Nitrogen--my experience

[mjncad]

As I understand it, nitrogen makes sense in severe service environments (e.g. aircraft, mining haul trucks, race cars) because it's inert and isn't an oxidizer should a tire overheat causing a fire.

But for the average person, nitrogen is going to be a rip-off like extended warranties on consumer products are.

Personally I prefer 'Autumn Air' in my tires since the Fall is generally the best time of year here.

 

[CrownHawg]

How does the "average Joe" even KNOW they are putting in Nitrogen? This has always sounded like a farse to me. It's not like they can SHOW you the AIR they replaced it with, like the fuel pump you can MAKE them show you.

 

[Baucom]

I've always had the best luck running summer air up front and winter air in the rear tires. But then when I rotate my tires it rides funny

Personally I prefer 'Autumn Air' in my tires since the Fall is generally the best time of year here.

 

[dodge man]

A little off topic, but back in the days when self service wasn't so common, I know someone that worked at a gas station. A lady came in one night and he convinced her that you had to change the air in your tires every so often. She believed it and he let all the air out of her tires and filled them back up. He was really trying to scam her as she only paid something like $2.

It reminds me he also sent some kid running around town one day to all the parts stores to find the "adapters" that let you run big block chevy heads on a small block.

I did some reading on line and generally came to the conclusion the nitrogen is a waste of money. In theory it should help, but in the real world in makes no difference.

I would ask the gentleman who says his semi tires ran cooler, how did you determine this? Did you have a way to measure it or was it subjective?

 

[kwswan]

A little off topic, but back in the days when self service wasn't so common, I know someone that worked at a gas station. A lady came in one night and he convinced her that you had to change the air in your tires every so often. She believed it and he let all the air out of her tires and filled them back up. He was really trying to scam her as she only paid something like $2.

It reminds me he also sent some kid running around town one day to all the parts stores to find the "adapters" that let you run big block chevy heads on a small block.

I did some reading on line and generally came to the conclusion the nitrogen is a waste of money. In theory it should help, but in the real world in makes no difference.

I would ask the gentleman who says his semi tires ran cooler, how did you determine this? Did you have a way to measure it or was it subjective?

i used an infrared thermometer to check them with.about a 20-25 degree difference. say what you want,they filled them for free to see if i could tell a difference in tire wear or ride. i could,you might not. i don't have the degree's some of you have to scientifically prove right or wrong.this was done on a truck running from tn to ks. & ok. weekly grossing 82-83k pulling a cow trailer. this was my experience.

 

[Bird]

A little off topic, but back in the days when self service wasn't so common, I know someone that worked at a gas station. A lady came in one night and he convinced her that you had to change the air in your tires every so often. She believed it and he let all the air out of her tires and filled them back up. He was really trying to scam her as she only paid something like $2.

When I was a teenager working in my Dad's service station, I once had the opposite happen. A lady came in for an oil & filter change and asked me to also change the air in the tires because it had been there a long time. I explained that it was never necessary to change the air in the tires, but if that was what she wanted, I'd be glad to do it at no charge.

I've noticed a sign at my local Ford dealer promoting the nitrogen, but the service writers have never mentioned it to me or tried to sell it. I can't blame dealers for having and selling things customers ask for, even if the dealer doesn't believe in it. When I was a kid working in my Dad's auto parts store, we stocked a wide variety of oil additives. Mobil Oil engineers at the time claimed NONE of the additives could do any more good than the oil company's "upper lubes". And that only 2 of the additives, Alemite CD2 and Bardahl, could do no harm. I think they were right, and we told any customer who asked, that we only stocked them because people wanted them and we'd be glad to sell it, but that we did not recommend any of them. We did offer an unconditional money back guarantee, but seldom had anyone ask for a refund, except those who bought Wynn's Friction Proofing. We gave them refunds, but Wynn's would not refund our money, so we quit handling their products.

 

[KeithInSpace]

This is good stuff. We've bought the last few rounds of tires from Costco Wholesale and they fill all their tires with Nitrogen as a matter of course (no extra charge). I don't mind it, but I wouldn't pay extra for it.

Regarding thermal stability, I'll buy the fact that pressure variation decreases as a function of temperature when you take humidity and atmospheric impurities out of the equation (pure dry nitrogen in an otherwise purged tire), but I'd offer two things:

1) Over the course of time (others suggested 6 months...depends on how much you tinker with your tire pressure), the air mix in the tire WILL resemble the surrounding atmosphere...the benefits of filling with nitrogen are short-lived.

2) Race cars do this because they adjust tire pressures by 1/4 (or far less in Formula 1, for example) psi increments and thermal stability has a tremendous impact on performance. And, of course, Statement 1 doesn't apply since the tires last all of 30 minutes before they're thrown away.

Folks need to think about the facts before they buy into the hype. I love that you wrote this and I love even more that others here aren't sucked into the vortex of belief...

 

[Bedlam]

After reading Steve's response, and thank you for it , brings up some points, If lets say I got a tires and it didn't have the green cap on it. I would remove the stem to dismount, Id have no way to know it was not ordinary air in it.Same could be true if I were replacing a leaky stem.I would just pull the stem right out. Letting all the nitrogen at one time
is there a proper way to 'slowly' deflate a tire thats going to be changed?

 

[Wis Bang]

i used an infrared thermometer to check them with.about a 20-25 degree difference. say what you want,they filled them for free to see if i could tell a difference in tire wear or ride. i could,you might not. i don't have the degree's some of you have to scientifically prove right or wrong.this was done on a truck running from tn to ks. & ok. weekly grossing 82-83k pulling a cow trailer. this was my experience.

I have read reports on using N2 in Semi-Truck tires. The part about them running cooler is important as overheated tires cause MOST of the tire 'gators' you see on the highway. They are called 'zipper' failures as a steel belt lets go after being run low on pressure and hot from the excess friction caused by the extra sidewall flex. Once one steel belt pops the rest 'un-zip' causing the tire carcas to separate.

Most people think they are failed recaps but recaps don't have steel wires imbedded in them and while alot of truckers use recaps they are simply new rubber treads added outside the steel belts.

The other benefit noted was the N2 is slower to oxidize the interior of the tire extending the life of the tire. Since large truck tires cost alot more than your tiny auto tires, truckers look for anything that makes them last. There are tires w/ micro chips that monitor tire pressure and temperature and alot of big rigs are adopting this technology to reduce zippers and shortened tire life from overheating.

There doesn't seem to be any reason to use N2 in auto tires and I'm glad OP posted his findings. Most people don't realize that 'air' is 21% O2, 78% N2 and 1% rare gasses like argon and neon.

I used to dispatch trailers hauling liquid Oxygen and liquid Nitrogen and had a real hard time explaining to a Brooklyn cop at 3:00am that he didn't need to evacuate the neighborhood. The burst disc [pressure relief device] had frozen and popped and my trailer was venting N2 and sounding like a small jet engine and he didn't believe that he was already breathing 78% nitrogen...

I can't blame auto dealers for adding another 'profit center'; most people don't realize that the entire 'service center' is really a profit center. Most people I know call them 'Stealerships' they will adopt anything they can to separate you from your money.

 

[dodge man]

Kswan I appreciate your answer. It could be with a heavy load at highway speeds it actually makes a difference. Heat is a real problem for tires. Its not really a problem on car or light truck tires unless you load them heavy or go high speeds. Thats really the problem with car tires when you start going over speeds of 100mph, heat. V speed rated tires are better at disapating heat. I'd like to see a study where they show how truck tires work with nitrogen in them at highway speeds and car tires at high speeds. My guess is that the tire pressure is more stable, and that would be the advantage of the nitrogen.