CandyVette

Hi everybody, I recently won a free nitrogen tire fill from one of the local dealerships. I'm wondering if it really does help with mileage or anything else if I go get this put in my C6 tires. Is it worth me driving across town to get this done? Thanks for your input!

talon90

If you do a search you will see that this topic comes up from time to time. Do not waste your time, nor your money on a nitrogen fill for your tires. The reason they gave away the first one is that they are going to charge you for subsequent fills.

The claims:

-Better MPG (no idea how they figure this)
-More consistant tire pressure (Nitrogen is still a gas and is still subject to the same laws of physics as other gases)
-Less maintenance, marginally better than conventional air.
-Less damage to the tires as it is dry. (Only applicable for long term storage.)

The reality is that nitrogen will still expand and contract as it heats up. It will still lose pressure over time. It will cost you money to fill and you will need to find nitrogen fill stations to use. If you put any air back in at all you will lose the dry benefit of the nitrogen. If it is free forever and it is convenient (fill stations on every corner nation wide then I'd consider it. Otherwise, simply pass. Air is 78% nitrogen to start with.

LarryMJones

It's really not the nitrogen. As one other noted air is 80% nitrogen already so the expansion rate between dry air and dry nitrogen is virtually the same.
The difference is nitrogen gas from a bottle is dry. No moisture content. It's the moist air that expands more to changes in temperature. If you can find a source of dry air it's about the same.
Some auto shops have air dryers on their compressed air to keep air tools from rusting. If you have access to a shop with a refrigerated air dryer you can get pretty close to dry nitrogen.
LJ

mikejpss

NO, IT IS NOT

NORTY

Sounds like the dealership just wants you to bring in your car so they can find something wrong with it and to charge you to fix it. (Or Chevy to pay for it.)

Changing from ambiet air to N will have negligable effect on mileage.

Ambiet air is 79% N already so you'll only be changing 21% anyway.

The ONLY benfit to having 100%N is regarding your TPS sensors not having to deal with humidity/corrosion. This could improve battery life.

Chevtech

maybe more information they you want to know:

#05-03-10-020A: Use of Nitrogen Gas in Tires - (Jan 3, 2008)Use of Nitrogen Gas in Tires


Models: 2008 and Prior GM Passenger Cars and Trucks (including Saturn)

2008 and Prior HUMMER H2, H3

2008 and Prior Saab 9-7X




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This bulletin is being revised to add the 2007-2008 model years. Please discard Corporate Bulletin Number 05-03-10-020 (Section 03 -- Suspension).


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GM's Position on the Use of Nitrogen Gas in Tires
General Motors does not oppose the use of purified nitrogen as an inflation gas for tires. We expect the theoretical benefits to be reduced in practical use due to the lack of an existing infrastructure to continuously facilitate inflating tires with nearly pure nitrogen. Even occasional inflation with compressed atmospheric air will negate many of the theoretical benefits. Given those theoretical benefits, practical limitations, and the robust design of GM original equipment TPC tires, the realized benefits to our customer of inflating their tires with purified nitrogen are expected to be minimal.

The Promise of Nitrogen: Under Controlled Conditions
Recently, nitrogen gas (for use in inflating tires) has become available to the general consumer through some retailers. The use of nitrogen gas to inflate tires is a technology used in automobile racing. The following benefits under controlled conditions are attributed to nitrogen gas and its unique properties:

• A reduction in the expected loss of Tire Pressure over time.

• A reduction in the variance of Tire Pressures with temperature changes due to reduction of water vapor concentration.

• A reduction of long term rubber degradation due to a decrease in oxygen concentrations.


Important: These are obtainable performance improvements when relatively pure nitrogen gas is used to inflate tires under controlled conditions.

The Promise of Nitrogen: Real World UseNitrogen inflation can provide some benefit by reducing gas migration (pressure loss) at the molecular level through the tire structure. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has stated that the inflation pressure loss of tires can be up to 5% a month. Nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen molecules and, therefore, are less prone to "seeping" through the tire casing. The actual obtainable benefits of nitrogen vary, based on the physical construction and the materials used in the manufacturing of the tire being inflated.

Another potential benefit of nitrogen is the reduced oxidation of tire components. Research has demonstrated that oxygen consumed in the oxidation process of the tire primarily comes from the inflation media. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that oxidation of tire components can be reduced if the tire is inflated with pure nitrogen. However, only very small amounts of oxygen are required to begin the normal oxidation process. Even slight contamination of the tire inflation gas with compressed atmospheric air during normal inflation pressure maintenance, may negate the benefits of using nitrogen.

speedraider

Don't Waste Your Time...

glennhl

If it's free, then it's worth every penny!

06.Z51.MontRed.Vert

I use helium, gives me better gas mileage (car is lighter), car is faster, and you can talk funny if you take a wiff of it.

Dont waste your time with Nitrogen, stick with regular old compressed air.

ChefMark

The Chevy Dealer I took my Truck would always push that stuff
Free but you had to bring it in to get it done

AORoads

No not unless you're in the general area. It's good, but for free at places like Costco if you bought your tires there(which I don't since they no longer have GY or Bridgestone or Firestone). It supposedly helps a little re not expanding so much, but eh? just fill up your tires with good air, if you ask me.

warthog34

Save your time

Jim Nebraska

A friend of mine is in the tire business.....one of his competitors always advertises about the "virtues" of nitrogen. He said it's a gimmick....might be of some value to semi-trucks, but absolutely negligible impact in a passenger car.

djfullshred

If you have to wait for a service center to do it, it isn't free imo. Time is money as they say.

StoplightWarrior

I had the tire shop put it in mine, because when it was REALLY hot out, my TPS kept saying my tires were too high...I got annoyed with that. After the Nitrogen: So far so good.

User 020720

Waste of time and money. I use an air compressor in the comfort of my own garage.

talon90

What are you running for tire pressure?

08C6Z51

Don't waste your gasoline on the trip. We had it done for the Vette when we bought ours and the tire presssure fluctuates worse and we have to put air in the tires all the time (all of them). We rarely have to do this to any of the other cars and trucks. Just more snake oil.

Wayne O

If it's convenient and free...otherwise it's not worth it.

dvilin