I just use regular air, but it makes me curious.

If the oxygen bleeds out quick enough to matter, then over time the concentration of nitrogen increases since it doesn't bleed out as fast. Each addition to top off the pressure is adding 78% more nitrogen. Over successive air top offs, wouldn't it keep approaching a nitrogen fill?

 

Now, that right there is some good thinkin'. Props! Someone with more money than sense should capture some of the tire air in a mason jar and send it off for analysis to determine the nitrogen content of the air in their six month old tire. Probably near 'bout a 100%.

 

I'm running nitrogen and it's not all they pump it up to be!! They set their machine at 30 psi but my tpms keeps saying a bit under.

And cold and altitude seem to have the same damn effect as it does on "oxygen"......so with these cold mornings, my system keeps shooting me "low tire pressure" messages until I roll for awhile.

It's BS as far as I'm concerned and with my experience so far.

 

we have Nitrogen in our cars at my work... its a little better in cold weather to prevent pressure drop but still changes.. dont feel a difference in my cars at all. AIR is mostly nitrogen anyhow.. get it free at my work so why not. Z06 no TPMS so no stupid light.. My bonneville feels the same and i keep them up enough they wont give me a low tire light.

S

 

This topic comes up rather often. However, in this thread, no one mentioned the difference in temp increase. I noticed about a 2* drop in max (hot) temp with the nitrogen. I would think that would relate to better tire wear.

 

4The reason everyone is treating it lightly is that it has been discussed so much that everyone already has their opinion. You're statement of using "nitrogen instead of air" started it. (air being 78% nitrogen already and adding 100% nitrogen still doesn't evacuate the air that is left in the tire) The laws of physics apply to nitrogen as well as oxygen, so for a passenger car, you're wasting your time and money. Hit 'google' and search nitrogen in c5 tires and see how much literature you come up with.

 

I'm not taking the comments to serious, they were rather amusing. One of the reason I was asking was I was thinking of using nitrogen for winter storage to maintain consistency.

 

So my wife just bought a brand new Toyota. The final paperwork had a line item of Nitrogen filled tires for $39. I told the sales person that he had to be freakin' kidding me. After he tried to sell me on the benefits of Nitrogen, I told him he either removes the $39 or I'm gone. Bring back the days of undercoating -- at least you can confirm that you actually got something for your money. How do you prove they actually filled the tires with Nitrogen???

 

Speaking of undercoating, I've got 35 Ziebart franchises for sale - priced to move.
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Pressure is pressure, regardless of the type of fluid that is being used to create it. 30psi of oxygen, is the same as 30 psi of nitrogen, or 30 psi of hydraulic oil pressure or any other liquid. A TPMS sensor is simply a digital pressure transducer and it does not know the difference in the medium that it is testing. Nitrogen is an inert gas and will not harm the materials of a TPMS sensor.

If you look at basic scientific principles, there are a few simple reasons to use nitrogen in your tires rather than atmospheric air. The most important of which is that nitrogen is produced and sold in a relatively pure form, and other "contaminants" are kept at a low level. The most important contaminant to reduce is water vapour. Water vapor is present in atmospheric air (think relative humidity) and when you would fill a tire the usual way using this air, you pump this water vapour into the tire. Boyle's law states that ideal gases change pressure predictably as the temperature changes (if the volume is kept constant). This is true for nitrogen, oxygen, argon....etc assuming the gases are pure. Now, if you consider water vapour, the same is not true. The pressure of water vapour changes more rapidly with respect to a change in temperture since the operating temperature of a car tire is closer to that of the dew point of the water vapor (the temperature at which a gas changes to a liquid). So basically, fluctuations in temperature will affect a tire inflated with normal air moreso than a tire inflated with a pure ideal gas. Using this principle, any ideal gas could be used instead of air which would allow your tire pressures to remain moreso constant as the tire temperature changes.

Metallurgically, your average wheel is produced using an aluminum alloy. Aluminum exhibits high rates of corrosion and intergranual porosity due to the reactivity of Aluminum. I believe that the face centred cubic structure is more prone to allowing gases to pass through compared to say, the body centred cubic structure of low carbon steel. Nitrogen is a large, inert atom so it does not react with the aluminum in the wheel to form aluminum oxide. Therefore the oxidization of the aluminum is reduced. Water vapour and oxygen atoms in atmospheric air will corrode the aluminum creating a crusty white aluminum oxide film and will eventually enlarge pores in the aluminum over time and cause pitting. Small atoms of hydrogen and oxygen travel through these pores easier than larger Nitrogen atoms.

Lastly, there is no such thing as filling a tire with pure nitrogen. It's not possible unless you draw a -14.7psi vacuum on the tire first, and then back fill it with nitrogen. I personally don't use Nitrogen as pitting and pressure fluctuations are not a big deal to me. Regularly check your pressure and modify as required for daily driving and you'll be fine. For racing though I would recommend using nitrogen in your tires as the temperature fluctuations are more extreme so you can then maintain your set pressures more consistently.

 

Easy for you to say...

 

 

I just run regular air in mine. Never really thought about running just nitrogen in the tires.

 

If Nitrogen was readily, and cheaply, available everywhere, I would. It's not, so..........

 

One of the reasons why I brought up the discussion is that I store my car over winter about an hour from where I live. I try and do routine checkups but it is sometimes a pain in the *** to get out to the location. One of the reasons for my visits is to check tire pressure and make sure they do not go below a certain level. I do take the steps before storing to fill up with extra air, and this year will use styrofoam molds in the shape of my tires to help "cushion" any ill effects, but was thinking that nitrogen would give me one less thing to think about while she's asleep...not a huge deal, just another general forum conversation. Thanks for your input Jack

 

Surely you know the difference between diving and snorkeling.
I know, don't call you Shirley.

 

Why would you care if the tire pressure gets below a certain level in storage? You're going to check it again before you take it out. Secondly, if you drove up to check them with nitrogen in them, how would you carry the 100% nitrogen to add when they were low.
I have a device that plugs into the wall (you can get them that plug into your cigarette lighter) that extract nitrogen from the air and can be added to your tires. It's not 100% efficient, it only extracts about 78% nitrogen and still has about 21% oxygen in it, but it's cheap and easy. I got it at Harbor Freight. It was called "air compressor", I think.

 

Wow, that's very, very funny, glad to see sarcasm is alive and well. The theory is that I would have added extra pressure, so even if there was some loss it would be less deflation using nitrogen, compared to air. I also received feedback on daily driving that was useful, so this discussion was not lost on anything meaningless...at least it wasn't for me.

 

If your worried about deformation of the tires as they sit in storage why not just store the car on jack stands. This would seem to be easier that worrying about molds in the shape of your tires.

 

I think I'll fill my tires with neon. Then maybe I'll be able to see the gas leaking from my tires.

But seriously, my mechanic has a device he claims purges my tires of non-N prior to reinflating with Nitrogen.

Does this device actually do that, or is he just blowing smoke?
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