TV Ad BS?

[dwasson]

Belle Tire in metro Detroit is advertising filling tires with nitrogen. Does this really have a benefit other than selling nitrogen machines?

[bigslim]

When they mounted my summer wheels and tires on both cars they chnaged the air in my tires to nitrogen. Said that it is more stable in all tempertures.

[Leadfoot281]

Jay Leno uses nitrogen in all his tires. It prevents aluminum oxidation and helps maintain tire pressure (hot roads and burn-outs can increase tire pressure.).

[blackf0rk]

I like to fill mine with hydrogen, and just a touch of gasoline.


:burnout:
:burnout:

Burnous are spectacular!! (http://www.hnd.usace.army.mil/pao/CEAInfo/Explosion%20Photo.JPG)

[SergntMac]

I've heard about this before, and many years ago too. Also heard a story about using Helium, but that struck me as a parlay of humor on the topic.

It may be okay for Jay Leno, who maintains a large (and mostly idle) collection of exotic cars, but my problem is that I mess with my tire PSI too much for this to be viable for me. I make adjustments for road trips, city driving, and racing, and on two Marauders. Where the Hell am I supposed to get Nitrogen on a regular basis?

I don't think it's sufficiently significant to be worth the time and trouble, ordinary compressed air (that I can produce in my garage) is my answer.

Just my .02C, carry on gents.

[Blackened300a]

My Cousin Races NASCAR Featherlite Modifieds and Nitrogen is always used for the tires, No fluctuation in Air pressures and thats critical at 180MPH.

We keep a small Nitrogen tank in our shop. Its rather cheap to refill and it has a long shelf life.

[Drock96Marquis]

Costco has been using nitrogen to fill newly mounted tires for a bit over a year (or more) now.
They say it can be topped off/adjusted with regular air, is less prone to leakage, prevents wheel oxidation and rust and also holds tire pressure with varying tempertures much better than air.

They put a fugly green valve cap on afterwards though. :P

[blackf0rk]

They put a fugly green valve cap on afterwards though. :P

That's becausee nitrogen is green.

http://www.hdbeat.com/media/2005/12/duh_Garfield.jpg

[SergntMac]

For special circumstances, it makes sense. For the common everyday driver/owner, it keeps customers "coming back to the trough", and I am sure not for free.

[bigslim]

Costco has been using nitrogen to fill newly mounted tires for a bit over a year (or more) now.
They say it can be topped off/adjusted with regular air, is less prone to leakage, prevents wheel oxidation and rust and also holds tire pressure with varying tempertures much better than air.

They put a fugly green valve cap on afterwards though. :P
Mine has a green ring under the caps.

[Drock96Marquis]

Mine has a green ring under the caps.

That probably looks much nicer, when we had the tires changed on our town car they installed completely green valve caps. They looked ugly so we swapped em' for some black ones. :P

[94_302]

I'm rocking the green valve caps, I have had nitrogen since I got my new tires in December, from Costco. I'm amazed at how well the pressure remains constant. But like Mac brought up, if you are constantly changing the tire pressure there is no need to go out of your way to get it or anything.

[metroplex]

Nitrogen is a gas, and typically follows the ideal gas law or gas law in nature (which is where physics applies). PV = nRT. As the temperature increases, so will the pressure and/or volume. "Air" is a mixture of 70%-75% or so of Nitrogen and the rest is oxygen and other inert gases, so accurate prediction of pressure increase at higher/lower temperatures is hard to do. The use of Nitrogen simply allows for more accurate prediction of HOW MUCH it will change in pressure at different temperatures. A general rule of thumb for regular air is a pressure change of 1 psi for every 10F, but again, it's not 100% accurate due to other gases being present.

Bottom line: If they do not charge for nitrogen fillups, go for it. If it is a premium "feature", skip it and stick with regular air. If you did get the nitrogen fillup, you must refill with nitrogen or else you contaminate the gas mixture... So again, stick with regular air.