Well, like I said, I personally don't buy into the need for nitrogen in everyday driving -- just keep your tires properly inflated -- and I wouldn't pay for nitrogen.

However, in every thread on this, people always chime in with "air is 78% nitrogen anyways" as if that ends the debate. I don't consider that much of an argument that there may not be a benefit to eliminating humidity and increasing stability.
If someone told me he's selling fuel that's 78% gas and 22% water, I wouldn't say "why pay the extra dough to get 100% from Exxon when you're selling stuff that's already 78% gas?"
In other words, there may or may not be a benefit to going to 95-100% nitrogen, but I don't think the fact that air already has 78% nitrogen proves anything either way -- actual observations one way or the other (as some shared by others above) are more convincing.

I'm personally hoping costco starts offering nitroglycerine.

 

It's certainly not a hoax, but the proported benefits are very, very slight. Nitrogen filled tires will hold tire pressure slightly longer than air filled tires. Consumer Reports did a test where sample tires lost 1 pound less after a year. Since you should check your tires at least monthly for proper inflation, this isn't much of a benefit.
Nitrogen is also inert, so it will not react with the inside of the tire or the rim, as oxygen can. However, damage due to oxidation of the inside of a rim or tire is basically unheard of on passenger tires. So, if it's free at Costco, and you're there getting new tires or a 55-gal drum of spaghetti sauce, by all means get a fill-up. I'll continue to use my small home compressor once a month.

 

I'm going to start putting argon gas in my tires for the next big trend... or maybe fluorine gas. In fact, I'll develop a transparent rubber tire, fill with fluorine gas, and modify the TPM sensors to act as a ballast to excite the gas. That way, you get all the mpg benefits of fluorine gas (tm) and the added aesthetics of the tires glowing in the dark.

Please feel free to donate to my venture capital fund for this.

 

Why not fill them with Xenon gas, so they match the headlights? If you have Xenons, that is.
Or Krypton, so you can beat Superman's MINI?
Or Radon, if you're feeling dangerous? You'd eventually coat the insides of the tires with
radioactive lead, bismuth, and polonium, though.

I wonder how much radium you'd have to add to replenish the radon's natural decay?

 

. . . or fill them with a 55 gallon drum of spaghetti sauce.

 

The Local Honda Dealer has Nitrogen listed as one of their add ons.

$100

 

^

(what more needs to be said?)

 

PSI = Pounds of Sauce Per Inch?

 

I heard the tires last longer when used with nitrogen vs. air

 

I've learned to take them off before going in.

 

That's almost credible. Harder for the tire to oxidize if there's no oxygen...

 

When I ran 40 series tires... the sun heating on one side of the car would set off the FLAT MONITOR ... bet this would help.

as I was thinking about this a couple of thing crossed my mind...
1. most of us here on NAM are "Car Crazy" and the type of folks who actually check tire pressures...Change wipers befor they fall apart etc
I have friends and co workers who dont do any pressure check till an issue has come up
Nitrogen woud be perhaps better for them. as it become more of an "idiot proof" thing.

2. I am not a F1 driver but for spirited driving , track use and Auto - X it does make a difference. Perhaps the humidity level is more of a factor than the gas in the tires...

Here are my Enkei race rims with 2 stems... I does make for fast fill and SAME time pressure check ... but it is used for Nitrogen fill and cycling


My son has 949 racing rims also with 2 stems and the reason is aid Nitrogen filling.

 

Unless you have two valvestems like above filling with nitrogen doesn't do a damn thing.

 

some tire shops just use a tand and do a fill with Nitrogen .. my tire installer does it in a 3 step cycle by filling and airing down then filliung again. this does end up in a more Nitrogen filled tire ...
One of my business connections has a system that evacuates the fill and uses a "food" grade Nitrogen (less water).
I can get a mobil system ... Hmmmmm

 

so why not put less air in the tire cold? if you're shooting for 13.5 hot?

 

Maybe if you kept the tires for 20-30 years you'd see a difference.
My tire tread doesn't last long enough for me to find out.
And the outside of the tire is still exposed to oxygen.

The only other reason they might last longer is 'cause they'll hold the right pressure longer (it sounds like 1lb over 12 months difference) -- but that shouldn't matter as long as you check your tire pressure more than once a year or so.

 

I use a very specific blend in my tires, and have found it has worked quite well for the 22 years I've been driving. It is:

Nitrogen 78.0842%
Oxygen 20.9463%
Argon 0.93422%
Carbon dioxide 0.03811%
Water vapor about 1%
Other 0.002%