These are ordinary plastic caps that are glued into the skullcap. I remember reading that it's metal which is why I chose them, but there's nothing metallic about them. Now that I'm back to re-read EVERYTHING, part of the description says "plastic" and another part says "metal". The description is too detailed for the quality of this product. I think that's a great price for something this high quality. It is very sad to read every little thing and then go back and find out if you are wrong or someone is cheating on you. ; if you ignore it, everything starts all over again, as if the threads were "cut". By the time I got to the fourth tire, which I thought I'd found the "sweet spot" for, the skull cap had separated from the valve stem cap which looked like it was hot glued. I was a bit confused because I didn't over tighten them at all, hence the reference to the "sweet spot".