Nitrogen

I'm looking at a new truck.  The dealer has several add ons, one of which is Nitrogen filled tires.  I'm not aware of any advantage to Nitrogen filled tires in everyday use. Dealer has added rediculous $100 to price for this.  I want to tell him we may have a deal if he'll keep his nitrogen & fill my tires with 80% nitrogen (air).

My question-except for color, is there any difference in schrader valve for filling a tire with nitrogen vs. compressed air?  That is, is there any reason for dealer not to simply deflate the nitrogen filled tire & fill it with air?

I'm not aware of any difference in valves but they probably have green colored caps.  

Purchased new tires from local big box store. No charge for the nitrogen fill. Temperature changes do not change tire pressures as much if any using nitrogen. Same valve and you can refill with air. ONE HUNDRED BUCKS IS POOR PROFIT TACTIC. 

But your tires will rot from the inside out, and you will die in a flaming wreck!  Isn't it worth a measly hundred to avoid the tragedy?

Seriously, no difference other than green caps.  Tell them to inhale their nitrogen.

Tire pressures won't fluctuate by much, as has been mentioned so your tire performance will stay the same. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure where you would fill them up but I doubt it's anything crazy.

I only fill my tires with 74% nitrogen. The cost is much lower.

Science and economies of scale would join forces to preclude anyone from developing a schrader valve stem specific to nitrogen. 

The reason that the dealer will never deflate the tire and refill with good ol’air is because it would take time and effort. It’s easier to not charge you the $100, $99.50 of which is pure profit. 

I went through this once with glass etching. They wanted to charge me $299. I said that I didn’t want it. They said that they did it to every car that comes in. I said too bad. They didn’t charge me for having my VIN etched into the glass, but told me that my glass wouldn’t be “in the registry”. 

The mantra in my area is that its safer for the TPMS units.

I just looked at the proposal again.  I was mistaken about the price of Nitrogen.  It was $199 not $100.   I could buy 4 new tires for it for only $320 more. Why do I feel like I need a shower after dealing with a car saleperson?

You are breathing 74% nitrogen right now.

$100!!!  man o man, what a deal! The Subi dealership around here gets $200!

I have not checked but I suspect you could buy a bottle from a welding supply place for $50 that could probably fill at least 20 tires!

They also wanted $100 for door edge protectors.... which I bought for $20 (3M)... and installed in about 10 min!

That sounds like the $300 blinking 3rd brake light my local dealer tried to add on to the purchase price.

My reply was "Im leaving now".

One of my lame jokes from junior high.  
 

if you breath oxygen during the day what do you breath at night?  Nitrogen.

In reply to Appleseed :

I believe it's more like 78%.  That's why I was considering asking dealer to change fill to 80% N. 

By the way, thanks to all.  You've pretty well answered my question.

$200 is laughable, but the valves are the same apart from the caps.

In reply to aircooled :

Same on the truck. $99 for door edge protectors.

Costco does this for all tires. 

Nothing wrong with using N2, but charging $200 for it is ridiculous.  The main thing for street use in my opinion is it will put less moisture inside the tire, but even that is a marginal benefit over time.

I ordered a truck once, I specifically did not want a spray on bedliner ($700 factory option) because i am always sliding things in my bed and smooth paint is easier for that.  Dealer did a spray in liner and added $1200 to price, along with $800 for rear window tint, on a truck that came factory with tint so dark you can’t tell what’s in the back seat.  Some other little junk too like door edge guards.  I needed a work truck not a Cadillac.  They kept their $68,000 special ordered truck over trying to bone some extra profits out of me.  

There’s a reason people think dealers are sleazy, because 99% of them are

And I thought getting em to remove their ugly plaques/stickers was the hard part. I always ask for plate frames instead, which then get the dealer name sanded off. 

If i ever had a good carbuying expirience that wasn't private party I would be shouting it from rooftops for years. 

outasite said:

Temperature changes do not change tire pressures as much if any using nitrogen. Same valve and you can refill with air. ONE HUNDRED BUCKS IS POOR PROFIT TACTIC. 

The smaller pressure change is strictly theoretical because it relies on dry nitrogen. As soon as the installer slops the bead lube into the tire, the “advantage” is lost. The use of nitrogen in street tires is pure snake oil for profit.

ShawnG said:

I only fill my tires with 74% nitrogen. The cost is much lower.

This. A former employer used the "green caps" and "nitrogen filled tires" tactic. They actually looked at a nitrogen compressor to have on hand but ot only gave them 80%... and to get that required them to vacuum down the tires on the rim before filling. So they put on the caps, charged $50 and called it a day because, hey they ARE filling with mostly nitogen. I can remember a forum member(different forum) that got their tires there and SWORE that his tire pressures NEVER CHANGED. I laughed so hard... and then told him what he actually had. Guess what? He didn't actually check them he just assumed they didn't change. 

44Dwarf said:

The mantra in my area is that its safer for the TPMS units.

Honda released a bulleting 10+ years ago when this became a fad. They bulletin stated that there was no difference in durability or operation with "nitrogen filled" tires. The quotes were from the bulletin. 

But doesn’t 100% nitrogen make the ride better????!!!

The previous owner of the E39 had the shop fill his new Michelin Pilot Sports with nitrogen and the green caps are there to prove it.  Being a man of modest means, I'm intending to check the inflation pressure and add *gasp* plain old air to the tires, if necessary.

My concern is that the air will react with the pure nitrogen and produce a dangerous situation.