, shellac is really the only possible answer.

 

[jweller]

I use a tire crayon/chalk. I write the location on the tread of the tire. Once the tires are put to use, the chalk wears off so theres no residue or anything from adesives like your labels.

Thats what I do with mine

 

[doan]

Does anybody know of a mfg/vendor that sells valve stem caps with location labels (RF, LF, RR, LR)?

I have summer/winter tires that I rotate in for two vehicles and typically i stick a piece of tape to the inside of the wheel with the location written in sharpie. Every season there is one or two wheels that loose the tape or just get difficult to read. Is there a better way to do this?

you could use a different color cap for each position, or colored shrink tube over the valve stem.

 

[metaleltr]

Am I sure? Yes. Any sources? No. Their formula is most likely a "trade secret", and is not publicly disclosed, but based on the types of surfaces that it will write on, and the solvents that can remove it, shellac is really the only possible answer.

Though Sharpie ink will become permanent after setting, it can be erased. 3 or 4 strokes of a dry erase marker will remove Sharpie ink. WD-40 will work moderately well on recent markings if dry-erase markers is not available. Crayola's "Color Wonder" mess-free markers have also been effective in removing Sharpie ink that has been dried for several days.
Sharpie ink that has dried for more than several hours can be removed with acetone and other ketones and esters, such as ethyl acetate, but acetone and other organic solvents may damage the surface of the material written upon. Isopropyl alcohol works well and is less damaging to some surfaces; rubbing alcohol is the dilute form, so works more slowly. On some surfaces, the ink can be removed by coloring over the ink with a dry erase marker (since this marker's ink contains organic solvents) and then removing the Sharpie ink and dry erase marker ink with a dry cloth. Steam cleaning has proved effective, as have rubber erasers. Magic Eraser has also proven somewhat effective on hard surfaces such as brick and very effective on wood furniture.

The principle solvents are alcohols, but they also contain ethylene glycol monobutyl ether. All other Sharpie ink colors are Permchrome ink. For these the principle solvents are also alcohols, but no glycol ethers are used.

Section Three: Composition
Dyes
Pigments
Solvent Mixture: Butanol (71-36-3), Propanol (71-23-8), Diacetone Alcohol (123-42-2), Ethanol (64-17-5)

I don't see shellac

 

[rockchucker]

I use a huge piece of chalk for short term markings. For long term or storing purposes I use a Grease Pencil or a Paint Pen.

Maybe you could buy a set of Aluminum Valve Stem Caps and use an old school Engraver for your desired results.

 

[BoDuke]

why not use 4 different colors of electrical wire and have each color represent the RF,LF, ect...ect... just wrap them around the tires

 

[ATC]

Silver sharpie. Write on inside sidewall.

 

[RKA]

I use a huge piece of chalk for short term markings. For long term or storing purposes I use a Grease Pencil or a Paint Pen.

Maybe you could buy a set of Aluminum Valve Stem Caps and use an old school Engraver for your desired results.

The grease pencil or paint pen is the best method I've found so far. Typically I'll give the wheels and tires a good washing before they get put away for storage, and adhesive tapes don't hold up well to the soaking, silver sharpies are faint to begin with on a tire sidewall and even more so after washing. The paint pen holds up really well, but they dry up after a few uses (only use them twice a year for tire changeovers between seasons). I like the idea of using valve stem caps and engraving them. Much simpler and very little fuss.

 

[rlitman]

I don't see shellac

Read between the lines:

Dyes
Pigments

Everything else is solvent in those "ingredients".

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

Lisle 19860