Twin wheels in action

Quality of valve extensions

Tire valve extensions are simple components but place high demands on their design.
The hallmark of air-flexx® valve extensions is a multi-layer construction with a steel or stainless steel casing!

From a technical perspective, a tire valve extension is an auxiliary construction that facilitates access to the tire valve during a tire pressure check. The valve extension itself is a relatively simple component. The basic construction consists of an air tube of the appropriate length, which has a thread at one end for screwing onto the valve and an attachment for the tire pressure gauge at the other. However, good accessibility alone is only half the battle.
Valve extensions should perform their task efficiently and safely under all operating conditions – in long-haul transport as well as in construction site traffic or waste disposal transport!

Robustness & Flexibility

Air-Flexx® tire valve extensions are robust and flexible

The specifications for reliable valve extensions place high demands on materials and technology. With air-flexx® valve extensions from the manufacturer Glauch GmbH in Viersen, robustness and flexibility are, so to speak, built into the design. This is made possible by a multi-layered construction that combines materials such as stainless steel and high-performance plastics. This makes the extension extremely flexible, yet absolutely break-proof. At the same time, every air-flexx® valve extension has high rigidity, which in most cases makes a valve holder or retaining clip superfluous.

Structure & Materials

Extension combines stainless steel and high-performance plasticsThe core of the Air-Flexx valve extensions is the air tube with an integrated remote control for the tire valve. This consists of a valve pin with a stainless steel core, which is embedded in a special plastic guide and moves freely within the air tube. The plastic tube is surrounded by a steel or stainless steel casing. The outer protective casing in turn consists of a durable plastic. Twelve different production steps are required to manufacture each individual air-flexx® tire valve extension. The valve pin and air tube, as well as the protective casing and connecting pieces, are separate components that are later assembled during final production.

Functionality & Security

The tire valve extension works largely like a normal valveOnce screwed on, the valve extension sits pressure-free on the valve in the rim. Technically, this means that there is no effective connection inside between the valve pin of the air-flexx® extension and the valve insert of the respective commercial vehicle tire. The valve insert therefore remains closed and holds the air in the tire back. Contact between the valve extension and the valve only occurs when the air pressure device is placed on the extension for checking or filling. At this moment, the valve pin integrated in the valve extension presses on the valve insert. The path into the interior of the tire is clear, and air can flow in. If the testing device is removed again, the pressure on the valve pin also ceases. The valve extension then switches to the pressure-free mode, so to speak, and at the same time the valve insert closes the valve in the rim again.

Pressureless and flexible – air-flexx® Tire Valve Extensions

Applications & Dimensions

Tire pressure control is important for everyone – with air-flexx® it's quick and easy

  • Air-Flexx® tire valve extensions are suitable for all commercial tractor units. For semi-trucks with trailers as well as car transporters, motorhomes, waste disposal and municipal vehicles, tipper trucks and small vans with twin wheels.
  • When using air-flexx® tire valve extensions, it should be noted that metal valves must be installed in the tires.
  • The versions with 75, 85 and 105 millimeters length are intended for front and single wheels with hubcaps.
  • Models from 105 to 215 millimeters are used for inner twin wheels. All valve extensions in these categories can be used without additional brackets or retaining clips.
  • Longer lengths between 315 and 1000 millimeters are the perfect solution for trucks and coaches to maintain tire pressure even with hard-to-reach spare wheel valves.
  • Front and single wheels with hubcaps: 75 mm, 85 mm and 105 mm
  • Inner twin wheels: 105 mm, 145 mm, 170 mm, 185 mm, 215 mm
  • Spare wheels: 315 mm, 415 mm, 1000 mm

The air-flexx® valve extension is profitably used in almost all commercial vehicles. The advantages are obvious: A tire valve extension saves fuel, minimizes repairs and helps prevent accidents. Ultimately, significant costs can be saved. Since every vehicle has specific properties, we offer a total of 10 different lengths of valve extensions in yellow and black.

Find the right tire valve extension for your needs – here again in brief

Assembly & Product Data

Inner Twin Wheels

Products & Accessories: air-flexx® valve extensions

Lengths: 105 mm, 145 mm, 170 mm, 185 mm or 215 mm

Installation: Screw air-flexx® tire valve extension hand-tight onto clean steel valves (no mounting bracket required!) Not suitable for rubber valves!

Recommendation: Use valve caps to protect against dust and dirt

Twin Wheels (outer)

Products & Accessories: Metal angles

Sizes: Metal angles 45°, 90°, 135° or 180°

Installation: Screw metal angles firmly onto steel valves

Recommendation: Use valve caps

Single Wheels with Hubcaps

Products & Accessories: air-flexx® valve extensions

Lengths: air-flexx® 75 mm, 85 mm or 105 mm

Installation: Screw air-flexx® hand-tight onto steel valves (no mounting bracket required!)

Recommendation: Use valve caps

Security & Expert Interview

"Safety is our mission"

Air-Flexx® valve extensions are designed for maximum break resistance

• Under-inflated tires are a safety risk and wear out unnecessarily!

• Valve extensions must withstand high loads in everyday use

• Air-Flexx® valve extensions significantly improve vehicle safety!

Interview between Jo Geiger (former editor of transaktuell / DEKRA Deutschland) and Tobias Glauch on the topic of safety gains for trucks through the use of break-resistant, flexible, and pressureless valve extensions.

Air-Flexx has been on the market since 1999. You are a supplier to renowned commercial vehicle manufacturers and the German Armed Forces. What can Air-Flexx do that others cannot?

Glauch: Air-Flexx valve extensions are designed for maximum break resistance and operate completely pressureless. What makes Air-Flexx unique is the combination of these two product features. This is unique on the market in this form. Otherwise, there are flexible rubber extensions that are pressurized with the tire pressure and become porous with age or chafe through at the rim hole. Or rigid plastic valve extensions that operate pressureless but break easily – especially on construction vehicles.

What role do valve extensions play in vehicle safety?

Glauch: An under-inflated tire is always a safety risk, especially with inner dual tires. The outer tire is consequently overloaded, and a tire blowout is always possible. On the drive axle of trucks and commercial vehicles, this can lead to serious accidents. An intact extension is therefore a gain for more vehicle safety. That is why these components have now been a separate inspection point in the safety inspection since July 1, 2012!

What advantages do Air-Flexx valve extensions offer?

Glauch: In practice, it often happens that a valve extension does not pass freely through the angled rim hole of the outer wheel, but rather comes into contact with the edges. As a result, the extensions are constantly under tension. Load factors such as brake heat and cold, as well as mechanical impacts from stones, snow, and ice also affect the extensions. In this respect, Air-Flexx offers a tangible safety gain due to its break resistance, flexibility, and robustness.

What disadvantages do you see with conventional extensions?

Glauch: Rigid valve extensions are usually made of plastic or brass. Both types can break easily. In this case, the air remains in the tire. However, you can then no longer check the air pressure or refill air. A flexible extension is usually made of rubber but does not have a valve stem. When you screw the component onto the tire valve, the valve insert in the tire valve opens and air flows from the tire into the extension. The rubber extension is therefore 100 percent under full air pressure during driving. In the event of a damaged extension, air loss is therefore inevitable.

How break-proof are Air-Flexx valve extensions?

Glauch: You could probably break the extension with a sledgehammer. Otherwise, you would have to try very hard. We tested the system in elaborate practical trials with heavy trucks on construction sites and in quarries. Stones, metal parts, and even sharp objects could not harm the extensions.

With air-flexx® tire valve extensions: Always on the safe side

The maintenance of twin tires presents particular challenges. For example, regular air pressure checks on inner twin tires often cannot be carried out because plastic or hose tire valve extensions are either broken or missing. As a result, the air pressure in inner twin tires is often too low. This leads to increased tire wear and a greater risk of accidents. Dekra highlighted these dangers in a comprehensive study.

Plastic valve extensions are rigid and therefore break easily if foreign objects get between the twin tires or if the valve extension is not precisely guided through a rim hole when mounting the outer twin wheel. They quickly become brittle and fragile due to thermal exposure. If the valve extension is broken, the pressure of the inner twin tire can no longer be checked.

Rubber hose valve extensions can only be used with rim holders. If the valve extension detaches from the rim holder, it chafes through on the rim hole, and the air pressure escapes completely from the tire. A flat tire in a few seconds and tire damage or an accident with potentially severe consequences are unavoidable.

air-flexx® combines the advantages of commercially available plastic and rubber hose tire valve extensions. air-flexx® tire valve extensions are pressureless, so there is no risk of flat tires. On the other hand, they are flexible and of very high quality, so there is no risk of breakage. This allows the air pressure to be checked at any time.

air-flexx® valve extensions are available in various sizes for inner twin tires, for front and single wheels with hubcaps, and for spare wheels.

The manufacturer is Glauch GmbH, Hospitalstraße 69, 41751 Viersen.
air-flexx® valve extensions are produced in Germany.

Risk: every second valve extension not OK

DEKRA report: over 1,000 commercial vehicles inspected – more than half found to have defects

As part of the periodic vehicle inspections carried out by DEKRA engineers, 1,012 commercial vehicles (106 buses and 906 trucks and their trailers) equipped with at least one dual-wheeled axle were examined. A total of 3,610 wheels, including 671 dual-wheeled axles, were inspected.

The results are extremely concerning: Of the 1,012 vehicles inspected, 513 vehicles (51 percent), including 87 motor coaches, showed at least one, and in many cases multiple, defects regarding the required tire inspection and inflation facilities. 499 vehicles had no defects.

Read more here: DEKRA Report

Tire pressure monitoring in commercial vehicles often inadequate. DEKRA conducted a series of tests.

Viersen. The black tire fragments often left on German autobahns by commercial vehicles frequently result from mechanical tire damage, but very often also from insufficient internal pressure in conjunction with an overload of commercial vehicle tires. Apart from the fact that such damage is annoying and expensive for the owner, tire destruction during travel also leads to a significant impairment of road safety.

As part of an extensive series of investigations by DEKRA experts, it was found that more than half of the commercial vehicles examined had one or more defects in the area of the tire valves. Particularly on twin-wheeled axles, the valves of the inner wheel were inaccessible or only accessible with considerable effort. Tire pressure control and tire inflation were difficult or even impossible. In many cases, checking tire pressure and correcting air pressure would have even required disassembling the twin wheels or at least dismounting tightly screwed-on wheel covers. Partially existing valve extensions, which would have in principle allowed tire pressure control and tire inflation, were either not present, severely chafed, already broken, or otherwise non-functional on more than half of the examined truck wheels (1012 vehicles examined). Insufficient tire inflation pressure in commercial vehicles and coaches leads at best to increased tire wear and fuel consumption, and at worst to a complete overload of the tire structure and thus, in individual cases, to serious consequences.

"In view of the economic consequences and the potential danger, the use of suitable valve extensions equipped with a safety mechanism is urgently recommended," says Dipl.-Ing. C. Döbber, accident expert at the DEKRA branch in Mönchengladbach.

Contact:

DEKRA Automobil GmbH

Mönchengladbach Branch,

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) C. Döbber, Branch Manager

Jakobshöhe 10, 41066 Mönchengladbach

Tel. 02161-60755, fax 02161-605859

Email: claus.doebber@dekra.com

29.06.2005

Tire pressure monitoring on commercial vehicles often inadequate (2) DEKRA study yielded surprising results.

Viersen. Everyone knows them - the black tire fragments, often left behind by commercial vehicles, on German highways. Tread damage due to foreign objects, overloading, and often insufficient internal pressure in commercial vehicle tires can lead to such damage. This damage is not only annoying and costly for the commercial vehicle owner, but also quite dangerous for the affected commercial vehicle itself and for other road users.

Low tire pressure in vehicle tires leads – in commercial vehicles and passenger cars alike – to excessive heating and stress on the tire structure, which not only means increased fuel consumption and tire wear, but also poses a risk of massive tire damage. DEKRA experts in Mönchengladbach came to a surprising conclusion during a series of investigations of more than 1000 commercial vehicles (including more than 100 buses). More than half of the commercial vehicles examined (including 87 buses) showed at least one, and in many cases multiple, defects in the tire valves.

In particular, on axles with dual tires, the tire valves of the respective inner wheel were inaccessible or only accessible with considerable effort. A tire pressure check or even filling with simple onboard tools was difficult or even impossible. In many cases, checking and correcting tire pressure would have required disassembling the dual wheels or comparatively complex dismantling of bolted rim rings or hubcaps.

Valve extensions, which would have allowed tire pressure checks and tire inflation, were either not present, heavily chafed, or already broken on more than 650 truck wheels and more than 135 bus wheels. Many of the valve extensions found were loosely screwed on without any fastening option and were brittle or porous.

Severely reduced tire pressures on commercial vehicles or coaches lead at best to increased tire wear and fuel consumption, but in the worst case to a complete overload of the tire structure and thus, in individual cases, to serious consequences.

"In view of the economic consequences on the one hand and the potential danger on the other, the urgent use of suitable, properly fastened valve extensions with a safety mechanism is advised to ensure quick and efficient checking and correction of tire pressure on commercial vehicle wheels," says Dipl.-Ing. C. Döbber, accident expert at the DEKRA branch in Mönchengladbach.

Contact:

DEKRA Automobil GmbH

Mönchengladbach Branch,

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) C. Döbber, Head of Branch

Jakobshöhe 10, 41066 Mönchengladbach

Telephone. 02162 9500250, fax 02161-605859

E-Mail: claus.doebber@dekra.com

29.06.2005

DEKRA: Testing of 1,000 trucks and buses

Radio news: "...Attention! Autobahn A... tire debris on the road..." who isn't familiar with this alarming message? According to Tobias Glauch, management of Glauch GmbH, these reports could be heard less frequently in the future if the proper condition of all tire valves had to be confirmed during the annual general inspection (HU) and the quarterly safety check (SP). Glauch GmbH, in collaboration with DEKRA Mönchengladbach, is carrying out an inspection of the completeness and unimpeded accessibility of tire valves and tire valve extensions on at least 1,000 commercial vehicles. The aim is to prove the assertion that approximately 50% of tire valves and tire valve extensions are inaccessible, damaged, and in some cases, not even present. Simple plastic valve extensions, which are almost 100 percent installed as original equipment by manufacturers for cost reasons, are often missing or broken due to their "fragility". When attaching the air pressure gauge, the plastic tubes break off even when it's cold, says Glauch. The extreme and fluctuating thermal stress near the brakes and in the cold outdoors is so enormous that the material quickly becomes brittle and fragile. Foreign objects such as stones, mud, snow, and ice, which cannot be avoided, inevitably lead to the tearing off of this inferior component, he continues. Due to this serious defect, air pressure can only be checked under difficult conditions: by dismantling vehicle components or removing the outer dual tires. Who would bother with that, asks Glauch. Drivers usually cannot perform this "additional and specialized work" during a trip or journey. Presumably, the easiest way is to drive to the destination first. There, the tire pressure is then checked, or one has it checked. However, according to the law, the driver is obliged to ensure the correct air pressure before starting the journey. In Glauch's opinion, the air pressure should even be checked and corrected during all safety checks or general inspections. In most cases, it would only be checked before going on holiday. He refers to the statement of the Federal Statistical Office that every fourth accident with personal injury caused by technical defects is due to tire damage. Glauch believes that this enormous number could be significantly reduced if there were a mandatory inspection. (Source: Federal Statistical Office of Germany). Even the new tire pressure monitoring systems would not prevent this problem, as air must ultimately be "refilled"! Glauch himself is also the managing director of his namesake travel company, Glauch Reisen GmbH, and operates 25 buses in travel, scheduled, and school transport. He says that drivers would even set off if a tire looked "a bit flatter" than the others. And that would certainly not only be the case in his company: "Everyone tries to get ahead in our stressful times." The ADAC has already made the correct demand to bus manufacturers, due to the tragic bus accidents, to make the tire valves accessible from the outside – even if hubcaps are present. With the implementation of this demand, at least the air pressure can be checked quickly, without having to remove and reattach 4 or 6 hubcaps first. In most cases, drivers cannot even do this, as the technology is too complicated and partly requires special keys that are not in the vehicle. So they drive – with people on board or with a total weight of 40 tons, without any mandatory inspection by a specialist, solely under the responsibility of the driver. KRAVAG Versicherung also supports Glauch in his efforts and closely monitors the investigation. Other insurers would certainly take notice if the test results are positive, because then many damages and large payments can be avoided.

air-flexx® Tire Valve Extensions

You can rely on air-flexx® valve extensions! The advanced technology of air-flexx® offers you numerous advantages over other tire valve extensions–Also in price!

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