Nitrogen Tire Inflation

[stebo0728]

Ok so noob question here Im sure, but does anyone inflate their tires with nitrogen, and if so what are the advantages/disadvantages compared to regular air? We have a few different tire places around here advertising that they recommend nitrogen inflation, perhaps a con to get you to come to them for inflation, I dunno, any ideas?

[BigTDogg (MA)]

Ok so noob question here Im sure, but does anyone inflate their tires with nitrogen, and if so what are the advantages/disadvantages compared to regular air? We have a few different tire places around here advertising that they recommend nitrogen inflation, perhaps a con to get you to come to them for inflation, I dunno, any ideas?

Overrated. Air is already 78% Nitrogen. Helium would be great if there was a way to keep it in the tires.

[es.biggs]

I used to work at a quick lube place that sold it...Nascar has used it for years and Ford is actually sending cars out of the factory with nitrogen in their tires. It must be good, but IMO I never noticed a difference and it seems gimmicky for the price some places charge.

Anyways, the advantages are supposed to be:
1. Prevents moisture from rotting the inside of the tire. I work at a firestone now (seeing plenty of old tires every day) and I have never seen a tire that has been used normally rot from the inside out.
2. Tire pressure doesn't fluctuate with temperature. Tire pressures with normal air fluctuate when the tires heat up. The hotter the tire, the higher the pressure. The colder the tire (first thing in the morning) the lower the pressure. I think this is where Nascar found advantage in nitrogen, but I can't prove that because I'm not really sure if its true anyways.
3. They told us to mention that it increases tire life, gas mileage, rode comfort blah blah blah you know just a load of s*** that Valvoline and Jiffy Lube are famous for: trying to sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell sell. They don't care about you, they care about how high the number on your ticket is. I hated working there.

[car nut]

We run nitrogen in our race cars. Why? Because it's a spec series. Every little bit helps. Would I run nitrogen in my street car? Hell no. I pump my tires up with a bike pump unless they're really low. Why would I pay a good bit of money to a shop for nitrogen? All the machine does is pull the nitrogen out of the air. So I'd basically be giving them tons of money for having a cool machine. It's hardly worth it.

2. Tire pressure [with nitrogen] doesn't fluctuate with temperature.

That's actually not true. The tire pressure do fluctuate with temperature (our R1's go out at around 30-32 cold and are about 38-40 hot). What they don't do is fluctuate abnormally. With air, if you pump your tires up on a humid day, they tires will grow even more then tires that were inflated on a dry day. This is because air has water vapor in it, and the higher the humidity, the more water vapor you'll pump into your tires.

[stebo0728]

Guess it really doesnt matter with low profiles right, with 2 cubic inches of air all together in the tire? lol
I call those rubber bands around a drum ...

[evildky]

the reason it's used on race tires is it does not expand as much when exposed to heat like regular air, and maintaining exact tire pressures is important in motorsports, too much pressure and you loose surface area ont he tire and the 200 mile an hour turn could be your last, too little air and the sidewalls might roll over and break the bead or worse send you into a wall

on street cars the only real benefit is the molecules are larger and so it won't leak out over time, air can over time seep through the tire and when it does this is takes the oils out of the tire as well causing them to age faster

also most street cars have single air valves meaning they can't really get allt he air out, on race tires they have 2 valves so they can cycle the air and get a higher concentration fill