Who here is running Nitrogen in your tires ??

 

I would say no one...

edit:
because I don't think the benefits outweigh the cost.

 

Nitrogen in ur tires?!??! ive never heard of that....that seems like it could be dangerous...one spark and a popped tire....KABOOM!

 

^ Actually it is not dangerous.

 

Umm, I think you're getting Nitrogen and Hydrogen confused. Nitrogen is non-flammable. Don't they require chemistry in high school anymore? But to answer the original question, no, I'm not. We used it in aircraft tires in the Air Force, but the reasons for doing so don't really apply to cars for the most part. It's just a marketing gimmick.

Lance

 

how does it affect a car handling wise? sorry about that.....brain fart

 

It has nothing to do with the handling, it is a marketing gimmick. They charge you a pile of money to put nitrogen in your tires because in theory it will leak less because nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen molecules. In reality even if the theory is true after you top off your tires a few times they end up naturally being mostly nitrogen. Stay away from this waste of money.

 

i say put helium in your tires to make your car lighter

 

It's not really about leaking. Nitrogen expands and shrinks less than oxygen dependent on the ambient temperature. So you won't have to worry about high pressure during the summer or low pressure in the winter, as much as with regular air.

Technically, everybody is already running approximately 60% nitrogen in their tires, since "air" is mostly nitrogen.

However, when I got a set of new tires for the family beater, CostCo filled up the tires with 100% pure nitrogen and since it was included in the already low price, it was a nice bonus.

 

Race tires are filled with nitrogen as a way to keep the pressure more constant as the tires heat up, but I have never thought anyone would bother with their daily driver.

 

Nitrogen has multiple benefits
1. Less expansion & contraction
2. No moisture (You chrome wheel guys NO Corrosion) Wouldn't that be nice.
3. Denser in molecules so you dont lose air pressure as easy (Less rolling resistance) Better GAS Mileage..

Just a few benefits.

 

how expensive is it?

 

Should be no more than $3.00 per tire and that should be for the life of the tire.

 

A 6k bottle of N2 costs about 40 bucks so some genius can figure out how many tires that fills but needless to say at 3 bucks a tire it's great business. Some marketing guru/engineer/accountant figured out it cheaper than maintaining a compressor.

 

shoot2Thrill....man where in morristown are u from?

 

Actually everybody is already running about 78% nitrogen and I have yet to see any tests that show this is nothing more than theory being used to add to profits. Sounds feasible but probably hads no measurable effect.

 

you asked the question before, just up froom Greystone.

Corrosion? On the TL the wheels are aluminum which by itself is somewhat corrosion resistant further, most likely anodized before painting and it they are chrome plated thats a surface treatment that should make them more robust against moisture/humidity. Especially on the inside of the tire, I have never seen a inside of an aluminum wheel oxided. I won't say that that it never happened but it surely is not a epidemic. The road salt on the outside is a far more challenging.
Plus, dry air is another option but that doesn't sound as high tech.

Note :if it chrome plated that anodizing must be removed, so you might deal with adhesion between the aluminum and the chromium or strike material

 

We have a Costco nearby that uses N2 instead of air. Might be worth a call.

 

I was under the impression that the N2 won't OXIDIZE the rubber. I can only assume oxidization would contribute to cracking or hardening of the rubber. Since AIR contains O2 it will oxidize whatever it comes into contact with.

 

Costco put the new tires on my wife's car, and finished the inflation with Nitrogen. It's not 100% pure because there was air in the tire before inflation. Then they put hideous green valve cover stems on .

I think it's just . I've never had a problem with oxidation of my tires, and I've never had a problem with too extreme swings in tire pressure with the weather. The larger molecules theory is a joke - if the gaps that air leaks out of tires through were molecular in size, then the nitrogen molecules would just clog them up and seal them off anyway.

Mike

 

Out of all the people here this is all that voted ??

 

This is actually a very good point and since the tire inflation is only going up about 2.5 atmospheres or so, it illustrates the whole notion is a joke.

 

A joke if you like chrome peeling on your wheels..... Nice mascara...

It has been tested if you can do some research.

 

Nitrogen is used usually in cars that people auto cross in. The reason being is so that handling isn't affected as much when the tires get too hot after running them hard for a period of time.

For the most part, with Nitrogen the change in psi pressure would be around a 2-3psi increase after running the tires hard at the tracks, as opposed to a 6-8psi increase with oxygen/nitrogen combo. That was the reason I have learned as to why to use it.

 

tire pressure affects handling, so that is why you would want to remain with constant tire pressure throughout the race, and not have your tires slightly over inflat due to expansion from molecules...

 

Calculating using the gas equations I say it would be very optimistic to have even a 1 PSIG difference under extreme conditions. Nitrogen = HOT AIR

 

I think the dangerous gas is hydrogen also stay away from methane.

 

Come on now lets get the poll results up there I know more people have looked at this thread.

 

 

So Who Is Running Nitrogen In Their Tires Now?? Since It Is More Available And Known To The Industry??

 

I recently worked in specialty gas sales for Praxair & one of my customers was a Ferrari dealership. They got regular deliveries of nitrogen bottles for their service shop.

The benefit is real-but only for ultra performance situations. 99% of the public would never know the difference in their cars. Mostly a gimmick for the street folk.

Yes-the tire starts out with air, but you only have to purge it a few times to displace the air with nitrogen.

 

Last autocross I was at...the guys were manually overfilling their tires to begin with to lessen the tire roll-over....and I can tell you they were not using nitrogen! I ran mine at standard pressure and had NO problem at all...I think they just have cheap tires or something...

 

Hmmmmm, we have a big cylinder of Nitrogen here at work!!! We use it to pressure test A/C equipment to check for leaks and we also run it through the system if we are doing any brazing (it doesn’t oxidize inside the pipe).

I'll have to give it a try but you MUST use a regulator as when full the cylinder is pressurized up to between 3-4000PSI. Kaboom if not careful…

 

You'd have more fun with a big cylinder of NOS!

 

if nitrogen molecules are bigger, than wouldnt they be heavier? if they are heavier (if there is actually a noticeable difference) wouldnt that result in decreased gas mileage

 

the stuff is great, I don't have it, but just found out that Costco will put it in your tires. I had it in my tires back in the lates 70's thru the mid 80's, and well worth the investment!!!

 

I think many of us have driven cars that have tires that look brand new but are very slippery when it gets a little wet out. Even thought the tires look brand new, the rubber is no longer supple.

I am not suggesting that it is just O2 that causes this because it is also UV but IF you can delay the hardening and degradation of the rubber it may be worth the effort.

 

HOW LONG DO YOUR TIRES LAST? You must drive SLOW to see that kind of longevity in tires that this happens! Could happen I guess?