Nitrogen in tires

[TACO.VIDAL]

Anyone here using nitrogen in their tires?

[Redlyne_mr2]

I'm trying to get nitrogen into the dealership I work at, it's a great product. Pressure doesn't change based on temperature like regular air, tires don't heat up nearly as much. Nitrogen molecules are large so it doesnt like out as quickly as regular air. Go to Van or the island, everyone uses it out there.

[98type_r]

Nitrogen is free if you get tires at Costco.

[lilmira]

I don't argue the benefit of using nitrogen but 100 bucks is a bit much. Doesn't ordinary air contain 80% of nitrogen already?

[badatusrnames]

$100.00 is a complete and utter rip off as nitrogen is dirt cheap and the amount they put in your tires is probably costs them a few cents. And I'm pretty skeptical about this nitrogen for tires thing.

You should realize that air is approximately 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen anyways. You're tires are already (mostly) nitrogen filled. And as far as their thermodynamic properties go, both gases are fairly similar.

As far as the comparison of molecular size, the nitrogen molecule at 155 picometres (van der waals radius for diamtomic nitrogen) is only about 2% larger than oxygen, which is 152 picometres (also diatomic) so I'm not sure about the leaking out thing.

For the pressure not changing as greatly for temperature temperature, I really can't see how pure nitrogen would behave any differently that an oxygen/nitrogen mix, as both gases would behave similarly as the have similar masses (28 g/mol for nitrogen and 32 g/mol for oxygen) and are both similar in size, and as mentioned before are both identical in structure (diatomic).

With regards to the tires heating up not as quickly, both gases have almost identical heat capacities, so you won't see any difference there.

I really think it's just a bunch of pseudo-science here.

[spikerS]

no idea if there are any benifits or anything to nitrogen in the tires or not. when we bought our Jeep, there was a sticker on the windshield stating that we had nitrogen in the tires. Do i notice anything? nope....

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Wow, huge props to whoever manged to convince people to pay $100 for basically the same gas that surrounds them.

Genius.

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat
Wow, huge props to whoever manged to convince people to pay $100 for basically the same gas that surrounds them.

Genius.

Kind of like bottled water?

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by badatusrnames


Kind of like bottled water?

Haha, I was thinking that as I typed.

[Cody D]

Wow, great post badatusrnames.

[ianmcc]

Here's a page expouting the virtues of nitrogen in tires.
http://www.getnitrogen.org/why/index.php
What a load of crap. I can't begin to debunk their claims.
Hey if someone can get a customer to pony up a C note for "special" air props to them.

[gp36912]

.... see heres what i'm getting from reading these stupid things.... if nitrogen is so good for the tires... if youve had your tires for over a year and a half wouldnt the air mixture in the tires be more concentrated with nitrogen anyways???? if the oxygen and other gases escape means you have to put more air in and that means more nitrogen into the tires, and eventually you'll have a pretty decent mix.

[DRKM]

The point is that when you have moisture in your tires the rims start to corrode, this is what causes air to leak out around the bead of the tire. Anyone who has worked tires before can vouch for that.

So by reducing the amount of moisture in the tire the rim will corrode less. Thus reducing the amount of air escaping from the bead of the tire.

If you where to put a tire on a badly corroded rim and fill it with nitrogen then it too would leak the same as "normal air" would.

[hollywood_35]

Originally posted by badatusrnames
$100.00 is a complete and utter rip off as nitrogen is dirt cheap and the amount they put in your tires is probably costs them a few cents. And I'm pretty skeptical about this nitrogen for tires thing.

You should realize that air is approximately 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen anyways. You're tires are already (mostly) nitrogen filled. And as far as their thermodynamic properties go, both gases are fairly similar.

As far as the comparison of molecular size, the nitrogen molecule at 155 picometres (van der waals radius for diamtomic nitrogen) is only about 2% larger than oxygen, which is 152 picometres (also diatomic) so I'm not sure about the leaking out thing.

For the pressure not changing as greatly for temperature temperature, I really can't see how pure nitrogen would behave any differently that an oxygen/nitrogen mix, as both gases would behave similarly as the have similar masses (28 g/mol for nitrogen and 32 g/mol for oxygen) and are both similar in size, and as mentioned before are both identical in structure (diatomic).

With regards to the tires heating up not as quickly, both gases have almost identical heat capacities, so you won't see any difference there.

I really think it's just a bunch of pseudo-science here.

I know on paper it might not seem like that big of a deal, but I know when I pressure test newly installed well-lines in the field, we pressure our lines up with pure nitrogen. Because compared to using air from a compressor, our pressure charts using nitrogen come out with very little variation it pressure even though temperature has varied quite a bit. It might be because in breathing air it's more than just oxygen and nitrogen, the other minute gasses in the air we breathe may also affect the fluctuation of pressure due to temperature.

[badatusrnames]

^^ I'm guessing that the big variable would be the amount of water vapor (the humidity) in the air.

[spikerS]

i am not sure, but the way it was explained to me was, since 100% nitrogen did not exapand and contract like regular air, the tire pressure systems could report if a tire was actually low or not.

I was able to test this, as when i had a rental van, the low tire pressure warning light was on, but once i started driving for a few minuites and the tires warmed up, it shut off, where as during the same period with the jeep, the warning gauge never turned on at all.

according to the salesmen, this stopped alot of un-needed warranty work in the shop for what appeared to be a faulty sensor, hence why vehicles with the tire pressure monitoring systems all got filled up with nitrogen.

[Canmorite]

The benefits are there, but not for $100.00. The max I'd pay is $10.00 to have my tires filled with it.

[cloud7]

I know the benefits of pure nitrogen, but it is not worth $100... for the time being, I'll stick with the 78.1% Nitrogen that is currently in our air for filling tires...

[TYMSMNY]

It's not the amount of nitrogen that's in the tires, it's the amount of moisture. Air contains water vapor whereas nitrogen does not. People have used air in tires for so long... it's slow to catch on here.

Like many people have said, it's definitely not worth $100.

[blownz]

Most shops I know don't charge anything for filling your tires with nitrogen if you are already paying to have tires mounted and balanced. The only way you will pay something is if you go in and want your tires emptied and refilled. Then obviously you have to pay for labor.

I have had nitrogen in all of my tires the past 3 or so years, summer or winter tires. I don't notice anything but the benefits seem worth if as long as I am not paying extra for it.

This past Jauary though when the temp really dropped I had two days where my tpms showed that my pressure was low when I started the vehicle after about 10 hours of sitting outside but they were good again after it warmed up.