So... to answer the question seriously.... Nitrogen is used to prevent condensation from being put into your tires. It can be a pretty significant amount of water if you are getting your air from a compressor without a dryer. You just have to drain your compressor tank at the end of the day to see how much water you could be putting in your tires. But then all major tire shops 'should' have a dryer in their system, so it's really just your own little huffer and the gas station coin operated jobbies that you have to worry about.
trogen filled tires
- Thread starter meos1
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The "dry gas" theorists are ignoring the fact that the act of compressing humid atmospheric air in the air compressor being used for tire filling, condenses out a great deal of the water vapor. That's why your compressor tank develops a pool of water inside. The partial pressure of the water vapor may be the same at its new pressure and temperature in the compressor tank (maybe 150psig/100degF), but then when that is expanded back out into a tire (maybe 40psig/80degF) it would have a very low "humidity" even without an air line dryer.
- Jay
- Jay
PandDLong
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A few years ago, i was going through tires rapidly and they were wearing "oddly". I am a high mileage driver and it was a performance/luxury car so tires weren't cheap. My tire guy said it might be a peculiarity of my car and driving situation where the variance in pressure between cold and warm during driving was creating the issue, he recommended nitrogen as a trial. It solved my tire problem and was well worth the cost. The good news is that he now uses it as a standard with no extra cost - he said it is worth it as he gets way less customers returning with the infamous " slow leak" that he would need to fix at no cost to the customer.
He said the premise is the larger molecule size helps with some leak situations and it was true often enough to make it pay for his tire shop.
My gain was that the tire pressure is practically constant in all driving conditions and I got improved tire life.
In the rare case where If I have nitrogen tire that does lose pressure and needs topping up and nitrogen isn't handy, I will put regular air in it. Typically, it will need to go in for repair at some point as it must have developed a leak that just gets worse over time.
He said the premise is the larger molecule size helps with some leak situations and it was true often enough to make it pay for his tire shop.
My gain was that the tire pressure is practically constant in all driving conditions and I got improved tire life.
In the rare case where If I have nitrogen tire that does lose pressure and needs topping up and nitrogen isn't handy, I will put regular air in it. Typically, it will need to go in for repair at some point as it must have developed a leak that just gets worse over time.
RSKY
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I have worked for three differ tires companies, General Tire, Continental Tire, and Goodyear Tire. Working in tire assembly I often worked with TIRE ENGINEERS. I have asked them at all three companies about putting nitrogen in tires. Most just laughed. And these were the guys that designed tires and developed them for market.
The most one told me was that in a high performance environment nitrogen filled tires MIGHT give a tire a tenth of a percent, (or some other very small amount) better heat resistance. Under inflation is a bigger problem. Definitely the biggest culprit in tire failure.
Check your tire pressures regularly. If you are driving a long distance at high speeds boost your inflation a couple pounds being sure not to exceed maximum pressure.
Nitro fill is a gimmick to make money, nothing else!
RSKY
The most one told me was that in a high performance environment nitrogen filled tires MIGHT give a tire a tenth of a percent, (or some other very small amount) better heat resistance. Under inflation is a bigger problem. Definitely the biggest culprit in tire failure.
Check your tire pressures regularly. If you are driving a long distance at high speeds boost your inflation a couple pounds being sure not to exceed maximum pressure.
Nitro fill is a gimmick to make money, nothing else!
RSKY
buickanddeere
Super Member
As said several times before . The only advantage of bottled air is that it's perfectly dry. If the air from your home shop compressor is dry. There is no difference between 100% N2 and atmospheric air.
buickanddeere
Super Member
Check the periodic table and tell us how much larger a N2 molecule is over a O2 molecule .
RSKY
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As for tires loosing pressure that is usually thru the valve stem. Put a drop of oil inside the stem and hit it with high pressure air. That will blow the trash out of the stem. If still loosing air get the stem replaced.
If you have tires constantly loosing air and it isn't thru the stem then you have an assembly problem. The inner liner of the tire has a pinhole in it somewhere. Or one small exposed end of a strand of a thread will bleed air out of the tire. They are actually called bleeder cords because they 'bleed' air out the rubber and hold it. Every tire has them inside.
Enough talk about tire construction and back to nitrofill, it is a gimmick.
RSKY
If you have tires constantly loosing air and it isn't thru the stem then you have an assembly problem. The inner liner of the tire has a pinhole in it somewhere. Or one small exposed end of a strand of a thread will bleed air out of the tire. They are actually called bleeder cords because they 'bleed' air out the rubber and hold it. Every tire has them inside.
Enough talk about tire construction and back to nitrofill, it is a gimmick.
RSKY
From:
Tires - Nitrogen air loss study
The test started on September 20, 2006 and the final measurements were taken on September 20, 2007. The results show nitrogen does reduce pressure loss over time, but the reduction is only a 1.3 psi difference from air-filled tires. The average loss of air-filled tires was just 3.5 psi from the initial 30 pressure setting. Nitrogen-filled tires lost an average of 2.2 psi from the initial 30 psi setting.
Tires - Nitrogen air loss study
The test started on September 20, 2006 and the final measurements were taken on September 20, 2007. The results show nitrogen does reduce pressure loss over time, but the reduction is only a 1.3 psi difference from air-filled tires. The average loss of air-filled tires was just 3.5 psi from the initial 30 pressure setting. Nitrogen-filled tires lost an average of 2.2 psi from the initial 30 psi setting.
Billrog
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I was told nitrogen has less fluctuation been hot and cold temps. so they were using it to lesson the tps systems from complaining when there's large temp. changes. Personally I use air have never had moisture in any tires and my tps is always telling me to service soon because I'm not about to run around with 85# of air in may back pick-up tires with no load.
