I stopped by the Chevy dealer today and put Nitrogen in my tires. When I had my Corvette as the weather got cold my tire minitors always came on and gave me low pressure warnings. A friend put Nitrogen in his Corvette tires and never had the fluctuation problems. It seems the Nitrogen does not have the up/down fluctuation problems. We will see.
Ronnie

 

What you are noting is correct:
Nitrogen is less susceptible to heat temps changes (cold to hot and vice versa) since it is more stable in the environment of a tire...so yes you will indeed see less temp fluctuations with Nitrogen vs. 'air'
Also nitrogen molecules are ‘larger’ than the air mixture (78.08% nitrogen 20.9% oxygen and 1% a gaggle of other gases (neon, helium, krypton etc etc) thus nitrogen ‘leaks’ out thru tire walls at about 3 times less rate that ‘air’.

Why not use nitrogen then for all fill ups… simple… cost more (the place where you would fill tire such as a service station) than simply compressing air.

I have a C6 Vette which reads actual psi for each tire and when I was running with air in tires saw about 3 psi diff from cold tires to warm tires and from cold to hot (like doing ‘aggressive’ driving on a hot day) 5-6 psi increase… with nitrogen cut the variance by 50%

 

Here is a pretty good air vs nitrogen article that spells it out fairly clearly. In my mind, not worth the cost. All gases are subject to pressure changes with temperature changes. Not worth the cost in my eyes for very little benefit.

http://tirenitrogen.typepad.com/tire...re-change.html

 

Didn't read the article yet, but in general N is much more kind (less corrosive) to the TPMS (tire pressure monitoring stem doodads).
Greg

 

The reason for that is the Nitrogen tends to have less moisture in it than regular compressed air.

 

Be sure to request the pine-scent nitrogen...

 

Regular compressed air.

Replacing 15% of the oxygen has very little effect. Nitrogen systems for tire filling only claim "up to 95% pure".

If you like it, go for it.

 

95% pure is going to have about as much moisture as compressed air. Don't waste your money.

 

Was it free? If not, what did it cost? I would definitely go for it....if it was free.

 

 

Aircraft tires use nitrogen due to the temperature extremes the tires are subjected to. And it is not the nitrogen it is the moisture content. Car tires will never see those kind of extremes.

But with all this said, the following article can give a good reason to use nitrogen in auto tires.

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

So in the end you just have to decide if it is worth the cost to you to use nitrogen instead of compressed air. You can always find articles on both sides of the arguement. For me and the amount of miles I put on a car in a year, <5000, it is not worth it.

 

Sounds great. anyone wanna buy a $40 bottle of juice? got some monavie to sell you too.

 

The link goes to a nitrogen marketing site, sponsored by the folks who want to get you to buy their nitrogen-filling equipment and service. I wonder whether they recommend it?

 

IMHO, the only benefit to the Nitrogen is to get drier gas in the tires. It's the water / water vapor that is the primary cause of expansion (increase in pressure) on heating of the tires. For track cars where the tires are going to see extreme temps, it will help keep pressures more regular and increase grip / decrease wear.

For a street car, I personally think that it is overkill. By checking his/her tire pressures regularly and often an average driver will do much better by the car instead of using nitrogen.

 

Personally I fill mine with argon from recycled light bulbs. It's cheaper, but it's hard to get it all out with a straw without losing any.

 

Which is exactly why I said you can find arguments for both sides. I still stick by it is overkill for cars on the road.

 

Here it's about $20-$30 to get Nitrogen in you tires. Obviously not worth it. I heard that if you leave your vehicle sitting for long periods of time (RV stored maybe) the tires won't lose pressure with nitrogen in them. The temperature thing only applys to airplanes, not cars at ground temps.

 

I don't know of any aircraft that lands at 350mph.
I would say that 130-160mph is a better range, if we are talking large commercial aircraft. I believe that the space shuttle has the highest landing speed at about 215 mph.
And yes most aircraft tires are filled with Nitrogen including the space shuttle. This is so that as the aircraft climbs and descends the tire pressure does not change with the change in atmospheric pressure.
I know this is off topic but I could not stop myself.

 

Actually the pressure does change in aircraft tires. Just not as much as it would with air. The real reason is to minimize moisture inside the tires for flying at high altitudes where the moisture would freeze and cause lots of problems with the rubber.

 

Even if Nitrogen did prevent leakage from tires left sitting for long periods, $20-$30 seems silly. I've had a great air compressor from Harbor Freight ($100 including shipping) for years. I use it for spray painting, cleaning, as well as inflating tires.

The best thing about re-using Argon is that is has a refreshing lemony scent.

 

Really?! I though I heard 350mph when landing...even the jumbo jets? Huh, I stand corrected.

 

For a lemony scent, I use pledge in the tires.

 

True. I should have been more specific in my explanation. Thanks for clarifying though.

 

Now if one was able to get nitrogen for free (like moi)...and drives approx 2,000mi / month, or about 24,000 / year.....would their be a great difference between Compressed air and nitro?

 

So, if you're drinking the Kool-Aid, then it is totally acceptable for you to spend 20 to 30 dollars on Nitrogen, when the everyday air that we breathe is made up of just shy of 80% Nitrogen.

Think about that, people.

You're willing to spend nearly 30 bucks, for just 20% more Nitrogen than you're already getting for free.

If you STILL think this is a good idea, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I'll sell you really cheap!

Also, did you know that the word "Gullible" isn't even in the dictionary?