CEB

Not for street use.

venchka

Did you reset the computer to the new pressures? If the computer was indexed to the old (high) pressure, then the TPMS thinks your tires are low with the new, correct pressure.

Wayne

ColdCanuck

It's been known to lighten wallets !!

mnje350

The nitrogen was free. I have an air bottle I use to top all vehicle tires and Costco offered to fill it with either regular air or nitrogen. All I can tell is that the nitrogen pressures do not fluctuate with air temps like plain old air.

Granted I am not racing this car, just mentioning that nitrogen is easily available if you have a friendly Costco near by

mnje350

It does make a difference in motorcycle tires, even for street use.

hyperion667

N is, in tires anyway

mnje350

Hey hype, Just curious why you say that?

CEB

Because 'pure' nitrogen has no discernible advance over ''mostly nitrogen" for any consumer application. At best, you'll lose that time based 1psi every 6 weeks instead of every four. Temperature affects it just like normal air and while the inside of your tire may oxidized slower, the outside will still be subjected to all of the harmful UV rays as always. When did you last see a tire dry rot from the inside out? Tires dry rot because of outside environmental impacts, not because they oxidized on the inside.

CEB

Here is an experiment that a gas station owner should do.

Put up a sign that says "free air."Under that, put another sign that says "78% nitrogen - all the benefits of that expensive tire store nitrogen for only $1" add a dummy push button labeled 78% nitrogen to your air pump and see how many people buy that stuff.

ColdCanuck

OMG Nitrogen doesn't obey Charles's & Boyle's laws...
should be worth a Nobel in physics and we read it here first OMG

CEB

Why do consider laws when you have advertising hype and internet "facts?"

mnje350

OMG!!! Where in my post do I say nitrogen does not behave the laws of physics? I only state that it is less susceptible to air temp changes, "like plain old air". OMG!

Why is nitrogen used in aviation tires? Care to offer an opinion on that?

mnje350

Costco doesn't charge for either air or "pure" nitrogen. So, does nitrogen harm tires in any way? I guess I have never had a set of tires long enough to dry rot. I don't worry much about that.

I just recently used nitrogen in my motorcycle tires. In a motorcycle I can tell the difference in handling between a couple of lbs of pressure. I am sure I could not tell in a car. I was curious how nitrogen would affect the handling as the tires heated up. That was really my only point in the first place.

ronjavier

Have you tried re-setting? Go to the tire pressure reading then press OK to re-set.

CEB

Nitrogen does not affect the handling in any way. It makes no difference since nitrogen expands just like air.

CEB

Be glad to. It has less to do with the nitrogen content than with the oxygen content.

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory...light=87-08-09

If you regularly subject your to the same stresses as aircraft, then I would suggest that you use pure nitrogen. If you don't, then you will have zero benefit from using nitrogen.

mnje350

That makes sense. You have convinced me. There is no point in using free nitrogen in my motorcycle tires vs. free air in my tires. Wonder why Costco bothered to offer it to me in the first place. I was only interested in filling my air bottle with air.

So I can assume I did not harm the tires by using nitrogen? You did not comment on that CEB.

CEB

Sheesh - why so annoyed? Mad that you got sucked in by the hype.

Nitrogen will do no harm and free nitrogen gets you those cool green valve stem caps.

Remember that to actually get "pure" nitrogen into your tires, you'd need to purge the air several times first - something the COSTCO guys probably don't do.

mnje350

Not annoyed at all. I learned a lot from this post. But, I did not get those nifty green caps. They only filled my air bottle for me. I reinflated the tires myself.

It occurred to me why it is offered. Perhaps the gear heads that like to do burn outs need the nitrogen to prevent tire fires. I could not think of any other reason.

CEB

The nitrogen being the greatest thing since sliced bread notion blew through Europe in the 80's and early 90's. It went away again.

It really is great marketing hype. The $10 a tire is an easy sell once you tout the advantages ("better fuel economy, your wheels won't rust") so it is even better for COSTCO to hype that they'll give it away. It costs them nothing, there is no way for you to check how much nitrogen is in your tires

There is no advantage for using nitrogen for any consumer - even if they are a "hot rod" driver.

I got sucked into the hype in Europe in the 90's too until I did the research and realized that the claims made little sense.

Remember to go back to COSTCO though for your green caps.

BM2BZ

someone told me air will leak slower if putting nitrogen in tires. i guess he is wrong .

CEB

No, that is correct but - as with all nitrogen claims - the gains are theoretical. Here an excerpt from Consumer Reports:

"We conducted a year long test of the effects of nitrogen in tires and the results show nitrogen does reduce pressure loss over time, but the reduction is only a 1.3 psi difference from air-filled tires. The average loss of air-filled tires was just 3.5 psi from the initial 30 pressure setting. Nitrogen-filled tires lost an average of 2.2 psi from the initial 30 psi setting. More important, all tires lost pressure regardless of the inflation medium, so consumers should check their tires' air pressure routinely. If you decide to have your tires filled with nitrogen, be sure to have them refilled with nitrogen routlinely. Like air, nitrogen filled tire pressure will drop as seasonal temperatures fall. No evaluation was done to assess the aging claim."

GermanCars

Even thought Daimler Benz has issued a statement that they do not think that nitrogen use in tires offer much in financial benefits, our local Mercedes dealer continues to offer-strong arm really, $220.00 nitrogen tire fill packages with lifetime refill. Like you want to go to your dealer every time your tire has lost a little pressure.

Among the touted benefits is little tire pressure change due to temperature variation (TRUE). And less air loss (NOT IN MY EXPERIENCE).

Costco is probably offering nitrogen because people have heard the hype and asked for it. And it's not free to Costco, they either have to buy a fairly expensive nitrogen generator or rent tanks from a supplier like oxygen and acetylene.

When we first started seeing customer cars with nitrogen filled tires during services, I looked into nitrogen machines and supposed benefits. Other than being a great profit center for the dealer, it's basically a waste of time and money.

The tire pressure numbers on the driver's door jam are there by Federal Law, Mercedes recommendation is indeed on the fuel tank flap. My two cents worth is any tire should have at least 34lbs for maximum tire life.
So if the flap sticker states 30 Front & 34 Rear, I recommend something like 34 Front & 38 Rear.

Those of you who state that the dealer left the tire pressures too high....do you have the already mentioned green caps on the valve stems?
If so keep in mind that as nitrogen filled tires do not increase in pressure with temperature, you should add about 4lbs over what Mercedes recommends as a cold pressure spec. That is what our local dealer does.

GermanCars

"Like air, nitrogen filled tire pressure will drop as seasonal temperatures fall."

Regardless of Consumer Reports, there is a significant reduction in tire pressure growth due to increase in tire temperature with nitrogen filled tires. Any roundy-round racer can tell you that. It's just of very questionable value on the street.
I do not use it and do not recommend it to my customers.

splinter

Those green caps are indeed a misguided status symbol for Costco Camry and Accord folk.

Don’t have them on my Michelin Pilot Super Sports’ valve stems though. :nix: