My Pops has been ranting that I should put Nitrogen instead of air in my tires. It is supposed to increase gas mileage, decrease tire, and keep tires more consistent. Wondering if anyone has any experience with this in an RDX?

 

Question for you...

Do you have a nitrogen tank at home? Or if you need to refill your tire pressure, are you going to drive to your tire dealer who supplies the nitrogen?

Yes, nitrogen has much more stable characteristics than regular air, but reality is, it is not significant enough to warrant everyday car use. Plus nitrogen use in tires came from racing cars... where they really heat up the tires with the super high speeds...

Anyway, it's up to you...

 

Thanks Mav,
No I do not have a N2 tank at home but I guess if N2 keeps the tire pressure very consistent I would not have to visit a dealer (Costco, Pep boys) that often. If I was in a pinch I would put regular air in them until I had access to a nitrogen. I see your point but I was seeking more information about tire longevity and gas mileage.

 

Here is a pretty good analysis...

Nitrogen in tires?

 

While I do not have nitrogen in my RDX tires, perhaps I will now that you have brought it up.

I bought a new set of tires at CostCo for my TL several years ago and they put nitrogen in them. They told me that nitrogen did not expand due to heat so that tires would last longer because they would not be subject to the heat expansion and cool downs that happens with air-pressured tires. And if I ever had to put air in a tire, I could always just come back to CostCo and they would refill the tire with nitrogen at no charge.

I can not say that having nitrogen improved my gas mileage -- I did not really notice a change. But by the same token, my tires were in good shape -- the wear was pretty much even on all tires every time they were rotated.

I live less than 1 mile from a CostCo so having easy access to nitrogen was a no-brainer for me. Hmm... I may have to go there this week...

 

Please be mindful of the fact that "plain old" air is 78% nitrogen, so any benefits are pretty small. Free nitrogen is okay, but I sure wouldn't pay for any.

 

Sorry, RDXJockey... did not mean to sound a little tert in my response... but having owned many different cars and changed many sets of tires over the years... never really saw an issue with uneven tire wear when filled with regular good old atmospheric air that we breathe.
The only set of tires where I saw uneven wear was due to the car not having the wheel alignment properly set.

Also, with regards to stability to leakage in pressure, typically the tire will lose about 1-2 psi over a couple weeks and this is dependent on the tire/wheel package plus the type of stem used by the tire company. I check my tires every week anyway, and have a fast pressuring portable air pump if required.

Also, the as air is 78% Nitrogen, I can't really see any significant impact of using pure nitrogen if used in a regular traffic driven car.

Nitrogen is made popular by racing teams, where tires get really hot from the high speeds. It is much more stable thermally.

No doubt it has its benefits (thermal stability), but it is more of a marketing thing ... plus pure nitrogen can be expensive.. . I know, I work in a lab and those nitrogen tanks are not cheap... which leaves me to wonder whether it is really pure nitrogen you are getting in the tires...

 

Thanks for the information. If I can find N2 cheap I will give it a shot and see what happens.

 

My thoughts exactly. So basically your tires are already filled almost entirely with nitrogen. Perhaps your Pops was thinking of helium in your tires. I have heard claims that this improves all manner of things (fuel economy, handling, temperature, pressure variations, etc). While I don't think these claims have been validated, they at least make for a reasonable hypothesis with helium.

 

If I put Helium in my tires can I just float away, or maybe I can take a hit before I get on the road? Alright I think the discussion is over. Thanks for the input

 

Well I can speak from personal experience. I sell tires so this is right up my alley. Yes there is a benifit to using nitrogen in your tires. It will help your tires run cooler, which helps them last longer. Nitrogen is a larger molecule than regular air therefore your PSI will not fluctuate as much with tempeture (weather induced or speed) flucuations and will not escape as easily as out of the tire or the bead, which will help keep gas mileage more consistant, not improve it, unless your in the 60-80% of all Americans who have underinflated tires, then yes, you will improve your gas mileage. It will also help to prevent oxidation of the tire and corrorsion of alloy wheels, which again helps to keep a more stable pressure, which again helps gas mileage. Also, regular air consists of about 20% oxygen which contains moisture, which is what causes most of the alloy wheel corrorsion, which leads to bead leaks.

As far as regular air being 78% Nitrogen, this is true. The benifits of Nitrogen in your tires are only achevied at a purity level of 95% or above and accually studies have shown that there are minimal if any benifits at a purity level above 95%. There are special tanks that take "natural air" and filter it then store the pure nitrogen. These machines are not cheap so if you are looking to get your current tires filled with nitrogen for free, don't count on it. Although if you are purchasing new tires most places will automatically fill them with nitrogen, some charge and some don't. So if the store where you're getting tires charges for it just haggle them to throw it in for free. It will become standard in a few years and you'll never have to pay for it again. We charge $5/tire for used tire inflation and $2.50/tire for new tire inflation and suprisingly I have yet to throw it in for free, and I sell alot of it. I will explain more about haggling for free stuff below.

Nascar and other racing teams have been using Nitrogen in their tires for some time but they were not the first. In fact the military, the airline industry and I beleive NASA have been using Nitrogen since the 40's.

I hope this will help to dispell certain myths about Nitrogen in tires and give you all some solid info to make your desicion with.

I should not even tell you all this, but seeing your all a good group of guys I'll share a Tire Industry insider info. Here is a little tip about getting your tires inflated with Nitrogen for free. Remember that when buying tires "EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE", to a point. Make your tire salesman throw in the NITRO for free. If he/she really wants your sale he won't even blink at the suggestion. Also do your homework on prices. Almost all tire shops will beat or match competitor prices, even Tirerack or Discount Tire, just bring in a quote and it's a no brainer for the salesman in they want you business. I have been known to accually sell tires for under cost just to get a sale, although $5-10 over cost is more common. Tires are normally priced at around 15-50% over cost depending on the tire so there is always and I mean ALWAYS wiggle room on tires, especially ones that are not on sale. Although most tire shops who also do mechanical work will be more willing to get your car up in the air in the hopes that it will need brakes or shocks & struts, a tie rod & ball joint here or there because that is where the real $$$$$$$ is. Tires just get you in the door. Hope this helps.

P.S. USING NITROGEN IN YOUR TIRES WILL NOT GARANTEE LONGER LIFE OR BETTER GAS MILEAGE. IT IS ONLY ANOTHER TOOL TO HELP IMPROVE TIRE LIFE AND VEHICHLE MAINTENACE. IT SHOULD NEVER BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR AN ACURATE AIR PRESSURE GAUGE, YOU STILL NEED TO CHECK YOUR TIRES PSI AT LEAST MONTHLY. PROPER VEHICHLE ALIGNMENT AND REGULAR ROTATING & BALANCING OF YOUR TIRES IS STILL REQUIRED! SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My dealer puts it in for free. The reason they gave was tire temperature can make a 6-7 psi difference from cold to hot. They had problems with the Tire Monitoring System sending messages every time people drove. Tires filled with Nitro fluctuate between 2 to 3 psi higher when hot so no messages from the TMS.