It was 19 degrees this morning and I noticed a little flat spotting in the tires for about the first minute. Could replacing the traditional air with nitrogen solve that minor issue? I see signs at tire stores all the time for this, but have ignored them until today. What do you all think?

 

Air is 70% nitrogen.

Do these shops vacuum out the existing air and then fill only nitrogen? Are you willing to drive to a shop every time your tire is a little low?

Marketing gimmick.

 

minimal advantages (air is 78% nitrogen)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=191

 

Don't the RLX's have nitrogen in the tires from the Factory/Dealer?

My stem caps are labelled nitrogen, but I have topped off with air

 

I have no idea. My caps are grey. Does that mean anything? I guess the flat spotting is just something that I have to deal with. I'm at just under 20,000 miles and have 7/32nds of tread at all 4 corners. Seems like that is fairly good. I typically replace tires when I am at about 4/32nds and it is close to winter. At my current pace I will replace them next November very likely.

 

Whoops, yup, you're right. I had a feeling my 70% number was wrong. Either way, even less of a reason to get it

 

flat spotting could be an attribute to the specific rubber compound of that tire manufacture and not necessarily attributed to air or lack there of.

 

Flat spotting is usually tire model specific.

For example, the Bridgestone Turanza EL400 is notorious of being flat spotting in cold temperatures.

 

In fact I would say it is disadvantageous due to the much higher of cost to benefit ratio

That article mentions a "reasonable $5/tire" WTF?

Who the hell would pay $5 a tire for about 12% increase in their nitrogen in their tires? Friggin un-believable.

 

it is also getting cold out.

 

Nitrogen has no benefit for ordinary drivers. The end.

It has theoretical benefit for race car drivers, in that it is supposedly easier to predict the rate of pressure increase in the tires during the course of a race.

As it happens, my RLX's stock tires were filled with nitrogen, at no cost, at the time I leased the car. Guess what? I still had to fill the tires a little more when the temperatures dropped to the single digits during the worst of last winter.

Nitrogen is bull-oney.

As for the flat spotting, my stock tires were doing that as well. The only fix is to keep the tires inflated to the manufacturer's specs.

 

I try to keep them at 35-36 psi cold but it is good to know that my experience is not unusual. Thanks very much!

 

Nitrogen is used in racing series because they don't want compressed air in the pits which might contribute to a fire hazard. It is also used in aircraft tires where pressure is critical. Nitrogen molecule is smaller than oxygen molecule (lighter but smaller) so nitrogen is slightly less likely to permeate the tire and reduce pressure over time. May be an issue when plane is at altitude. (?) For regular cars nitrogen fill is hype and a scam to sell you something you don't need. A more important consideration is to keep water out of the air mixture in your tires. Airlines at gas stations contain huge amounts of water and should be avoided.

 

See page 1 of the November 2012 and September 2006 Acura Service News.

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...8/#post8398357

 

I'm not clearing my cache to look at something, just like I'm not going to consider for a moment putting nitrogen in my tyres.

:-)

 

Thank you! The enginerds at Honda=win, likely after overstudying the issue . Bottom line, again, nitrogen in passenger tires is bull-oney. Further, the 2012 Acura Service Bulletin directly addresses RLXSH's original question, whether nitrogen in tires helps flatspotting--it doesn't.