I called a few places today to get my tires switched from winter to all-season. In November I got a new van that came with winter tires installed and the all-seasons were in the cargo area. Only one set of rims for two sets of tires. Oh well.
No complaints though. The winter tires were great, but it's time to get them switched.
So, I called a few places to get some idea of how much it will cost for a "strip and flip".
Prices were close between the three places I called - between $70 and $80, including balancing. However, one wrinkle: my tires are filled with nitrogen.
Uh oh.
Now, to be honest, I didn't know much about the topic until doing some research online. Apparently nitrogen is good because it's more dense than air so slow leaks will leak more slowly. There's no moisture in the nitrogen gas so outside temperature fluctuations don't affect the internal pressure of the nitrogen. The lack of moisture also supposedly reduces corrosion on the rims and problems with the tire's inside wall.
On the other hand, the benefits are said to be so small that it's not really worth using nitrogen.
One shop I called said this flat out. "Nitrogen's useless - it's a cash grab." Short. Blunt. Educational - sort of.
Another shop said they don't carry nitrogen, but would be happy to do my tires anyway.
The third shop said they didn't have nitrogen either, but suggested some places that do carry nitrogen - and then got into the huge additional cost those places charge.
The takeaway? You likely won't find places in Niagara that will fill your tires with nitrogen inexpensively, and the added cost makes using nitrogen uneconomical.
Stick with air - it's 78% nitrogen anyway.
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