nitrogen in car tires

[renovation]

nitrogen - hype or really worth putting in your tires

[InfiniteNothing]

Air's already 70 percent nitrogen so I guess putting nitrogen in is better than not putting nitrogen in :shrug: Now, helium: that's where it's at. Save a little unsprung weight and moment of inertia.

[MrGreg]

But aren't helium particals smaller, and therefore more likely so slowly leak out through the tire?

[InfiniteNothing]

Yes, but I imagine most of a tire's deflation is convection not diffusion.

[kgsilvas]

This site has lots of info on it: http://www.getnitrogen.org

Costco has been using nitrogen for over a year now. They have espoused that it is better than regular air.

[Maarchk]

I think its worth it if you drive a lot. its not that expensive and it helps with gas mileage and other little aspects. i might do it on my next set but i'm gonna let these tires finish out.

[ramazank2]

Many race car teams use nitrogen instead of air in their tires because nitrogen has a much more consistent rate of expansion and contraction compared to the usual air. Often, a half pound of pressure will radically affect traction and handling. With track and tire temperatures varying over the duration of a race, the consistency of nitrogen is needed.
Nitrogen pressure is more consistent than normal air pressure, because air typically contains varying amounts of moisture due to changes in the relative humidity on race day. Water causes air to be inconsistent in its rate of expansion and contraction. So, a humid race in the southeast United States or a dry race in the desert western United States could make for unpredictable tire pressures if "dry" nitrogen were not used.

Nitrogen is also used in the high-pressure tires on large and small aircraft.


http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question594.htm

[Dave_7]

:agree:

Yeah, it's the water in the air (and the lack of it in nitrogen-filled tires) that makes the difference.


Dave.

[mechmike0034]

I see some potential for benefit with nitrogen, but I personally wouldn't pay extra for it. I have a compressor, so I am pretty anal about tire pressure. My wife's car has Nitrogen in the tires because we got them at Costco.