[zoomie]

I'm under the impression that nitrogen is just a gimmick the tire places use to charge you for another service and it really does nothing to improve the handling or wear of your tires.

I have a compressor and a digital tire gauge and I check/adjust my tires when they are cold about once a month. I think that's the best I can do for my tires (together with rotation twice a year).

Does anyone think nitrogen is worth the cost and headache of going back to the tire dealer for top up?

 

[EricSorensen]

I used to use Nitrogen when I was racing and the ONLY benefit is that it doesn't fluctuate with temp. That means with no leaks your tire pressure should remain the same. The problem is if you add air to your tires you just contaminated the nitrogen and it's like you have air only. Going from a cold environment to a hot one can increase your tire pressure more than 10psi. Tires also heat up pretty quick on the road. If you check you pressure often you won't have any issues since you're on top of it. If you get Nitrogen and add air a week later you just wasted your money.
Air is the way to go unless you have a supply of Nitrogen or can use their services easily.
Save your money!

 

[dravas]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogeny volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen,[1] 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%.

Wikipedia

 

[dravas]

The advantages of 100% nitrogen is when you are pushing extremes which on a daily basis your are not going to see on a daily driver.

 

[Hershey]

I put nitrogen in my old Tundra 20" tires because the pressure light drove me nuts! One application of nitrogen ($8.00/tire) including the spare & my issues were gone. Nitrogen will help reduce the ozone sidewall cracking, run cooler in the summer & won't leak out quite as fast as regular air. I think it was worth it, because I can't keep up with air in 3 vehicles every day of the week. Also, I live in TX were it is HOT & dry. Tires will sidewall crack in just a yr or so sometimes & our daily temps are routinely over 100 degrees. To me, its worth it...but I wouldn't try to push it for any other reasons than what I mentioned. Oh, it DOES NOT increase fuel mileage as some try to claim! I put it in my 20" tires on my Ram & the pressure only fluctuates + or - 1 pound when the temps change drastically.

 

[Haulin]

I think it's a waste, rather just stick to regular air which you can get from just about any gas station if need to fill up on the go. Plus some dealerships will do it for you for free

 

[zoomie]

I live in TX were it is HOT & dry. Tires will sidewall crack in just a yr or so sometimes & our daily temps are routinely over 100 degrees. I put it in my 20" tires on my Ram & the pressure only fluctuates + or - 1 pound when the temps change drastically.

That's pretty interesting. So where the temperature swings wildly, daily it may make sense. Here in Canada we get those swings but usually they're seasonal so it's easier to keep the correct pressure by checking it monthly.

 

[dravas]

Get you one of these

http://www.amazon.com/Viair-00073-Heavy-Portable-Compressor/dp/B0012WHBSO/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1415052224&sr=1-1&keywords=air+compressor

Throw it in the rambox or in a crew cab the under floor compartments. Tires look a little low give it a blast with this and be on your way.

One note of caution with these guys...they need 15 amps of power...and turn them on before you attach them to your tire...I blew out 2 fuses on my gf rav 4 doing it the wrong way.

 

[10%More]

Thought the air was 83% nitrogen. OK on finding out it's "only" 78%.


Absolutely ridiculous money-making scam. Sarasota Ford wants $700 for illegally tinting all side windows, a $29 decal stripe and nitrogen. They get it on every vehicle they sell. I would never fall for that scam.


Now I know NASCAR racers use it to keep tire pressure constant. Who the heck drives their car/pickup like it's in a NASCAR race? We vary tire pressure depending on load conditions and use regular compressors to put in air. It's mostly nitrogen anyway.


Now I think I have heard it all. Nitrogen (air is almost all nitrogen, remember) INSIDE the tire will prevent dry rot cracks on the OUTSIDE of a tire.


W.C. Fields said it right.

 

[firemist32]

My Laramie came with Nitro in the 20"s not sure if it was dealer installed but no extra cost on my contract for it. I do see a big difference in pressure according to the built in TPM display. It will be about 37 PSI on cold mornings and can get up to 42 PSI mid afternoons. I think when they get low I am going to just go air since its free at home

 

[Hershey]

Thought the air was 83% nitrogen. OK on finding out it's "only" 78%.


Absolutely ridiculous money-making scam. Sarasota Ford wants $700 for illegally tinting all side windows, a $29 decal stripe and nitrogen. They get it on every vehicle they sell. I would never fall for that scam.


Now I know NASCAR racers use it to keep tire pressure constant. Who the heck drives their car/pickup like it's in a NASCAR race? We vary tire pressure depending on load conditions and use regular compressors to put in air. It's mostly nitrogen anyway.


Now I think I have heard it all. Nitrogen (air is almost all nitrogen, remember) INSIDE the tire will prevent dry rot cracks on the OUTSIDE of a tire.


W.C. Fields said it right.

Good points 10%! I stand corrected on the dry rot cracks - the nitrogen is a dry, stable gas & it keeps the INSIDE of the tire dry & free of moisture vs. compressed air that always contains moisture & contributes to tire deterioration. It does nothing to stop or slow down rot on the outside. I only use it because it stopped the fluctuations in pressure.

 

[10%More]

Appreciate hearing that.


I have no experience with the "stuff" but did read the post stating he had it and the tire pressure still changed with temperature and use. I would think that for the "normal" owner it would be real tough to know if the tire was evacuated of all atmosphere before filling...almost like a vacuum issue. Just having an atmosphere inside the tire would give lots of atmosphere before the nitrogen was added.


Now how you would take care to be sure you added and removed pressure during different usage without adding more atmosphere? That would also be problematic to me.


Guess you could buy a tank of the stuff and keep it at home for tire maintenance. No clue how it would last or the cost.

 

[dravas]

Pounds per square inch absolute (psia) is used to make it clear that the pressure is relative to a vacuum rather than the ambient atmospheric pressure. Since atmospheric pressure at sea level is around 14.7 psi, this will be added to any pressure reading made in air at sea level. The converse is pounds per square inch gauge or pounds per square inch gage (psig), indicating that the pressure is relative to atmospheric pressure. For example a bicycle tire pumped up to 65 psi above atmospheric pressure, will have a pressure of 65 + 14.7 = 79.7 psia or 65 psig

We use gauge to measure tire pressure. So its accounted for.

 

[Tim]

http://www.getnitrogen.org/pdf/graham.pdf

 

[meritmetal]

I use nitrogen in all of my vehicles tires. I buy them (tires) at Costco which fills with nitrogen. Costco will check tire pressure and refill at any time for "FREE"! I stated all of my vehicles, that is with the except of my race car. Which I race in the desert, I run varying pressure at all times, hence I have a compressor in the race trailer.

 

[zoomie]

http://www.getnitrogen.org/pdf/graham.pdf

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