MisterFubar

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for clearing that up a little Mike03a3. By no means was I advocating the use of nitrogen, in fact if you are paying someone to put nitrogen in your tires you might as well throw the money in the fireplace. Honestly I just cut an pasted the first little bit of info I came across without really reading it.

Most commercial Nitrogen generators I've seen only produce about 95% pure nitrogen. The generator we have at work will do 99.9% pure and we use it for the exact reasons you stated.

If anyone has access to free nitrogen, I'd say go ahead and use it, but please don't pay for it. You are just wasting your money.

Desert_TL

1. What mike said (right on brotha). Pure bull$hit
2. OK. So let me get this straight. Most people probably drive through water or rain what, every other day or so? The outside of my tires are completely covered in water half of the time but I'm supposed to worry about 1 part per million of water inside the tire? I don't understand. Also, the tire will go bald WAY before you have to worry about the steel belt rusting because of water inside the tire. Pure bull$hit.
3. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The medium inside the tire will NOT change the amount of sidewall flexing or road friction imparted on the tire- the two main causes of tire heatup. Less maintainence? So if I put nitogen in my tire, my car's alignment will suddenly magically be perfect and I won't need to rotate my tires as much? I guess putting nitrogen in the tires also magically makes them perfectly balanced. Bull$hit.
4. Ah, of course. Because regular air is so combustable, it's a fire hazard. I guess they assume if you aren't filling your tires with nitrogen, you must be filling them with kerosene. Bull$hit.

KeithL

Tire pressure should always be measured COLD. And COLD is usually defined as not being driven on for at least 4 hours. Even a few miles of driving can warm up the tires enough to change the registered pressure. I don't live in extrmee cold, but the temps vary enough year round to have to tweak the pressure. My garage is typically 20-30 degrees warmer than the outside this time of year, I would guess it is in the 50's in there. My car sits outside at work all day, some days around 30 degrees. I typically put the tires at 36-37 in the garage then find after sitting out side they are usually 34-35.. I beleive the car calls for 32 or 33. I like to run my tires on average 3-4 PSI over. An article a while back by a Michelin engineer stated it is far safer to run your tires a few PSI over than under. I find when the temps out side are in the 40's-50's and I have been driving the tires will be aroudn 38-39. On warmer days they will hit 40 and on occasion in the spring 41. Yes it does slightly effect the ride quality as the tires are a tad stiffer, but it also makes them handle a tad better as well. I take the old Michelin commercials to heart "there is a lot riding on your tires" so t is the thing I am most anal about with maintaining on my cars. The TL MID is great every day I started the car and check the mid to see where they are at. On my old 06 TL it allowed me to catch a slow leak before the pressure dropped too low and get it fixed at my convienence.

MichaelBenz

iTrader: (2)

Check the tires when they are cold....nuff said. Plus...I would switch to nitrogen if I had those TPMS thingys....they wouldnt fluxuate as much in cold weather then.

MichaelBenz

iTrader: (2)

I love debates like this....didnt read down this far. Tend to agree with you....nitrogen is not the save all of the world so far as tires goes...has been around for many years....and is a current marketing fad that if you do research...has been a fad before about 20 years ago or so. Race teams use this for SEVERAL reasons unrelated to tires as well...they use this in their tools as there is no water in the lines then meaning their tools guts dont have rust in em, meaning they are going to last longer and theoretically spin faster, ect and have greater reliability....but this is another angle altogether and not what we are talking about. We are talking tires and rims....

There is limited benefits to the use of nitrogen, this has been proven. Yes....there is less likely to be water, ect inside the tire, ect meaning a rim wouldnt rust, ect. but you are kinda right...you are more likely to wear out the tire before this is a problem and switch it out. I think the greatest benefit to using pure nitrogen is less pressure variences in the tires...and less natural "leakage" of pressure...but outside of that....benefits are very minor at best...and certainly NOT worth paying extra money for as usually normal compressor air has a fairly high percentage of nitrogen in it to begin with....(like 80% or something like that...but going by memory here). Matter of fact...will search on another site here real quick and post up the response my buddy gave...AND HE WORKS FOR A GOOD SIZED TIRE COMPANY...

(START PASTE FROM MEMBER SPOOLIN'ONYOU FROM ANOTHER SITE)

Background: this was a response to a member talking about the Acura Service Bulletin that came out referring to limited benefits of nitrogen in tires....

Benefits of N2 is debatable. The company I work for has recently invested a LOT of money changing all the stores over to Nitrogen Inflation Systems. Nitrogen isn't affected by change in temperatures. The molecules are larger so it doesn't seep through the tires as easily. Nitrogen is purely dry air.

That article is mostly correct, however, they did compare N2 to 'dry' compressed air. Having N2 in a store such as mine is more of a benefit than a hassle. Since the air comes out dry, the inside of the wheels don't corrode from moisture, which is good. Corrosion causes bead leaks...which in turn makes more work for my guys...

We've got a Nitrogen monitor at work. Yes, the air you breathe is roughly 80% Nitrogen. Our monitor stuck into free air reads 82% usually. When put on the valve stem of a tire that we've inflated with Nitrogen, it jumps to right around 98%.

And what a lot of other tire companies will tell you is that you can't add regular compressed air to a tire that's been filled with Nitrogen. WRONG! If your tire pressure has went down, you can add regular compressed air to it without affecting the tire. The Nitrogen percentage will go down, but not much. Why? Remember, regular compressed air is roughly 80% Nitrogen anyway.

Roughly every 15 years, the Nitrogen fad comes and goes. I'm sure you'll all see it fade out within the next year or so, then in about 15 more years, they'll come out with Nitrogen again, as if it's the greatest thing on earth. Trust me, just watch.

Oh yeah, and if you've bought tires, had a tire repaired, or just had your own tires mounted up from us since August, your tires are inflated with Nitrogen.
(end paste from Spoolin'OnYou)


Kind of interesting isnt it? In my opinion...kind of ends the argument. Yes...its a good thing....but benefits are kind of limited to some degree and not worth paying extra money for unless its part of the deal! Now if you are truely racing in a competition atmosphere on a track and often...maybe I might say spend money....but probably not as most compressors have driers on em to begin with that is there to wick out moisture and it readily available about everywhere. Basically....Nitrogen is a good thing...but not the save all to end all here in my opinion as the air you breathe is roughly 80%?

terminex

• Fill your ties if they are low no matter what the temp is.
• if cold fill to 32
• if the tires are warm (i.e. driven on for at least 15 minutes straight) - fill to 36 (the rule is 4 lbs of pressure for warm vs cold)
• Do not waste your money on the nitrogen (it will take 3-5 COMPLETE deflations / infrations to get them about 4 - 8 % better nitrogen content than regular air.
• Snow is SIMILAR to off road conditions - i.e. lower tire pressure will give you a greater surface area= greater contact patch. (you are really better off having the tires inflated properly so that you never damage the rims / sidewalls - off road tires and wheels are designed to run lower pressure - I run the tires at about 12 to 18 PSI in my Pathfinder when 4 wheeling - you will damage your rims if you try that with your TL)
• Ice = normal or slightly higher tire pressure. (although I do NOT recomend driving on ice, you want the most weight on the smallest contact patch available. this puts more pressure on those 4 points allowing better traction)

avs007

Oops, must've missed this response....
But yeah, this is exactly like the one I got... I bought mine at Home Depot or Lowes, I can't remember which. But I remember they didn't have it online, but I found it in the store. It was like $10 or something like that.

They sell more expensive/exotic looking line-dryers that use the same dessicants that you find in those "Do-Not eat" packs, but the one mentioned above worked well enough for me, as after using this to fill my tires, the TPMS never gave me any more issues.

leedogg

One piece of advice, the manufacturer recommends checking and filling at cold because they know that as you drive it, the tire will expand and at high speeds, the tire will reach its optimal inflation point (like 35-38 or so), if your tires are at 28 or less, this is truely on the low side, and you will experience premature wear and tear, as well as lower handling, performance, and fuel efficiency. If you switch to Nitrogen, you should go ahead and pump it up to 35-38 as your tire will already be at the optimal psi regardless of temp.

6spMike

Temperature will have the exact same effect on tires filled with dry nitrogen as those filled with dry air. (PV=NRT). When using either, you should fill to the pressure recommended for the vehicle, cold.

weedeater

The Max Pressure given on the sidewall of the tire is a Never Exceed pressure. On my Michelins, I think it is 45psi. That's one of the things I find useful with the TPMS: I can observe the air pressure while driving. Usually it goes up to about 40psi while driving since I keep my fronts at 36, rears at 34.

pimpin-tl

Temperature will not change the PSI if Nitrogen is filled in the tires. I had some wheels and tires filled with Nitrogen, if it was 25 degrees out or 100 the psi still stayed the same.

Fill up to 32 psi cold on AIR, Nitrogen, Hot or cold.

avs007

That's why he said "dry" air... In order to make nitrogen, they use a membrane filter. In this process it also removes moisture...

most gas station air-compressors have so much water in the tanks it's not even funny...