Nitrogen Filled Tires

[HondaGal]

I feel kind of dumb, but I phoned the dealership to ask why I had light green valve caps on the car. My first thought was this was a shipping thing, but I was told it is to advise people the tires are inflated with nitrogen.

So the next question is do I have to keep the green caps. Can I put nice chrome one's on? or I suppose just regular black one's so they don't stick out.


Modified by HondaGal at 8:03 AM 3/26/2009

[specialist23]

you can do whatever you want.

[Punjab]

I have nitrogen as well.. in actuality the nitrogen content is around 75-80 percent (as a result that they did not pull a vacuum when they filled tire) and if you need to inflate you dont have it at home, so its more of a novelty, Nitrogen is just a more temp resistant gas and more reliable to maintain pressure..

If you like chrome go with chrome you know that you have nitrogen.

[Taunton02780]

Almost all dealerships will put the green caps when you join / purchase the nitrogen service package. When you bring your car in for service the green caps tell the technician that your tires are filled with Nitrogen (so they do not try to add air to them ... or if they require adjustment they add more nitrogen). Without the green caps you could have problems with your tire service (personally I would leave them on). The green caps appear to be pretty universal across car brands and around the country. If you live in a part of the country where the temperature is not consistent year round (like in New England) the nitrogen prevents false alarms from the tire pressure monitoring systems (nitro does not expand and contract as much as oxygen). Since it produces no condensation it eliminates tire rot, they claim that nitro can actually maximize gas mileage and extend the life of the tires.

[jmess]

I learned something new

[M45Caliber]

OK -- this is a fun topic. The AIR we breathe consists of approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% "other" stuff. So, paying $10 per tire for nitrogen is, shall we say, "extravegant".

Since there's no way to effectively "purge" your tires of the air in them when mounted and filled at the dealer (short of sending them up on the space shuttle and having them filled while out on a space walk) my guess is that you still have a decent percentage of Oxygen mixed in with the added nitrogen.

Unless you are racing F1 or IndyCar, or have a Gulfsteam jet, nitrogen is of little to no benefit, especially true for street driving.

Here's another link (below) that offers more insight. It's your $40 (dealers seem to offer this at $10/tire), so spend it as you wish. I'll just keep topping of with an 80/20 mix (air) and use the $40 for lunch.

http://www.straightdope.com/co...f-air

[scottrod]

Yeah, nitrogen is just another gimmick for the dealers to make more money but I guess you can't blame them for trying, bless their little hearts.

Shop air with a good dryer on it is all you need but most folks don't have a good dryer, including myself. The place I work does though.

[HondaGal]

It's good info. I didn't pay extra for the nitorgen (well ok I did somewhere in the price of car) but it is not something I requested.

My nice cold canadian climate is probably a good test for nitrogen and keeping the pressure consitency.

Out of interest sake, when I got the car, it was super cold, and just unloaded from a truck. The car was in transit for about 2.5 days. The first thing that happened was the low tire pressure indicator came on. So I drove home read up on the warning light. I topped it up with regular air

[M45Caliber]

Yep -- common problem when going from warm to cold. Here in good old AZ, we'll see days in the summer where it is 115 degrees (46 Celsius), and you'll set your tires at 35 psi. then in the winter, when it drops to a frigid 50 degrees (4 Celsius), the TPS sends a warning as the tires might be down to 29 psi or so. So yeah, it's best to check them every month or two. You will have the opposite problem in that as summer approaches you will need to bleed off some of that expensive nitrogen, as your pressures will rise.

AND shouldn't you change your handle to InfiniGal?

[HondaGal]

Frigid 50 degrees. I would love if that is what our temps were at in the winter. I am jealous.

I am partial to Hondagal, because I still have my honda. You can't teach this old dog new tricks

Yep -- common problem when going from warm to cold. Here in good old AZ, we'll see days in the summer where it is 115 degrees (46 Celsius), and you'll set your tires at 35 psi. then in the winter, when it drops to a frigid 50 degrees (4 Celsius), the TPS sends a warning as the tires might be down to 29 psi or so. So yeah, it's best to check them every month or two. You will have the opposite problem in that as summer approaches you will need to bleed off some of that expensive nitrogen, as your pressures will rise.

AND shouldn't you change your handle to InfiniGal?

[AWGD8]

Holy cow! 50 degrees here is a "HEAT WAVE"

I`m contemplating moving to Arizona. I`m a little hesitant, since I came

from Illinois were State that inforced redlight/speed camera tells you

how crook their system is.... Wisconsin is alright! but Arizona weather is

tempting....

[M45Caliber]

The only real problem you'll face here in the winter is which days NOT to golf on, or ride your mountain bike, or hike Camelback mountain, or wash the car... you also have to wear sunblock when putting up the Christmas lights!! No snow tires to swap out and cool mountain air (in the summer) is only about 150 miles away and the Cali beaches are about 5 hours drive west -- less if that big earthquake hits.

I actually only wash the cars every couple of months. The rest of the time I just take 3 minutes and run the California Car Duster over them. Leaves even more time for golf!