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OK, here's the deal. Tire sellers really want to just rip out the old stems as that's the quickest way to deflate the old tires. Rubber stems aren't rubber anymore and won't last more than five years at best before leaking, AND you really don't want to try filling to 80 or more psi with them - they just wiggle around too much. The metal stems from Tredit are all metal save for the seal in the valve itself and the gaskets against the wheels - almost any 'metal' stems at a tire dealer will be only metal clad and not solid. They should be good for at least a couple of sets of tires, although you may have to replace the valves.
Finally, from my personal experience, if you take your wheels/tires to a place to get new tires (because they won't jack the 5er) be absolutely, positively, FIRM that they are NOT to trash your Tredit stems. A Firestone store did that to me even though I'd insisted I didn't want new stems. The old ones were cut off with bolt cutters.
Forgot to add - if you can't find solid metal stems locally, contact Tredit. They'll sell you the right length ones for about $2 each plus shipping.
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