tehCOW

I was over at costco looking to get a tire rotation and they said they used nitrogen gas to fill the tires. they said that the gas resists expansion or compression due to changes in the temperature.

is there anything bad associated with nitrogen gas in car tires???

biker

Nothing wrong with nitrogen but I think they're feeding you a line of that stuff costs a whole lot more than free air! They might add a little but I'm sure it's not pure nitrogen - it would be way too expensive.

biker

Just thought of something - car tires with nitrogen would rule out those under water surviving off air tire scenes you see in the movies

iTimmy

It should be pure nitrogen, its the latest fad in the tire world. They sell units that remove the nitrogen from air through some form of membrane. There are a few different models from a few different companies available. I don't think its going to catch on, (i) its expensive and you would have to charge for it, (ii) if you ever top off with regular air the benefits are lost. People are NOT going to like paying for optional air, I asked and explained the benefits and the average consumer does not care! The benefits are that its less likely to migrate through the tires inner liner and that it has NO moisture in it so it does no damage to the liner or the wheel and also weighs less because of this. Tire manufacturers have been building tires to resist these factors for years and have gotten really good at it, besides that air is available just about everywhere for free- if your tire goes low good luck finding a no2 fill station. Then you'd have to bring your tire back, have it deflated and reinflated with no2 and then have the percentage of no2 tested- below 98% the benefits are nonexistant.

Needless to say, I've looked into buying into this and deemed it not worth the investment- for me or my customers.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Nitrogen is still a gas and reacts the same as any other gas, thus it would still expand under heating and contract under cooling. Perhaps it just has a higher specific heat, but it would still do it, nonetheless.

And since regular air is roughly 70% nitrogen anyway, I can't see the extra 30% of nitrogen making that big of an impact.

sauceman

They use it in F1, and it seems to be pretty stable.

TSX Hokie

Nitrogen is for wussies. Real men fill their tires with HYDROGEN!

...gives new meaning to the term "burnout"

kaikai114

i got lots of nitrogen gas coming out from my rear too... oh wait.. that's methane, mah bad

Lung Fu Mo Shi

True, but then you also remove the CO2, O2, etc. from the air. Nitrogen is a triple bond and has a fairly low thermal expansion coefficient.

Still, it's a fad. Some Type-R loser will still think it's the latest and greatest thought.

slo007

I'm sure someone has tried it in the past... it would be a great way to make your car fly!

spotcheckwilly

Nitrogen is lighter than air, so would your car be lighter?

Dan Martin

Yep, should drop at least a full second off the 0-60. :P

If you got a haircut you'd save more weight.

xizor

nah, your car would be floating so you wouldn't get as much traction

spotcheckwilly

But if you got fatter tires it would make up for it!!

CrashK2Wu

Nitrogen is used in high end paintball guns as it's density varies alot less when exposed to a wider range of temperatures. It does not expand or contract as much causing more consistent tire pressure, which, in some small way would contribute to better gas mileage. I am not saying it makes a noticable, but it's properties are much more consistent from freezing temperatures to the hottest summer temperatures. Also, if you were to top off and put 1 psi of air to 31 psi of nitrogen to top off, that would be 3% air in your tire versus 97% nitrogen. That would be a neglible amount of air to truly affect the benefits of the nitrogen. It is just another example of race technology coming down to consumers where the benefits aren't as noticeable as no ones car is being pushed to F1 limits.

spotcheckwilly

I still don't believe that expansion can be the reason. All gasses expand and contract with temperature changes. Are you sure that it is due more to the fact that the nitrogen will not react with the rubber compounds in the tires and the metal in the wheels?

VeniceBeachTSX

Airplanes use nitrogen because it's less sensitive to the extremes of pressure and temperature that may be encountered in flight. A key concern for aircraft is that normal air always contains some moisture which at high altitudes and extreme temperatures can condense and freeze. Nitrogen does also tend to react less to temperature, but the difference is somewhat insignificant.

CrashK2Wu

Are you kidding me? You are saying that normal air would react with the rubber and metal compounds more than nitrogen? How old are you?

HMS/TSX

I'm a pilot and we use only nitrogen in aircraft tires so they won't blow due to expansion as we climb to cruising altitude. Also, nitrogen is very inexpensive, but the bottles and associated regulators are costly.

spotcheckwilly

How old am I? How dumb are you? Ever hear of oxidation? It is a reaction with oxygen, not nitrogen.

TRAKATAK

All this talk of the benefits of nitrogen are insane. Just use regular air!! The advantages to using nitrogen in your tires, especially for the average driver, are not strong enough to warrant paying for it. I am also a pilot, and yes nitrogen IS used almost exclusively in aircraft for the reasons already mentioned. Hydraulic accumulators, tires, shocks......all of them are serviced with nitrogen.

But this is nothing compared to the guy that went through the trouble of servicing his tires with helium to reduce the rotational mass. He actually did the math and found how much weight in air he was saving when the wheel was spinning. Crazy. It was in a Sport Compact Car issue about a year and a half ago.

DarkLava

I haven't read one post in this thread that makes sense. Almost all forms of racing use Nitrogen to fill the tires. Why? Because putting 100% Nitrogen into the tire means you aren't putting any moisture into the tire. It's not that Nitrogen has any different expansion than 'air', it's the fact that you aren't putting any water molecules into the tire that definitely do expand at a different rate. All it does is give you a more linear build-up of pressure in the tire.

And for everyday cars, air is fine because you aren't experiencing the same pressure buildup a race tire is...

iTimmy

Darklava- You must have missed my post, because that's exactly what I said two weeks ago

DarkLava

Ha ha, sorry 'bout that... I read like 4 or 5 posts by stupid people, got fed up, then just answered the initial question... Good deal!

-Formerly a 'tire-guy', now a full-time 'racing-guy'

biker

Grubbs Infiniti (Dallas) is putting Nitrogen in all of its cars starting March 1. Apparently there's so many folks complaining about the Tire Pressure monitor going off (due to pressure changes cause by temp changes) that they rather fix the problem with nitrogen in the tires.

I have a feeling this will be more and more of an issue now that more and more cars have TPM systems.

The more I thought about this the more it makes sense. Maybe GM should offer nitrogen filled tires on all of its cars instead of OnStar as a safety measure. It would be cheaper and overall I think it would make a bigger diff safety wise (prevention vs. reaction)

iTimmy

The problem with this is still the fact that when you need your tires topped off chances are it won't be with nitrogen and the benefits are then non-existant. Until it become standard just about everywhere and folks are used to going some where to get nitrogen put in there tires(and paying for it if they are not regular customers) it will remain a failed attempt as a solution. Do you really think the average consumer is ready for this let alone a TPMS? I am not looking forward to dealing with it.

stogie1020

I use Argon. Same as I use to inflate my drysuit for diving.

Very inert, but a bit pricey.

GIBSON6594

Just fill them with helium and be done with it

Dan Martin

You guys are all pansies... I use Hydrogen.

jlukja

LOL, not looking forward to your first "burnout".