Protecting tyre valves

[roamingyak]

On my last trip I had two tyres go flat because the tyre valve developed a small hole where it joins the tube. They were good quality Michelin tubes and on my previous trip I also had one tyre do this.

So is there anything to do to stop this happening? When I replaced the tubes with new Michelin ones they had little plastic bits that seemed to be designed to stop this happening (2 black bits of plastic that clip together to form a protective barrier around the valve). Any experience with these? Do they work or just cause more problems?

I guess the obvious answer is to move to tubeless rims (my tyres will do tubeless) but that would involve ditching 6 very good rims and buying 6 new ones so I'm not that keen on that idea unless the advantages far outway the disadvantages.