Nitrogen in tires - worth it?

[Lurch]

A year or so ago I paid $25 to get Nitrogen in my 4 car tires, and IMHO it's not all it's cranked up to be. It was 2/10/2010 when I last went there to get more nitrogen to add to my ties - PSI had gone down from 35 to 27, and that's where it is again now. I meant to stop in at 4/10 but forgot. Now I'm driving on under inflated tires.

I think the advertising it is misleading. It says "get better tire wear", etc. That's if you go back often enough to get more nitrogen added to keep the PSI at 32-35.. It doesn't leak as fast as air, but it leaks faster than they said it would when I got it. They said I'd be good for 6 to 12 months without getting more nitrogen. That turned out to be not true.

I guess it's worth $25.

Joe

 

[CapriRacer]

http://www.barrystiretech.com/nitrogeninflation.html

 

[scurvy]

To me, it's worth $0.00 at most.

Costco filled up my new tires with nitrogen and even put on those silly green valve caps. I've still had to go and top up the tires every few months - just like I've done for the hundreds of thousands of miles I put on tires filled with plain old air. Fortunately I have a special machine at home which compresses a customized mixture of gasses (currently set to 78% nitrogen) for me to fill up my tires.

IMO it's more important to have dry air than it is to have nitrogen. And if Costco gave me the option of saving $5 and having the tires inflated with regular air, I'd do that in a heartbeat.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I would think having the water captured/filtered out would be a benefit, but isnt air >> 70% N2?

 

[daves87rs]

Air is just fine....

 

[Eddie]

Only advantage is it is dry. Not worth the cost. N2 is so cheep that it should be done as a free perk for having the dealer do your service.

 

[sbergman27]

Air is 78% nitrogen. And if oxygen really does effuse through rubber faster than nitrogen... then as you continue to add air to maintain proper pressure, the percentage of nitrogen in your tires should gradually increase, anyway.

Nitrogen is the most ridiculous scam I've seen in a while. What *would* be useful would be a gas which does not act like an ideal gas, and maintains the same pressure over a wide range of temperatures. But I know of no such gas.

 

[genynnc]

Nitrogen has it's place in racing but not so much for the street.

 

[getnpsi]

No lie, i didn't know about nitrogen in tires other than racing until I started reading automotive forums. When I saw green caps I always thought it was SLIME for the kids and their bmx bikes.

Everyone should be checking their tires every few mornings anyway. Since I have had delivery jobs with my own cars, low tires is simply throwing money away.

 

[Autografe]

I always wondered about this nitrogen thing. It is what we used to inflate the tires on F-4J's when I was in the Navy. Of course the pressures were a wee bit higher then 32PSI.

 

[beast3300]

Not worth it. Save your money.

 

[caprice_2nv]

We charge $5/tire for nitrogen with the purchase of new tires, or $10/tire for a conversion. I don't mention it, only sell it if a customer asks for it. If they're buying wheels and tires anyways i'll throw it in for free if they ask, otherwise I don't think its worth spending $20 or $40 on for a whole set. I don't believe the benefits are noticeable for the average user.

 

[Shagger]

Originally Posted By: scurvy
(currently set to 78% nitrogen) for me to fill up my tires.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[ZZman]

Depends. Does it bother you to constantly check your tire pressure? Do you check it regulary or only when they look low and in that case are really low?

It can have its benefits. Better gas mileage as tires keep more consistent pressure. Better tire life for the same reason. Better handling for the same reason.

If you are good at checking your pressure and don't mind doing it than No.

 

[PandaBear]

Say no, my guess is since it came out of the nitrogen generator in the facility they will use it to pump your tire anyways. If not, after filling up a few times and let the Oxygen leak out, it will reach a similar equilibrium percentage just like your initial nitrogen fill.

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
Better gas mileage as tires keep more consistent pressure. Better tire life for the same reason. Better handling for the same reason.


Do you have a reliable source? All the evidence I have read shows that nitrogen inflation makes no practical difference for street car tires.

The ExxonMobil presentation used at the Barry's Tire Tech Nitrogen inflation page shows there is no difference in rolling resistance or cavity temperature (which is directly proportional to pressure) when inflated with nitrogen or plain air. And according to a Consumer Reports' data study (not an opinion study) there was very little difference in pressure loss between the two - only 1.3 psi difference over a year from an initial fill of 30 psig.

So no difference in pressure or temperature, negligible difference in pressure holding capacity. Not worth the money. My air compressor sorry, uh, special tire inflation gas smallifying machine uses a gas that's 78% nitrogen anyway, so if the oxygen diffused through the rubber it would be pure nitrogen gas in just a few top-ups (if that bit were true).

 

[crinkles]

just use air. check weekly. done. this will be better than 99% of the population which is where we want to be, right?

 

[Lurch]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
Depends. Does it bother you to constantly check your tire pressure? Do you check it regulary or only when they look low and in that case are really low?

It can have its benefits. Better gas mileage as tires keep more consistent pressure. Better tire life for the same reason. Better handling for the same reason.


What it does for me is extend the time I need to add more to my tires from 30 days to 60 days or less. It doesn't extend it to 6 to 12 months like they told me it would when they were touting it. In 3 months the PSI went from the 35 they put in down to 27 PSI. In 2 months I'd say it would go down to about 30 PSI.

I wouldn't say it has affected my gas mileage in any noticeable way. What I should do is stop in to check it once a month, but I did that with air.

I only drive my car 3 to 4000 miles a year. My tires will be dry rotted in 3 or 4 years when I'll have 25 or 30k miles on them, (and they're warranteed for 75k miles), well before the tread wears out, so I doubt Nitrogen helps me much with this.

It may be a tad better than air, but not much IMHO.

 

[SteveSRT8]

not all tires lose air at the same rate.

Every once in a while you can get a high quality tire combined with a good wheel that will be nearly perfect.

The air pressure will remain constant for months and months.

Nitrogen is the new gen snake oil.

 

[sciphi]

Scam. Check the tire pressure every few weeks and let it be.