kenstudios

In July I swithced to Nitrogen on all my wheels instead of comressed air, pumped 29 front and 32 psi on rear wheels. This morning I checked it and it's still 29 and 32. I think its better than air. Any comments?????

StapleGun

Inert gases are fine for aircraft, I don't see why go through the trouble for a car. I have yet to encounter corrosion problems or volatility issues that would warrant the use of Nitrogen with any of my vehicles and they all have alloy wheels.

sprink49

I think nitrogen is a good choice. I haven't used it but in looking at the chemistry of the gas...it is more stable with regard to temp changes and I THINK the N molecule as a stand alone is smaller than air and better suited for use where leakage is a consideration.

I am a Fire Protection contractor and we use N for a supervisory gas and for testing in our high end systems as opposed to air because of it's stability.

Tire pressure has always been an important part of automotive performance and in high end applications Nitrogen is a better choice. Now, finding it becomes another issue.

E55AMG99

Smaller molecules will leak faster, since they can fit through smaller openings, no? Regardless, the benefits are nil in real life as long as the compressed air you fill your tires with is DRY. Moisture is a bigger problem than temperature stability on a street car.

kenstudios

The've been offering nitrogen in most tire places and it's now becoming readily available. When I got mines done it was like $11 per wheel and now it runs about $3 per. Thought I share.

E55AMG99

$3 isn't bad but still not really worth it since they don't evacualte all the air in the tire first. They can't so there is alway one atmosphere's worth of air in the tire before putting 2 atmospheres of N.

Josh K

Considering that air is almost 80% nitrogen to begin with it's pretty silly to spend $3 bucks/tire when air is free.

E55AMG99

LOL!

Air isn't free at a lot of gas stations up here. SoBs charge $.50 to run the compressor for 3 minutes. Sux even more when the hose is too short to get all 4 tires in one shot. Damn, I hate that!

JamE55

Where can i locate a shop who offers Nitrogen here in cali? TIA

E55AMG99

If you come up to the Bay Area, I'll hook you up. I have 2 N cylinders I use in the winery!

JamE55

Thanks for the offer Bro! But don't have any plans going up there anytime soon with the holidays and all. Any idea where i can find one down here? Where do i even begin? Also if i fill up the tires with all Nitrogen and based from reading the above how long does it last before i lose air or do i? Any side effects on this?

kenstudios

I did mine in July and as of this morning it's still the same. Try any well established tire shop. They are starting to do this more offen than you might think.

E55AMG99

Sorry, can't help in SoCal but someone told me Costco is offering free N fills on tires bought there. Give them a call.

The N fillup will probably last as long as regular air but when you need to add a few lbs, you need to go back to the N dealer. Adding compressed air will defeat the purpose. No known side effects.

sprink49

Yes...the N molecule is larger. I had it reversed. It is true that dry is most important. I have to say that I agree that in a street car, it's probably not worth the difference. I have a large compressor in my garage with driers in the discharge and I drain the tank once a week. Moisture in a tire can be big trouble.

I have read that in racing applications and in military as well as commercial civilian aircraft that it's used regularly, mainly due to it's temperature stability.

I have a couple of Nitrogen cylinders that I keep at my shop for testing....maybe I should put a regulator on them and sell this stuff out the back door. Let's see, I think each one holds about 1800 cu ft at 3000 psi so at $3~$ a tire..... the profit margin would be tremendous!!!

E55AMG99

I was thinking the same thing! A $25 cylinder could net me a tidy profit!

BTW, how is N a larger molecule than O or CO2? It's atomic radius is the smallest of the 3 though not by much compared to O. However, O is not normally found alone in the wild so O2 is much bigger. Or am I not seeing something here?

JamE55

Thanks i'll check it out.

Here's also a link i found that might help.

http://www.whynitrofill.com/vsoxygen.htm

E55AMG99

I've seen that page before but still can't understand why N leaks out slower than O2 when AFAIK, N is a smaller molecule. Can anyone explain it?

Josh K

Again - an example of people falling for marketing - when you fill your tires with compressed air, it's NOT pure O2, and Nitrogen constitutes about 80% of the air that would be in a tank or in your tires.

By the way, there's this thing I want to sell you called the Tornado - gives you about 20 more horses!

JamE55

You should've sold it to the ricer you raced recently. He could've used all the gas he can get. lol

Roupin

Costco provides that service for free regardless where you bought the tires from. The only requirement is the Costco membership.

Josh K

LOL maybe I'll put it in my Hooptee...

Jetman

We use nitrogen for all of our jets tires because of the moisture that can be found in regular air. At high altitudes (30,000ft.) the outside temperature is approx. -57C and any moisture in the tires will cause it to freeze of course. That is really the only benefit of Nitrogen. I wouldn't think it would make any difference on cars, just another way for someone to make a few bucks. Save your money, use free air