piccardo

I think the point here is that the moisture in the air that is pumped into your tire is the problem, just like moisture in the brake fluid or in any other place you don't want it. Possible corrosion or ex foliation combined with a increasingly more porous tire due to the break-down of the rubber over time, millage, and less than ideally consistent tire pressures all add up. If the only difference is 10% increase in tire life com pliancy etc, it's worth it simply because those tires ain't cheap.

jcb928

When you buy tires at Costco now they use the Nitrogen system. They even put green valve caps on the car so you know it is special.

GUMBALL

Actually, in my street cars, I use closer to 78%.........

Donald

If you are worried about the moisture in air, find an air compressor w/ a drier on it- all proper paint systems have them. Otherwise buy the nitrogen because it has been dehumidified; not because it is nitrogen. Unless you want to.
I like my 78% nitrogen moistured, it adds road-hugging weight.

justin

At work we put Nitrogen in all the new cars that come in. We also put in at annual services.

V2Rocket

+1

Larry928GTS

I think you've probably got a higher percentage of nitrogen than that in there. One of the claimed benefits of using the nitrogen is that it leaks out of the tire at a slower rate than air. Since air is about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, that would mean it ends up being mostly the oxygen that leaks out. Because of that, the remaining gas left in the tire is now a higher concentration of nitrogen than the 78% that you started with. Top off the tire with air and the process repeats, with the oxygen of the newly pumped in air leaking out at a faster rate than the nitrogen, raising the percentage of nitrogen in the tire even further. Keep topping up your tires with air and eventually you'll have almost all nitrogen in there automatically.

One of the sources in the link above mentions that there are machines that extract nitrogen from air. Seems like your car already has four of them.

AO

Brilliant!

Mike Frye

Charley, where do I send my money!!

Now that I think of it, the air in my tires is probably all original. That's going to need to be changed too...

Angel84-928

The FAA issued Airworthiness Directive 87-08-09. This A/D requires that tires on wheels with brakes installed [the brake overheating causes the tire pressure to increase until the tire or wheel fails] to be serviced with NITROGEN-which will suppress any fire caused by overheating.)

http://www.aircrash.org/burnelli/tatsco.htm

I think adding Nitrogen to your tires is like puting the Turbonator in your air intake hose.

Mike Frye

Angel,

Cool, why don't we just go one further and fill them with Halon? Then if there's a fire and the tires explode it will put it out immediately.

killav

Cut and pasted off of an informational site regarding Nitrogen in tires.


Proper tire pressure is a big deal.
Maintain it with nitrogen, and you'll see
these three primary benefits:


Increased Fuel Efficiency – Correct tire pressure keeps the manufacturer's recommended “contact patch” on the road. This lessens the rolling resistance and maximizes fuel efficiency. Read On...


Longer Tire Life – When it comes in contact with other materials, oxygen causes oxidation. Oxidation can make rubber brittle and cause it to lose tensile strength. In addition, at high temperatures and pressures, oxygen reacts and damages inner tire liners and belt packages; nitrogen does not. Read On...


Increased Safety – Under-inflated tires cause 90% of blowouts. Nitrogen provides more reliable pressure for reduced blowout potential. Read On...

killav

http://www.getnitrogen.org/why/index.php

Charley B

As soon as I get too old and crotchety to check my tire pressures occasionally, I'm gonna get me some of that nitro stuff. At the rate I'm going, it won't be too long now.

Bill Ball

For anyone here, the benefits of somehow getting to 95% N from 80, er, I mean, 78.01%, N are theoretical.

Tire longevity? Uh, I get a new set of tires every 1-2 years. Open road racing requires tires no older than 4 years. If your car is a garage queen and you leave tires on for 10 years, they will rot from the outside anyway unless you fill your garage with 95% N.

Less pressure loss over time? If you check your pressure once a month or so, it is an insignificant task to add air as needed.

More stable pressure when heated? In open road racing at anything under 200 MPH the tires do not get very hot (based on finish line tire temps done a few years back) and pressure increase is not significant. If you track your car, how many degrees difference does N really make?

How do the tire shops purge all the air, or 95% of it anyway, when they fill with N?