GRPFAN

When my 2012 RX was delivered, on the contact I was charged $50.00 to add nitrogen in all four tires.
I hear that when nitrogen in present the valve stems are a different color............

How important is this and should I mention this to my dealer @ my 5,000 mile check.

Cheers!

User 41924

Nope. If you look at your valve stems, you will see green somewhere. Sometimes the caps are green, but these are sometimes removed by people that think they need them more than you do. My valve stems have a green ring on them below the cap. The green tells everyone the tires have been inflated with nitrogen.

On a side note, it is interesting to follow the arguements regarding the value of using nitrogen to inflate tires. Personally, I kinda like nitrogen in the tires, but I'm not really convinced it's worth the $50 they charge to put it there. There are LOTS of differing opinions!

GRPFAN

Woodrow,
Thanks for your input.
This is all new to me and I agree with your last statement

BertL

Interesting. I must be way behind the times having never heard of nitrogen in normal street tires vs. the space shuttle, airplanes and such. For anyone else wondering what some of the pros/cons are, a google search does wonders, but here is one general article to get you started.

TomT127

I would question that $50 charge. That's ridiculous and not just because of the nitrogen vs regular air controversy.
1. Nitrogen is CHEAP. That nitrogen cost the dealer probably less than a nickel.
2. Even at inflated dealer labor rates it should have taken no more then 5 minutes to fill all the tires.
3. If you did not ask for this service then I don't know why your paying for it.

Sorry but I think they ripped you off big time.

Lexmex

Where I am at it ranges $25 to $30 for all 4 tires and I can get topped of for free (but I usually give the person doing it like a $5 tip).

$50 is robbery.

cafpaf

Certainly not worth it in my opinion. After 26 years in the Air Force and retiring as Chief of Maintenance for a fighter wing, I fully understand the use of nitrogen in aircraft tires, but for a car I just don't see it. Further to charge $50 is just insane. If you really must have it, Costco will do it at no charge with new tires and will top them off whenever necessary at no charge. Just plain old air for me.

happy1977

If you question them about the $50 charge, they'll respond to you with this: "You're driving a Lexus, sir."

JellyBean

or "Expensive? that's only X cents for each of the Y miles you've driven"

hypervish

My tires are nitrogen filled, and have a regular valve stem. No special cap.

If I need to top off a tire, I just use regular air.

Barrington

The Hyundai dealer that I was working at would take the car into the shop and install pretty blue aluminum caps when they charged the customer for the nitrogen. Oh wait, the fancy machine did not work because the owner of the dealership did not want to spend money to repair it. Smoke & Mirrors, Abra-Ca-Dabra......

User 41924

"Regular" air is 78% nitrogen .....

Also, How do you get all of the "regular" out of the tire before putting in the nitrogen? Won't you always have SOME oxygen in the tires?

Lexmex

You don't. The nitrogen ratio just kind of improves with topping off over time.

LexBob2

My car was delivered with nitrogen at no charge. I wouldn't pay extra for it but have noticed over the past two years the tire pressures don't fluctuate much at all with temperature changes, and I check them regularly. It is convenient from that standpoint.

UCSB

I thought my 450h was delivered with nitrogen, but there is no indication of this on the valve stems or caps. So now I just don't know the status. One nice thing on the 450h is that it shows the tire pressure in each tire in the information display area. That addresses many of the arguments for using nitrogen because you know your actual tire pressures.