Nitrogen Filled Tires

[fast65ford]

Wondering if anyone has input on tire wear when filled with nitrogen.
My wifes vehicle has Firestone Destination LE tires with 38,000 miles on them and she was told Friday that the tires need to be replaced. That tire warranty is 5yr/60000 miles so it has fallen well short of what we thought we would get for tire wear. The only difference is that the dealer installs all of their tires using nitrogen instead of air so im wondering if that might be a factor in overall tire wear? I know with nitrogen the tires remain at a constant tire pressure ... just wondering if anyone else has nitrogen filled tires and didnt get the mileage out of the tires.

[Dogface GI]

I bought my Dodge Ram 1500 (1/2 ton truck) with 32,000 miles on it. Put nitrogen in the tires shortly thereafter. It now has 97,000 miles on it with the same original factory tires! I have to drive up a very rocky driveway, drive off-road now and then and have used the truck to haul a lot of heavy stuff (i.e. I had just over 2,000 pounds of stuff in the back when I drove from MD to AZ), so it's not due to light driving. When I get new tires on a vehicle I'm going to keep, I put nitrogen in the tires! I don't think it's the nitrogen. Also, when I went to price what it will cost me to get new tires I asked about mine. The yguy said they were middle of the road quality, so I credit the nitrogen.

[scrogg67]

i have nitrogen filled tires, iv only had to add to one tire in four years. It really never looses

[GT289]

Nitrogen advantages.....
1) More stability of pressure between cold tire and hot tire.
2) Dry- don't think condensation is involved much at all.
3) Nitrogen doesn't migrate through rubber very readily.

[Bucket Lister]

Plain ol' air is almost 80% nitrogen. If you can afford to fall this scam, god bless you. The economy isn't as bad as we're led to believe.

[beechkid]

Our air is comprised of 78% nitrogen, 20.9% oxygen & 1.1% of other things (carbon, chlorine, flourine, bromine & iodine). The only thing that nitrogen does in regards to tires is reduce/almost eliminate the need to check air pressure with temperature fluctuations (typically 10 degrees equals 1 psi).....if you like that convenience, ok, otherwise ask for good ol air & get about $20 back ($5 per tire typically)

[Randyfastback65]

This is my dad and his rat rod. Back in the summer he was complaining that when the tires got hot, the pressure went up and the ride got "bouncy". I brought home a nitrogen tank from work and refilled them. It may be just the power of suggestion, but he swears the ride is much better now.

[jonfor]

since i have switched to 100% nitrogen in my tires, my FM stereo reception is better and oil pressure is up. it's a win, win situation.

[Maxum96]

I think the only people who benefit from nitrogen filled tires are race cars and high performance aircraft. Otherwise, I feel like it's running 100 octane race gas in your Toyota Corolla.

[sportsroof69]

Without a doubt it keeps the pressure more constant, but longer life from the tires I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that. My wife's Edge had 93,000 mile on it before we replaced the original Hankooks, and all it ever had was 100% air from my shop air compressor.

[Klutch]

The only legitimate use I'm aware of for nitrogen is in tires with very large, white sidewalls. Apparently, they're less likely to yellow than when running regular air. Of course, that too may be bogus.

Otherwise, the whole nitrogen thing is pure, marketing hype. Somebody thought it would cool to figure out a way to charge money for air.

[finbar]

^ thanks Klutch.

Apparently most of the air we, and our cars, aspirate is N2, 78.084% no less.

Question: What Is the Chemical Composition of Air?
Nearly all of the Earth's atmosphere is made up of only five gases: nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, argon, and carbon dioxide. Several other compounds also are present. Although this CRC table does not list water vapor, air can contain as much as 5% water vapor, more commonly ranging from 1-3%. The 1-5% range places water vapor as the third most common gas (which alters the other percentages accordingly).
Answer: This is composition of air in percent by volume, at sea level at 15°C and 101325 Pa.
Nitrogen -- N2 -- 78.084%

Oxygen -- O2 -- 20.9476%

Argon -- Ar -- 0.934%

Carbon Dioxide -- CO2 -- 0.0314%

From the interwebs, it must be true!

[SC Stangger]

Just a question to ponder for all the nitrogen proponents.

How do you get the "bad" air out of the tires?
Youd have to do this in a vacuum and I dont think the tires or wheels would be very useable afterwards.

Its a very old scam.

[silverblueBP]

To properly fill your tires with N, you need to add a second air valve. You hook up a vacuum pump to one valve and the nitrogen to the other (opposite side of wheel). As you evacuate all of the "air", it gets replaced with N.

*Warning* make sure to extinguish all ignition sources before cracking the valve on the nitrogen bottle. You don't want to end up like the Hindenburg.

[Klutch]

Originally Posted by silverblueBP

*Warning* make sure to extinguish all ignition sources before cracking the valve on the nitrogen bottle. You don't want to end up like the Hindenburg.

But nitrogen isn't flammable.