JimPap

When I got deliver from my dealer in Birmingham (Crown), I was told by the salesman that they replace air in the tires with nitrogen.

If I understand this correctly, one of the attributes of using nitrogen is that your tire pressure isn't suppose to change when the tires gets hot.

Mine do change about 2 to 3 psi when going from cold to hot.

So my question is whether the dealership may have missed putting nitrogen in mine to get it ready in time, or if its normal for the pressure to change by 2 or 3 psi using nitrogen.

I have the original equipment rims and tires on a C300.

Timeless

At least your dealer has nitrogen...stupid dealer here does not even have it.

Tyler Durden

The main advantage to using nitrogen is that your tire won't loose air over time and the variance in hot/cold pressure is less. That's the main reason why truckers and racers use it...

JimPap

I see.

Well, can some of you using air check the difference between cold inflation pressure and hot? It would be interesting to see what the difference is. As cool as using nitrogen may seem, its sure a pain to deal with.

Qest

Without a proper filling system, it doesn't really happen. The air we breathe and fill our tires with is 70% nitrogen to begin with. You need close to 100% Nitrogen to reap the small benefit. The problem is that MB wheels I've seen don't have the 2nd valve stem to allow a proper Nitrogen fill so they start with a deflated tire that has quite a bit of regular air in it and then add Nitrogen.

Here's a pic from tirerack.com of the wheels I got for my wife's Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Note the 2 valve stems that allow pure nitrogen to be pumped in while regular air is let out on the opposite end.

JimPap

When researching nitrogen sources, the few suppliers of professional machines had systems that would vacuum or suck out more of the air than by just deflating them. I presume this is what Crown uses.

On the other hand, it would seem that if nitrogen doesn't seep out the same as air due to larger molecules, wouldn't the non nitrogen components of air eventually leave the tire?? Something a consumer could do on a passenger car, but not really practical for a race car.

Jorg

I think the benefits of nitrogen are bigger in Europe, because of the high speed limits. I think the benefits, here, are diminished, but it would be nice if it was at least offered. Nitrogen helps with moisture in the tires too.

The local tire dealers are not interested. They think that if they provided the service, everybody wants it for free.

Jorg

Rick Hunter

Costco offers nitrogen fillups. Personally, I see no point to it from a cost perspective. If it's for free, however...

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070216.html

Tyler Durden

^^^ That's pretty good link with decent info. Given the choice I'd fill up with nitrogen as opposed to air provided it was free, but that's the problem. I've seen nitrogen tire machines that cost thousands of $$$ so the garages, etc., need to recover their money some how. Here's a LINK from one of those companies, which is obviously in the business of making money!

Extreme conditions. When I was @ Bonneville this past summer (for the Bub's Bike Week) my team's bike, along with every bike there (that I recall), ran nitrogen in the tires. Talk about running the ragged edge and leaving absolutely nothing to chance, being a rookie team we took the advice of guys that have been going to The Salt, every year, for decades before I was even born! Their collective experience was good enough reason for me...

JimPap

One thing I particularly notice about my C300 is that a few pounds difference in tire inflation pressure makes a large difference in how the car rides. It would be good to find out how much using nitrogen changes this increase.

Could some of you measure your cold and hot inflation pressures(on standard tires) and post how much of a difference there is. I'll do the same with the nitrogen filled tires for the comparison. It would also be helpful if you would say which tires and rims you are using (i.e. amg 19s, etc.)

Many thanks