Hello all -

I just learned that my car has nitrogen filled tires. I am wondering if there are any thoughts about this and most importantly, if I do need to add air, and I am not near any shops that can offer nitrogen, is there going to be any issue?

Lastly, I understand the air we breathe is mostly nitrogen anyways but mixing with 100% nitrogen filled tire is OK?

Thanks!

 

You get a cool green valve cap :/

 

The nitrogen fill is mostly a gimmick. Just fill with "air." No problems. Tires underinflated are wildly more important than the percent nitrogen in the mixture.

 

Nitrogen has some minimal benefits. It will not support oxidation so rust will have trouble forming. This is useful mostly for vintage cars that are not driven regularly. Your tires will stay inflated for a slightly longer time with Nitrogen because Nitrogen will not escape as easily as air. Nitrogen is also used many times in racing because it will not support combustion and also pressure will tend to rise more consistently as temperatures increase. If you need to top off your tires with regular air that is fine and there will be no issues doing this. For most of us air is just as good.

 

Heres a link to a nitrogen in tires page explaining all you need to know

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...stions/4302788

 

You can mix nitrogen and air no problem, you will just lose the benefits of nitrogen. There are a few slight benefits (remember the air we breathe has about 78% nitgrogen, so the difference is only about 20%, so most of the air already in there is nitrogen)

The first is if you live in a place with a climate that changes on a regular basis, nitrogen is less suceptable to pressure fluctuations with a change in temperature. so when it gets cold out your pressures will drop less than with air, or when it gets hot it wont get as high as air. This is also handy if you track your car and have to worry about the pressures getting to high from the heat.

Second is that nitrogen particles are bigger than others such as oxygen found in air which mean that you are less likely to lose air pressure due to bead leaks

Third is Nitrogen has a lower weight than air which mean less rotating mass meaning faster harder braking, less brake wear, quicker acceleration, better gas milage etc.

Now that being said these differences are so slight that theywill not be noticeable to the regular person for the most part.

The last benefit which has been mentioned already is the fact that it is dry. This is the biggest benefit imo as it prevents oxidation, corrosion and rust on the inside of the wheel since there is no moisture unlike air. This helps a wheel maintain its balance and also helps prevent bead leaks. At the same time though if a shop has a decent air compressor with a dryer on it, the air it gives should also have this benefit.

In my shop we have a very large dryer on our compressor that then feeds our nitrogen system which our entire shop runs off of. It actually costs us less than running 2 separate air systems, and helps prolong the life of tools in the shop since air tools also dislike moisture.

 

Like many car buffs, I have an air compressor in the garage and check/adjust my tire pressures monthly, especially w/the p-car. But for the past two tire set replacements on the family hauler, I have gotten nitrogen fills; CostCo does this at no additional cost. And frankly, nitrogen is the way to go...the lack of pressure changes and loss over time is really nice.

Factoid: virtually all the ALMS and Grand-Am race teams (and NASCAR) use nitrogen. That tells us something.

relinuca

 

factoid - most race teams use race gas too - because they are getting 99.9% out of every aspect of every car and looking for very tiny advantages over the competition - street driving is a completely different game....in fact even HPDE's are not the same - so unless you are really getting to the fringes where the oxygen is killing your tires, causing significant pressure gains and possibly bursting into flames - I think you'll be fine with regular air

 

One question for the N2 users.

Since we know that air changes pressure due to temperature more than N2 do you increase your tire pressure and if so by how much? I would imagine that the car/tire manufacturers pressure recommendations are based on inflation with air.

 

This is yet another of the many benefits of using pure Nitrogen. I raise the base PSI 2 lbs if filling with Nitrogen knowing the psi is less likely to rise & cause a ride disturbance. With air I have to adjust air pressure monthly, with Nitrogen I don't have to check psi. The reduced moisture helps prolong TPMS sensor life also. I realize the Nitrogen tire fill option is a big profit margin but I gladly pay $10 per tire upcharge.

 

Ed,

We can put N2 in your tires for way less than $10 per tire at my house...

 

This seems like the perfect excuse for me to buy a big tank of liquid nitrogen

 

With liquid N2 you can also start your cryo treating home business....

 

Don't you need to keep the tank very cold?

 

You need a cryogenic vessel for liquid nitrogen.