Nitrogen in tires

[Anonymous-0]

Is there any real benefit to having the "nitrogen air service" in your tires? If I remember right, air is already 78% nitrogen. So why pure nitrogen?

 

[bo]

Great marketing. Suppose to be larger molecules and won't leak out as fast and suppose to be drier...but get a nail and it'll leak out.
So, you lose 5 lbs over time, you add 5lbs at 78%nitrogen and you do it again after a few months...at some point, you have 99% nitrogen.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Because it holds the pressure longer, it won't migrate in the tire rubber, and Less Temp change,
why don't people like you just ask google, and learn what is available, people have to learn how to search out answers in a smart way.

 

[Texasmark1]

Bro-in-law used it because he had a N tank and no air compressor. He sold industrial gasses and lived in "urbania".

 

[John T]

Wellllllll the dealers that sell it claim theres all sorts of advanatges and if you dont use it youre a fool dolt and a nincompoop so what they say must be true right???????

Ive gotten by in my trucks cars and tractors over a lifetime somehow not using it maybe I can get by another while, but I dont wanna be called a nincompoop lol

With "tongue in cheek" Ol John T

 

[MHEd]

Biggest issue is moisture - as it relates to increases in pressure with temperature as tires heat up in use. Dry air is similar to Nitrogen - you may gain a couple of pounds - say 32 cold becomes 34 or 35 hot.

Wet air 32 cold may become 40 hot and since amount of moisture is inconsistent, you never know what you are going to get. Nitrogen comes in bottled form which is much more controlled than local air compressors.

In many instances, operators do not take care to drian compressor tanks frequently enough to reduce moisture and in some cases like the pumps you see at a lot of service stations today, there is no way to eliminate the moisture.

As to molecule size that is true in theory, but in practice, if the Oxygen and moisture were leaking out, you would see it more rapidly - typically loss of pressure is more because of lowering of ambient temperature - thats why you are told to check pressures when it turns cold.

And if you go to nitrogen, what do you do on the road - not much source at your local gas station.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have not used it, but I know several "extra" conservative people that say it is one of the best investments they ever made. Smoother ride, and tires hold pressure better, plus several other things I can't remember. Not my observation, just what they told me.

 

[Dean]

About 4 or 5 years ago I bought a set of tires from a tire store that used nitrogen to inflate all of the tires that they sold. The tires were identical to the ones removed from the car. I noticed absolutely no difference but did promoptly dispose of the green valve caps.

Dean

 

[nondem]

It's good for bracket racing where consistent predictable times are important. Tires filled w/air change size more when heated/cooled and unpredictably affect the numbers more.


Or so I'm told

 

[buickanddeere]

Marketing for suckers unless you are filling F-18 tires.

 

[J.Wondergem]

(quoted from post at 09:45:33 03/06/12) Is there any real benefit to having the "nitrogen air service" in your tires? If I remember right, air is already 78% nitrogen. So why pure nitrogen?

The only time I have used it, was racing, because the air pressure didn't change as the tire got hot. In racing little things make big differences. With the trucks, I just keep the tires aired up to keep the sidewalls from flexing.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I wonder how they evacuate the old air that is in the tire before they put in the Nitrogen.

 

[buickanddeere]

Has anybody opened up thier old highschool chemistry and
physics books. And calculated the difference in pressure of
100% N2 vs 78% N2+ 21% O2. + 1% other? If the vessel
stays the same size and the gasses inside are raised 50F ?
There isn't a flea phart of difference.

 

[Two Dogs]

If they did then you couldn't feel so important. TDF

 

[Chip812]

It's main use is for airplane tires because any moisture in the tire would freeze at altitude and not be thawed by the time the plane landed and can create an out-of-balance condition in the tire that would wear out the landing gear over time... Not to mention the 'bumpy' ride for the passengers... and plane...
8)

 

[glennster]

big reason i see is for the low tire pressure warning system that the new cars are eqipped with. the gas is dry and stable, and has less of a tendancy to trigger the tire pressure monitoring system. when the system reads too great a pressure variance, it has the computer toss a code and the warning light comes on the dash board display. then you need a scanner to reset the monitor system. p.i.a.!!!!!

 

[Todd Hovick]

This is why they use Nitrogen in snowmobile shocks, no water vapor so it won't freeze up

 

[buickanddeere]

Atmospheric air can be dried just like pure N2. The engineers don't want O2 in the shocks due to corossion . Plus Nitrogen filled sounds great for marketing

 

[buickanddeere]

Mention of attending high school upsets you?

 

[Two Dogs]

Yes.

 

[Two Dogs]

Yes.

 

[JF in MI]

I always knew that Boyle's law and that other physics stuff was a lot of nonsense.

 

[sotxbill]

but most of my leaks are bigger than a molecule.

comsumers reports and others have finally come out and said the additional cost did not have the payback needed to sustain nitrogen. just not worth the trouble and expense. tires did not last longer and flats did not go away.

 

[willie in mn]

Never could figure that out either, 78%N, 21%O2, plus a small amount of other stuff. What's the big deal?
Couple other things to think about.
There are 2 different kinds of bottled N, oil pump & water pump. Get the wrong one & putting water in tires anyway.
Worked phone cable in Air Force many years ago. At that time it was almost all lead sheath with paper insulation. Main lines were pressurized with a compressor/drier at each exchange office. If a leak/ flow alarm developed it gave us a chance to find the trouble before it got wet & went down. Oil pump N bottles could be used at a mid-point connection to help find the leak.
Pressure raises the boiling point & lowers the freezing point of water. One pound pressure raises the boiling point 3°. Not sure how much it lowers the freezing point, but probably the same. Think the comment about ice in airplane tires is old wives tale. IMHO, 100psi must lower the freeze point somewhere around 200/300°.
Willie

 

[David G]

I would think that it is mostly the absence of moisture in the N2 that make the difference. The others have stated air is mostly N. I would bet really dry air would work about the same.

 

[JF in MI]

Ya think? ;-)

 

[ACEd]

Difference is tires on a hot day with a lot of flex - like would typically occur with underinflation and significant load could easily top 212F boiling point and all bets are off if there is significant H2O present

 

[JF in MI]

So if there were, say, 15 psi in this "water filled" underinflated tire what would be the boiling point temperature?

 

[Dachshund]

The only difference is compressed air has moisture. The other "benefits" you will never know with normal day-to-day driving. Not worth the price.

 

[buickanddeere]

You serious or joking? By the time the tire air reached 240F or higher for the boiling point water . The carcess would have de-vulcanized and total tire failure occurred.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 14:40:22 03/07/12) You serious or joking? By the time the tire air reached 240F or higher for the boiling point water . The carcess would have de-vulcanized and total tire failure occurred.

ust marketing.........fad will disappear.

 

[JF in MI]

'Common man! The boiling point of calcium is 2703F. Don't you know they put calcium in those big tires to keep them safe up to that temperature?

 

[brokenot]

We went to a camper/RV show last weekend and [i:2066805431]every[/i:2066805431] manufacturer with their wares on display had nitrogen-filled tires listed among the features.

The amusing part was that they chose to not call it "nitrogen" though and instead shortened it up to "nitro". I've always enjoyed "marketing-speak", and the way it's used to make something sound more appealing.

I'm sure someone that purchased a new camper has already bragged-up the fact that their "tires are filled with Nitro!" to friends.

Oh well, time to go shower and shave. I've got a brand-new "Mach III Turbo" razor to try out. Can't wait to find out if it is indeed "Mach III", and and what point in the shaving process the "Turbo" spools into action......

 

[tx68]

One advantage for portable use is that it is easier
to lug a nitrogen tank around than an air compressor in some cases.

 

[leej]

(quoted from post at 08:20:40 03/10/12) One advantage for portable use is that it is easier
to lug a nitrogen tank around than an air compressor in some cases.

YEAH, & if your tank runs dry, you can snag another anywhere along the road where Ma Bell is keeping her wires dry!!! :lol:

 

[BrianJasper co. Ia]

If you're driving a race car where every 100th of a second counts between 1st and 2nd place, it matters. On your daily driver, it's a complete waste of money.