Nitrogen filled tires on 2008 models?

[paposalsa]

I just got a set of 2008 OEM Rims w/Bridgestone Potenza RE050A for my 2006. I checked the tire pressure and they are around 31psi. However I noticed that the valve steem caps were green with a logo. When I went to get a closer look it said "Nitrogen". So I called the previous owner, he told me that the tires came filled with Nitrogen when he purchased his Z.

Now the problem is that the closes facility with Nitrogen is more than 25 miles away from my house. However doing research I found out that I can use regular air. This is kind of stupid if the dealers are not going to have Nitrogen to refill your tires.

Are the 2008 Z owners having this issue with their Nitrogen filled tires?
Modified by paposalsa at 6:39 PM 12/27/2008

[raremotive]

nitrogen is getting more common at tire places. No issues so far, it holds it pressure even when it gets really cold.

[evildky]

all GTR certified dealers have the nitrogen machines, as well as most high end shops, I know rover and jag both use nitrogen

and yes you cna just use air, the benefits to nitrogen are that the molecules are larger and won't leak out like air, and that the molecules aren't as temperature sensetive as oxygen, so you don't get increased air pressure when your tires heat up

honestly unless it's a track car I think nitrogen is a waste

[R350Zz33]

mine dident come with it but when i went for my oil change i noticed a sign saying they will drain all the air out and fill ur tires with nitrogen for like $90 and every time u come back its free to top it off

[Bubba1]

I just got a set of 2008 OEM Rims w/Bridgestone Potenza RE050A for my 2006. I checked the tire pressure and they are around 31psi. However I noticed that the valve steem caps were green with a logo. When I went to get a closer look it said "Nitrogen". So I called the previous owner, he told me that the tires came filled with Nitrogen when he purchased his Z.

Now the problem is that the closes facility with Nitrogen is more than 25 miles away from my house. However doing research I found out that I can use regular air. This is kind of stupid if the dealers are not going to have Nitrogen to refill your tires.

Are the 2008 Z owners having this issue with their Nitrogen filled tires?39 PM 12/27/2008

I was unaware Nissan sold cars from the factory with Nitrogen. I'm wondering if that's a dealer option. Nitrogen in street tires is waste of money. Yes, those loud green caps denote nitrogen, and in an ordinary street car, is an nice indicator that the owner is a sucker willing to waste his money.

It's akin to putting premium gas in a car designed to run fine on regular because "my baby is worth it." or taking a bath in bottled spring water.

It's true they use Nitrogen in the commercial airline tires, and formula one teams use them. Those applications operate under extreme conditions. Passenger cars do not.

The main benefit to nitrogen is that it eliminates moisture and humidity inside the tire. The larger nitrogen moecules are less likely to seep thru porous rubber tires than the smaller oxygen molecules, and the lack of moisture makes the tire less suspectible to pressure changes from extreme changes in termperature. So in theory, you would not need to add nitrogen as often as air and would fare marginally better under extreme use. Plus the lack of moisture supposedly extends the life of the tire and wheel

Now for a dose of reality. most sports car wheels are made of aluminum or alloy. They don't rust. And steel wheeled cars, the cars are usually disposed off long before the wheels ever rust out. Also the cost of a typical replacement steel wheel is probably cheaper than one filling of nitrogen. In most cases, people wear out or damage their street tires long before the tires have a chance to deteriorate from moisture/humidity. Next, while Nitrogen molecules are bigger than oxygen molecules, if you run over a nail, that nitrogen is comin' out just as quickly as compressed air, so it won't prevent flats, but it did make your flat tire repair much more expensive. Switching to nitrogen does not eliminate the need to check your pressures. If you're lucky to have those pressure sensors in the tires, great. but it doesn't alter your basic tire maintenance reponsibilities. It just made them more expensive when you need to add.

[Retired Chief]

My ’08 350Z did not come with nitrogen filled tires nor green caps. As far as putting premium gas in my Z…I put 87 octane in once because nothing else was available and I could certainly tell a difference in performance and my engine started making a knocking noise

[R350Zz33]

93 octane all day every day and gas prices are going down so im happy

[zozoka1212]

I've got my G with ntrogen in it. I did not pay for it since I did not ask for it.To me it does not make sense to pay for it.

The air has 78% nitrogen in it already. If you like to adjust your tire pressure to your needs. Say you go to track your car or go for auto X you keep changing the pressure in your tire.

zozo

93 octane all day every day and gas prices are going down so im happy

I still waiting for the paperwork Richie. You forgot to show us.

zozo

[Bubba1]

My ’08 350Z did not come with nitrogen filled tires nor green caps. As far as putting premium gas in my Z…I put 87 octane in once because nothing else was available and I could certainly tell a difference in performance and my engine started making a knocking noise

I think you missed my point. Your 350z's owner manual says to use premium gas, so it's no surprise you had problems using regular. My point was if your car's owner's manual says it requires REGULAR, and you put in PREMIUM, that's a waste of money.

[Bubba1]

II still waiting for the paperwork Richie. You forgot to show us.

zozo

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it, zozo. You know his age and his situation.

[zozoka1212]

LOL I won't. LOL

The regular vs Premium always topic.

To me it is clear. Requied premium so I pump premium. Funny tho the 1st generation G sedan manual doesn't ask for premium but the 1st generation coupe does. Interesting. Since same engine. Both have the de engine and everything seems to be same even the timing #'s.

I don't care I know I bought the car what requires premim so I pump premium.

zozo

[evildky]

I believe the 03 G coupe got the 260 hp version, which I'd guess is either lower compression or less adgressive timing so it doesn't need the higher octane

[zozoka1212]

I think the manual states it has to be premium on the 03 also. But I could be wrong. But for sure the 06 sedan manual says no need premium. Suggested only. But the 06 coupe say you need premium. Weird that's for sure.

My 07 sedan and 08 sedan ask for premium.

zozo

[R350Zz33]

me and my dad and alot of my car friends run 93 even if the car dosent call for it they feel its cleaner burning. there fore makes the engine last longer and will provide better mileage. it makes some sense.my buddy with his 94 civic always use 93 he also has 220,000 miles on the engine and it still pulls hard.so i guess 93 is the way to go.

[Watermelonwarrior]

Why is there talk about what type of gas you put in? This is about Nitrogen filled tires... Which IMO is a waste of money.

[evildky]

higher octane won't hurt anything it's just a waste of money if the car doesn't require it

a\octane is the fuels resistance to buring, on high boost and high compression engines the higher octane is required to prevent pre ignition aka pinging

[XterraVersa]

Why is there talk about what type of gas you put in? This is about Nitrogen filled tires... Which IMO is a waste of money.

Because he thinks this forum is all about him...

Nitrogen in tires = sucker. How do they get all the non-nitrogen out? Do they have vacuum chambers & suck all the bad air out? I bet in N2 filled tires, it is at best 90% N2.

I use CO2 for rapid filling. Why? because it is easily transportable & will not cause the canister to explode if a puncture happens. The CO2 is mainly used for the Xterra for airing up after 4x4ing.

[marlin29311]

Nitrogen in tires = sucker. How do they get all the non-nitrogen out? Do they have vacuum chambers & suck all the bad air out? I bet in N2 filled tires, it is at best 90% N2.

They don't get the other molecules "out," they were never there to start...Nitrogen filling means using a nitrogen tank to fill the tires, not a standard air compressor tank. IE - there was never any other air to start with, just nitrogen...

I still think it's a waste of money if you pay for it. If you get it for free, then all the better.

[evildky]

unless the tire is mounted to the wheel in a vacume there is some other air in there...

and a propper setup for nitrogen fill does pull vacume and uses 2 ports on the wheelsand even if ti's free it's a waste unless i 's for track use

[R350Zz33]

the other thing is people use the air compressors at the gas stations and some have cheep ones that if u dont let it warm up or something it will not only fill ur tire with air but water to that now causes a balance problem in the wheels and wheel alignment problems. there was an article i read about this i dont remember were i read it but now if i air up at a gas station i let it run at least 1 cycle first and check for water.

[ldstang50]

the other thing is people use the air compressors at the gas stations and some have cheep ones that if u dont let it warm up or something it will not only fill ur tire with air but water to that now causes a balance problem in the wheels and wheel alignment problems. there was an article i read about this i dont remember were i read it but now if i air up at a gas station i let it run at least 1 cycle first and check for water.

huh??? Are you filling your tires with a pressure washer???

People fill their tires with Nitrogen to maintain a more stable pressure because there is less moisture in Nitrogen than in air. A Nitrogen filled tire won't lose less 'air' because the molecules are bigger but because there is less vapor pressure.The ideal gas law, PV = nRT, ignores molecule size altogether. In theory, for a given pressure, volume and temperature, the number of moles (which reflects directly on the number of molecules; 1 mole = 6.022 x 10^23 molecules) remains the same regardless of which gas you use. So the size of the molecules make no difference in the pressure of the gas inside your tire as there will be the same number of molecules of any gas at a given temperature, volume, and pressure.

The problem is when you take atmospheric air and compress it, some of the moisture in the air may condense out of it. This means that depending on the humidity at the time of the fill, you may actually have liquid water in your tires. Until the liquid is completely turned into a vapor, it will add its own vapor pressure to the tire. How much will depend on both pressure and temperature. Once you vaporize the liquid completely, it will follow the ideal gas law as well. I don't know what the actual typical water content is in a tire, nor how likely it is that a typical air fill will completely vaporize any water content in a tire. In either case, predicting the hot pressure for a tire becomes much more difficult with water in it.