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Old 04-20-2008, 02:28 AM
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Default Nitrogen filled tires

So, how many of you are using this...

Why?

Cost?

Savings?

Is it really worth changing over for the average SUV driver...say 13,000 - 15,000 miles driven per year. Chevy Tahoe (Bridgestone Duelers HT)...

If I do, should I change out my Boat Trailer and ATV Trailer (5x10) tires as well...

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Old 04-20-2008, 03:17 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

People have been driving around for a hundred years with just air in there with few problems. Now the dealers have a new revenue stream to charge about $30 to purge the air and replace with the most abundant element in the atmosphere. I still might do it My wife's Trailblazer gives a tire pressure warning on really cold mornings that goes away after driving a few miles. Pressure seems to vary about 5 or 6 pounds with temperature change.
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Old 04-20-2008, 03:17 AM
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Default RE: Nitrogen filled tires

Waste of Money. Air already 80% nitrogen.

Better to just regularly check your tire pressure and keep the pressure correct.
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Old 04-20-2008, 05:21 AM
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Default RE: Nitrogen filled tires

My experience with N has only been with aircraft. It's use is standard because it:

1- Is a stable gas and pressure is maintained about 4 times normal. This is a problem for aircraft tires due to normal air temp. variations of 50-75 degrees C per flight.

2- Reduced moisture reduces wheel corrosion, the reason they started using it.


A good water seperater on your air compressor would probably do the trick for cars/trailers/etc.

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Old 04-20-2008, 05:26 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

My local car dealership is trying to get $79 per vehicle which is totally ridiculous.
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Old 04-20-2008, 05:31 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

Quote:
DrJim - 4/20/2008 5:26 AM

My local car dealership is trying to get $79 per vehicle which is totally ridiculous.

What are they saying the benefit is to make the sell?
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Old 04-20-2008, 06:22 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

Racers use nitrogen because it is dry, more pressure stable, and most important, can be transported in compressed gas cylinders. No need for a compressor at the track.

forget it for street use.
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Old 04-20-2008, 09:16 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

Pure snake oil for street cars
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Old 04-20-2008, 09:46 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

Quote:
My Gal - 4/20/2008 7:31 AM
Quote:
DrJim - 4/20/2008 5:26 AMMy local car dealership is trying to get $79 per vehicle which is totally ridiculous.
What are they saying the benefit is to make the sell?
Stable pressure, the ensuing fuel economy increase and no oxidation/longer tire life...

Since tires only last a few years anyway the oxidation issue doesnt hold water I would say. The prressure issue, maybe true but is it enough to ever notice? Nevermind to justify the 79$..
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Old 04-20-2008, 09:48 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

I think it has applications for street use. If you run your trailer load with a 10 or 20% margin and only use dry air then it is not for you. I am at the max load limit for my 4 load range tires and maintaining 80 psi is critical. If I were to change out to nitrogen, I would run less of a risk of blowing a tire because of variations in temperature caused by moisture in the air or variations in pressure. The only way that I see that it would work for me would be to buy or rent a nitrogen tank to carry with me when I trailer. Altough I should do it I haven' make the financial commitment to do that. Once you add any air to the nitrogen filled tire, you are defeating the purpose.

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Old 04-20-2008, 09:53 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

One poster said it's better to regularly check your tire pressure and that's a great point. The fact is, very few people check their pressure on a regular basis which is partially why all new cars 08 and up sold in the US must have a TPMS to monitor tire pressure. Most people drive around with low tire pressure. So it's a safety and a MPG issue. Nitrogen has a number of benefits. One, it's dry, which helps to prevent rim corrosion and maintain a stable pressure. Two, tires filled with nitrogen stay filled much longer, with resulting better fuel mileage, longer tire life and much less of a chance of a blowout.
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Old 04-20-2008, 09:58 AM
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Default RE: Nitrogen filled tires

Quote:
dssmith - 4/20/2008 Waste of Money. Air already 80% nitrogen.

Better to just regularly check your tire pressure and keep the pressure correct.
Bingo. Just another way for tire dealers to up their profit margins. Nitrogen has a few benefits in special situations as outlined above - otherwise it's snake oil in the average drivers car. But lots of fools believe the nitrogen BS because they want to be like a NASCAR driver, they believe the snake oil reasons the tire dealer tells them, or they are just plain naive.
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Old 04-20-2008, 10:00 AM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

Quote:
My Turn - 4/20/2008 7:16 AM

Pure snake oil for street cars
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That is crap.


Which idiot told you that CO2 only makes up 0.039% of the atmosphere?

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Old 04-20-2008, 12:01 PM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

I'm selling a fantastic boat washing material made from hydrogen and oxygen. It makes your boat go real fast because its chemical constitution makes the boat one with the water, creating a near-frictionless environment. It's environmentally safe, too. $40 plus s&h will buy you enough to clean the bottom of a 40' boat. YES! You can also use it on the topsides and even the interior surfaces!
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Old 04-20-2008, 12:13 PM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

I've got some fresh air for you... $100 bucks a gallon, interested???
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Old 04-20-2008, 12:24 PM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

Helium is where it's at. It makes the car lighter and therefore better MPG.
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Old 04-20-2008, 12:33 PM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

it's right up there with the "engine oil flush" some dealers try to sell.....
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Old 04-20-2008, 01:12 PM
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Default RE: Nitrogen filled tires

I use a special synthetic blend of 78% N and 21% O with a few special trace elements that reduce wear and increase fuel mileage.

I have also experimented with using this mixture in my boat and truck motors with the same result.

Its expensive but why not.
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Old 04-20-2008, 01:27 PM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

Costco... very good prices on tyres and they use it... no charge. Free rotations, pressure checks, etc, etc...
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Old 04-20-2008, 01:28 PM
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Default Re: Nitrogen filled tires

So, from what I'm reading here...most of you say this in not worth doing...

More questions:

Is Nitrogen lighter than air?

Will it keep a tire cooler when running at highway speeds?

So, I went to the Internet search and found this:

Is it better to fill your tires with nitrogen instead of air?
16-Feb-2007


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Cecil:

I caught a segment on some car show about modding up your car. One of the things they mentioned was the benefit of filling your tires with nitrogen instead of air. Considering I fill my tires with air and don't have much of a problem constantly refilling them, what is the straight dope on nitrogen in car tires? — Dave from Massachusetts

Cecil replies:

Oh, there are plenty of benefits: (1) Cool fluorescent green valve stem caps (assuming your nitrogen vendor has any marketing savvy), which will look sharp with your spinning wheel covers. (2) Bragging rights. OK, you were behind the curve with cell phones, iPods, thong underwear, etc. Nitrogen in tires is relatively new to the mass market. Now's your chance. (3) Reduced fire danger next time you land your space shuttle or commercial aircraft, and tell me you won't sleep better knowing that.

Most tires are filled with compressed air, which when dry consists of about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and 1 percent other gases by volume. Water vapor (humidity) can make up as much as 5 percent of the volume of air under worst-case conditions. Filling your tires with nitrogen mainly does two things: it eliminates moisture, and it replaces skinny oxygen molecules with fat nitrogen molecules, reducing the rate at which compressed gas diffuses through porous tire walls. That means, theoretically at least, that a tire filled with nitrogen retains optimal pressure longer, leading to more uniform tire wear and better gas mileage. The commonly quoted figure is that tires inflated to 32 psi get 3 percent better mileage than at 24 psi.

Does nitrogen make any practical difference? You couldn't prove it by me. I found no scientific tests showing that nitrogen-filled tires stayed inflated longer than average under normal conditions. A car-buff buddy was sure it worked but conceded he had only anecdotal evidence that it did.

As for moisture, changes in humidity affect tire performance two ways. First, the density of humid air fluctuates more with temperature than that of dry air, so removing humidity can keep your tire pressure more consistent, especially when the temperature climbs over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That may be a legitimate concern in Formula One racing, but it's not much of an issue if you're just tooling around town.

Humidity can also be a factor in wheel maintenance — since pure nitrogen doesn't have moisture in it, supposedly your wheels won't rust as quickly, which could lead to improved wheel performance and air sealing. The question is, how big a problem is wheel rust these days? According to a few tire and wheel shops we contacted, not very. Seriously rusted wheels are uncommon in typical steel-wheeled cars, and many high-performance cars have alloy wheels that don't rust at all. One exception is work vehicles such as dump trucks, which are exposed to a much harsher environment.

Another claim I've seen is that since nitrogen is slightly lighter than air, you'll save weight and get better performance. However, we're talking about a weight difference of less than 4 percent of the gas in the tire — in other words, a difference of less than an ounce for most vehicles. A possibly more realistic benefit is that nitrogen is largely inert chemically at low (i.e., normal) temperatures, so it won't attack the rubber in your tires like oxygen does. Oxygen attack is something both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Ford Research have studied, and can be a problem for tires used for a long time or in rough conditions.

More important, nitrogen doesn't support combustion, which is one reason aircraft and the space shuttle use nitrogen in their tires. The wisdom of this precaution was brought home by the crash of Mexicana Airlines flight 940 on March 31, 1986. Shortly after the Boeing 727 took off from Mexico City en route to Puerto Vallarta, an overheated landing-gear brake caused a tire improperly filled with air instead of nitrogen to overheat as well and explode, rupturing fuel and hydraulic lines. The ensuing fire and crash killed 167 passengers and crew. However, unless your driving habits are of the X-treme variety, the chances of your tires catching fire anytime soon are slim.

Overall, filling up with nitrogen won't hurt and may provide some minimal benefit. Is it worth it? If you go to some place like Costco that does it for free with new tires, sure, why not? Elsewhere, though, I've seen prices quoted as high as $10 per tire, which is way more than I'd pay. Rather than shell out for nitrogen, you'd be better off just checking and adjusting your tire pressure regularly, something the NHTSA says less than 60 percent of U.S. motorists actually do.

—CECIL ADAMS



and yes, I do have a compressor and check my tire pressure in the morning each week, and sooner if there has been a big amount of humidity or high / low temp changes..I must be doing this right as my tire dealers tells me so...he is not trying to sell me anything new...but, I see more and more vehicles on the road with the N filled tires...

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