Question:
Recently I have a friend who told me to pump nitrogen air into my car tyres as this could help take care of the tyres and I do not need to pump air into the tyres as often anymore(lessen down to to once every 4/5 months). Is anybody doing this because I've gone to several mechanics and some have not even heard of it before. Please advise. Thank you!
Answers:
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In the last 2 years or so Nitrogen generators have become affordable enough for even small shops to be able to have them. Thus it is becoming increasingly common but is still far from universal. I know of one big-box retailer that now ONLY uses nitrogen to inflate tires.My shop got a nitrogen generator last year and now offers this to customers who want it. Due to my skeptical nature, before I started selling this product I wanted to see if the claims were true so I started doing a lot of tinkering, trying to be as scientific as possible. Therefore, unilke anyone else who has answered this question I have some actual personal experience and have done quite a bit of personal testing and experimentation with nitrogen filled tires. I'm not talking theory here, or belief based on heresay and misconceptions, but actual, real world testing.
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The air we breath is about 78% nitrogen to be exact. The nitro generator fills the tires with 95-97% nitrogen so it is enough to make a difference, provided the claims are correct.
From my experience the biggest benefit of the nitrogen fill is the one the brochures talk about the least - the lack of moisture. Compressed air, even with a line drier fitted (like in my shop) still has a fair amount of water in it. I know because I watch the mechanics clean it out of their air tools all the time. Nitrogen is inherently dry. A tire properly filled with nitrogen (inflate, deflate, inflate again) will have nearly all the moisture removed. This moisture contribues to rim corrosion that can cause bead leaks. I see those a lot at my shop. It is this moisture that also causes increases and drops in tire pressure with temperature. In tests I conducted with my portable air tank that has a built-in pressure guage I have found that when filled with line dried compressed air the pressure will fluctate with temperature (moving from shade to direct sunlight for example) by as much as 15 psi. It did not do this when I purged the tank and filled it with Nitrogen. The pressure stayed constant. I also noticed that when I purged my portable air tank with nitrogen using the same method I would use to convert a tire to nitrogen fill that I no longer had water sloshing about inside the tank.
In my race tires I have found what when I fill them with Nitrogen my tire temps average between 10-15 deg F cooler than when I was using line dried compressed air. I have also noticed that on long (300+ mile) road trips that there is almost no pressure change when filled with Nitrogen where I would normally experience pressure increases of 2-3 psi when using line dried compressed air. After 6 months of winter storage my race tires when filled with nitrogen were at the same pressure when I pulled them out as when I put them away. When using line dried compressed air previously I always noted some pressure drop. In spite of what the poster above said, tires are permeable to air. That is why, on average, a tire will lose about 1 psi per month even if it just sits in a temperature controlled environment. Anyone who works in the tire industry (like I do) knows this. Its tire knowledge 101. A greater density of larger, heavier molucules will leak more slowly causing less pressure loss over a given period of time. In my experience, the Nitrogen fill delivers.
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To be honest, I think some of the claims made for Nitrogen are at least overstated, but that doesn't make it any different than the advertising claims for most products. It hasn't done boo that I can tell for my bicycle tires for example. I still have to top them up just about as often as if I filled them with compressed air. But nitrogen definately has benefits on passenger car tires, the lack of moisture being probably the biggest but also the one most overlooked in the brochures. Less moisture promotes tire logetivity and helps prevent corrosion related leaks, which are a real problem in my area at least.
My personal experience with Nitrogen has demonstrated more consistent pressures with temperature changes and more consistent pressures over time. Theoretically at least, my wheels should be at less risk for corrosion related leaks (that takes longer to test). If those benefits are worthwhile to you then by all means, use nitrogen. If not, don't.
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PS
For all you professional mechanics?
I love debunking. I'm a die-hard skeptic. Penn & Teller and Michael Shermer are my personal heroes. anywherebuttexas is an alleged debunker who made some goofy claims above that need to be addressed. I have nothing against him, but this kind of debunking gives skeptics like me a bad name.
1. Most PROFESSIONAL racers do use nitrogen.
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2. Topping off your tire with compressed air does not eventually lead to a nitrogen filled tire. This is nonsense in its most basic form.
3. Nitrogen filled tires run cooler due to the lack of moisture, even over tires filled with line dried compressed air. My own testing confirms this. It has nothing to do with gas laws, the water is the issue.
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4). Nitrogen use in aircraft tires is mandated by the FAA, not as a matter of "convenience" and not because tires catch fire at high speeds (they don't) but because of nitrogens inherent dryness and resistance to temperature changes (remember, an airline goes from -50 deg F to + 110 deg F in minutes).
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5). This would be true if air on the OUTSIDE of the tire was highly pressurized and the tread and base rubber wasn't so much thicker than the inner-liner.
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I've heard that the only advantage is that the tires will hold air longer and require topping up less frequently.How to Fix a Scratch on a Car?
Despite lots of advertising, it doesn't do a thing unless you're driving a race car or an airliner. Aircraft and race drivers use nitrogen in their tires because it won't support combustion and thus will help keep the tires from catching fire inside if they overheat.Engine flush question - did I get hosed?
The nitrogen and oxygen molecules are just about the same size, so their rates of diffusion out of the tire will be about equal. And air is 80% nitrogen anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference in any case. Your tires are designed to be filled with air, and a change to nitrogen won't make any difference you could notice, except for the cost.
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This is rather a specialized thing - unless you have some pressing need to do it, I'd just use regular air, which is mostly nitrogen anyway.just add air when u need it and worry about something real
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1) Most racers don't use nitrogen. I've raced for years on air filled tires, never had a problem. Those racers that do use nitrogen usually do so because they have nitrogen pressure cylinders for some other purpose. If you have it, there's no sense in carrying an air compressor to the track. Very high speed racers such as LSR and F1 prefer a dry fill, since any condensed water will vaporize when the tire gets hot, and possibly cause unbalanced pressures. Tank nitrogen is usually dry, but it's also acceptable to put a drier inline with an air compressor to achieve the same thing. This effect is too tiny to notice at normal road speeds, it has nothing to do with your Merc.
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2) Nitrogen fill doesn't last any longer than air. The rationale they'll give for this is that nitrogen is heavier than oxygen, so it doesn't squeeze out through the rubber. Well, air is 80% nitrogen. So if oxygen squeezes out through the rubber, then in time, you will have a pure nitrogen fill. Top it off with air, and after a few times you will have a tire full of nitrogen. It's nonsense, rubber is pretty much impermeable to oxygen, nitrogen, or air.
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3) Nitrogen doesn't run cooler. It simply doesn't. It will follow the gas laws, just like oxygen, and has similar thermal characteristics. So pressure will increase as the tires heat.
4) Nitrogen is used in aircraft tires mainly because pressurized nitrogen is available in commercial aircraft hangars, used to pressurize hydraulics. Since aircraft tires are pressurized to 300lbs, filling them from a 1500 lb cylinder of nitrogen is a lot more sensible than installing a high pressure air pump. Also, aircraft fly at altitudes where the ambient temperature is far below zero. Any water would freeze, throwing the tire out of balance on landing. Filling with dry nitrogen avoids this problem. Finally, when landing at 200 mph, there is a tendeny for tires to catch fire, and a nitrogen fill has fire retardant value. What does any of this have to do with cars? Nothing.
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5) A pure nitrogen fill doesn't make it less likely that a tire rots from the inside out. If a tire fails due to chemical degradation, it's going to fail from the outside in. The outside of the tire lives in air and sunlight. Not to mention a regular bath of road salt, detergents, and acid rain. By contrast, the inside of the tire is rubber heaven.
6) No matter what gas you fill your tires with, pressure will change with ambient temperature. If the temperature dips to 10 degrees, will you have a nitrogen station handy to increase your pressure?
7) You can't fill your tires with pure nitrogen. When you mount the tires, they are filled with air. Adding additional gas, whether it be air or nitrogen, simply pressurizes the tire...the air that was originally inside remains there.
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i have researched and tested nitrogen many of times, i used nitrogen whilst filling fire extingushers and have it in abundance at home in shed.How do I remove a spoiler from a car?
i filled two tyres and ran tests.
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Temp = no change
Handling = no change
Noise = no change
Pressure difference = no change
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overal, no change.
your tyres are a pressure vessel that holds up your vehicle, checking pressures regulary is important (VERY IMPORTANT).. tyres are involved in handling, braking and traction. your car sits on the road on about 4 inches of rubber per corner.. check pressures every two weeks, this can be done by tapping the tyres with a iron bar (you will hear a tyre that has low pressure, it sounds dull) or just visually.
this is if you cant use a pressure gauge.
always told never to mix, i have = no change
Nitrogen is probably the biggest ripoff in the history of tire service. The only reason racers use it is because pure nitrogen is less prone to expand when it is heated, which is what happens to normal air inside a tire that is running at high speed. Racers are anal when it comes to tire pressure, because it affects the handling of their car, and any change in pressure can cause their lap times to suffer. Since the air we breathe and put in our tires is 70 percent nitrogen anyway, paying ten bucks a tire to get that extra 30 percent and then having to find a place that sells nitrogen every time we need to pump up the tires is a total waste of time and money. A reputable tire shop probably wouldn't even bother suggesting nitrogen, at least if they want my business again. Now Dodge Man, on the other hand, would probably recommend nitrogen. He's just that kind of guy. Then some moron will pick his answer as best answer, in spite of the fact that he doesn't know shiit.
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