Allot of good information on nitrogen and tires can be found at the following link...

http://www.getnitrogen.org/

 

I think the main problem is that most people think of air as a molecule. It's not. It's a mixture of gas molecules that comprises of about 21% oxygen, 78% Nitrogen, and 1% of others such as argon and many others that I can't recall.

So out of a compressor, you're getting 78% nitrogen already.

Like I said, the leak down benefit is the only real thing I see, and that's a stretch. They still leak down and you still have to check them and add pressure.

Another benefit is limited to no moisture. But I don't think that that much gets in anyway and a lot of times compressed air is dried.

Also you have to think of where the heat comes from. The contact of the tire to the road. That's not going to change. It's that friction that heats the tire rubber, that in turn heats the air in the tires. The gas then absorbs that heat and reacts to it.

Maybe pure nitrogen doesn't expand as much as straight air, but I'd bet that with only 22% more nitrogen in the mix, that it's not going to matter than much.

Oh and paintball is awesome and you should go. It's also a great workout.

Mike

Edit: I'd just Google nitrogen in tires to get a much broader view on the subject. From what I've read, the benefits are very few, and probably none for the everyday driver.

Just because it's used in racing and the military, doesn't make it automaticly good for the rest of us.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.. I see the difference now in the two.. As for paintball, perhaps.. The place has a 2 Story Castle in Austin.. Where the tickets are for... Includes everything LOL

 

According to them, I would save $273 a year if I put nitrogen in my tires because of increased treadlife and fuel cost savings. I wonder how they figure that? Must be comparing it to running around with 4 flat tires?

 

I had this done to my car and the biggest pain is when the tires are low, finding someone to refill and often you are not near the original installer (where they usually will do for free. I won't do it again.

 

LOL... I can not argue with you on that one. According to them, I would save $320 per year.

The more relevant information to some of the questions being asked can be found at these more direct links...

http://www.getnitrogen.org/why/index.php

http://www.getnitrogen.org/sub.php?view=getTheFacts

 

That is right. The tires are designed to run on air with the predictable change in pressure over temperature. If you run nitrogen theoretically you should increase your cold pressure by a bit. Practically I don't think it will matter much on a street car. If the air would expand 5 psi over temp, the pure nitrogen may expand 3 psi, no big deal.

 

For daily driving, it's a gimmick. I've had nitrogen in the tires, and saw no difference. I got regular air in the next set, no difference. I just think people around here like showing off their green valve stem caps, something else that they can say about the vehicle. When I had nitrogen, I replaced the green caps with black, until I had to go back to the dealer and get more N. You know, if you have a flat or the tire pressure goes down and you have to put regular air back in it, just take it back to the dealer and they "pump out the old air and replace it with N." Yeah. Gimmick. Stick with plain ole air.

 

Everything they told you is true, but only due to the tires not losing pressure as quickly. If you check your tires each week or more often, you get the same benefits. Here's something from a website to explain more:

Most tires are filled with compressed air, which when dry consists of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and 1 percent other gases by volume. Water vapor (humidity) can make up as much as 5 percent of the volume of air under worst-case conditions. Filling your tires with nitrogen mainly does two things: it eliminates moisture, and it replaces skinny oxygen molecules with fat nitrogen molecules, reducing the rate at which compressed gas diffuses through porous tire walls. That means, theoretically at least, that a tire filled with nitrogen retains optimal pressure longer, leading to more uniform tire wear and better gas mileage. The commonly quoted figure is that tires inflated to 32 psi get 3 percent better mileage than at 24 psi.

Does nitrogen make any practical difference? You couldn't prove it by me. I found no scientific tests showing that nitrogen-filled tires stayed inflated longer than average under normal conditions. A car-buff buddy was sure it worked but conceded he had only anecdotal evidence that it did.

As for moisture, changes in humidity affect tire performance two ways. First, the density of humid air fluctuates more with temperature than that of dry air, so removing humidity can keep your tire pressure more consistent, especially when the temperature climbs over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That may be a legitimate concern in Formula One racing, but it's not much of an issue if you're just tooling around town.

Humidity can also be a factor in wheel maintenance — since pure nitrogen doesn't have moisture in it, supposedly your wheels won't rust as quickly, which could lead to improved wheel performance and air sealing. The question is, how big a problem is wheel rust these days? According to a few tire and wheel shops we contacted, not very. Seriously rusted wheels are uncommon in typical steel-wheeled cars, and many high-performance cars have alloy wheels that don't rust at all. One exception is work vehicles such as dump trucks, which are exposed to a much harsher environment.

Another claim I've seen is that since nitrogen is slightly lighter than air, you'll save weight and get better performance. However, we're talking about a weight difference of less than 4 percent of the gas in the tire — in other words, a difference of less than an ounce for most vehicles. A possibly more realistic benefit is that nitrogen is largely inert chemically at low (i.e., normal) temperatures, so it won't attack the rubber in your tires like oxygen does. Oxygen attack is something both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Ford Research have studied, and can be a problem for tires used for a long time or in rough conditions.

More important, nitrogen doesn't support combustion, which is one reason aircraft and the space shuttle use nitrogen in their tires. The wisdom of this precaution was brought home by the crash of Mexicana Airlines flight 940 on March 31, 1986. Shortly after the Boeing 727 took off from Mexico City en route to Puerto Vallarta, an overheated landing-gear brake caused a tire improperly filled with air instead of nitrogen to overheat as well and explode, rupturing fuel and hydraulic lines. The ensuing fire and crash killed 167 passengers and crew. However, unless your driving habits are of the X-treme variety, the chances of your tires catching fire anytime soon are slim.

Overall, filling up with nitrogen won't hurt and may provide some minimal benefit. Is it worth it? If you go to some place like Costco that does it for free with new tires, sure, why not? Elsewhere, though, I've seen prices quoted as high as $10 per tire, which is way more than I'd pay. Rather than shell out for nitrogen, you'd be better off just checking and adjusting your tire pressure regularly, something the NHTSA says less than 60 percent of U.S. motorists actually do.

 

Not sure, but I think he was talking about a difference of .5 psi temp change with either Nitrogen or regular air. But the whole thing is too much science for me, and I wasn't all that good in science class anyway.

I think the bottom line from everything I've seen and read, including this thread is, the benefits are just not great enough in normal everyday driving to justify the cost and the ability to be able to just pull up to any old 7-11 and fill up when your low! Especially if like you say, there's only one place in town you can find the Nitrogen, that could be a bit of a pain.

But, to each his own. If you feel you will benefit, then go for it.

 

I got the nitro fill included with my last tire purchase at Americas Tire Co. The tires were something like $800 so I assume maybe it doesn't apply to econo tires.

I have not had any change in tire pressure for almost a year now. Usually I have to air up tires every month or two. Could just be good tires but past experience is that not airing up is unusual.

Nitrogen is also supposed to be much less reactive than air which has Oxygen and ozone and what ever we are breathing that isn't good for rubber. Nitro also is dry which means no moisture inside the tires to cause corrosion. Nitor is a big molecule so it leaks much slower than regular air, which also has some nitro in it. So it has advantages. Just not sure if I would pay almost $60 for it.

Most of the advantages mentioned are related to the fact that the nitro maintains proper inflation. When tires are under inflated, they have more chance of flats, blowouts, poor mileage, more heating etc. If you keep you tires properly inflated you get most of the same benefits they mention.

Just my experience,

Jim Henderson

 

My driveway is 1/2 mile of sand road. I have to keep pressure a little lower when not pulling a trailer, so I end up raising/lowering air pressure frequently. Would be a huge PITA for me.

 

I was gonna say something similar. A lot of folks have the SD to tow or haul things. That means that there's likely a lot of raising and lowering of tire pressure to accomodate the change in load. It's certainly the case with me. That alone would kinda rule out Nitrogen, at least for me.

 

The calculated increase in tire pressure being 0.5 psi due to moisture is based on an assumed moisture content in the air. If you experience high pressure increases, it is only an indication that you are using air that has much more water vapor in it than was assumed for the calculation to begin with.

The discrepancy between experienced pressure increases and the 0.5 psi is only a result of differences in water vapor in the air.

 

$60 buys quite a bit of fuel Hell...it would fill my tank up

Nitrogen in the tires are a gimmic for the average joe. Now, I could see where it might, just might be benefitial to a OTR driver, or someone who tows a heavy load frequently....

...But how many years have we been using air without a problem?