Nitrogen in Tires?

IntellaWorks · 09-23-2005, 10:51 AM

Hey all,

Every morning I drive by Tire Warehouse and I read a sign that says: Nitrogen Certified dealer. I beleive they fill your tires with nitrogen instead of oxygen. I think this may be a clever idea. Because I live in NH where the temperatures can be extreme, this might help with wear on my tires.

I'm wondering what you guys/gals thought? Anyone using this already? It's calimed to extend the life of your tires and logically makes sense because of pressure changes with normal oxygen in tires during extreme temps.

gospeed.racer · 09-23-2005, 10:58 AM

Racers have been doing it for years. Works great, just not as cheap as plain air

It keeps the pressures much more consistant.

TruckinMP3 · 09-23-2005, 11:29 AM

Air is mostly nitrogen (80%) and partially O2 (20%).
Not sure if the normal driver will see a benefit from 100 % nitrogen.

Maybe for long life as O2 can cause many things to breakdown faster (oxidation)

turbocad6 · 09-23-2005, 11:29 AM

how do they suck the existing oxygen out, or is it just mixed..... AHHHHH, maybe THIS is what those setups with dual valves are for!!!!! I always wondered about those, I think I just figured it out

Scouse Monkey · 09-23-2005, 11:33 AM

20% oxygen could make a big difference to stability as we are only talking a couple of PSI being the difference between uneven wear and good life.

turbocad6 · 09-23-2005, 11:38 AM

exactly.... that may be why they use dual valves.... to perge the oxygen out of one valve while filling from the other.......

mykolJay · 09-23-2005, 11:54 AM

I heard Costco tire centers now fill with nitrogen. They were installing the machines when i was there last 6 mths ago.

sdashiki · 09-23-2005, 12:01 PM

And yet when yer tire, during normal usage, loses a couple of PSI's you hop over to yer gas station and mix yer N2 with pure air. So does putting N2 in your car, when you dont race it and actually use it everday, make a difference? I doubt it.

The constituents of pure air are 78% N2, 21% O2, and ~1% Ar (plus other gases)

And I dont get "keeps pressure consistent"

a gas will extert equal pressure on all sides of its container. So whether the gas is N2 or pure air makes no difference.

turbocad6 · 09-23-2005, 12:08 PM

it's bs for an average car.... truth is the tires will heat up in use....will be a psi or two up or down depending on temp, but they'll all be equal so the point is mute.... tires are designed to work within a range of pressure, they'll never swing enough to go out of range..... I run 38psi front, 32 rear.... fwd 17" wheels..... no problems, even with nyc potholes..... SO FAR

on a race car it's different.... there you want a tightly controlled variable to maximize performance

TruckinMP3 · 09-23-2005, 12:08 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by sdashiki

And yet when yer tire, during normal usage, loses a couple of PSI's you hop over to yer gas station and mix yer N2 with pure air. So does putting N2 in your car, when you dont race it and actually use it everday, make a difference? I doubt it.

The constituents of pure air are 78% N2, 21% O2, and ~1% Ar (plus other gases)

No such thing as pure air... as you state it is a mixture of gases. Air would also have suspended solids (dust).

For the purpose of this discussion 80% Nitrogen and 20% O2 will be fine.
As a side note the universal gas law (PV=nRT) can be used to prove the pressure chage at a constant volume (one tire's volume) due to tempature is not different due to N2 only vs Air.

For those that are curious, my formal education is in Chemistry.

sdashiki · 09-23-2005, 12:12 PM

Well partial pressures aside, pure air and pure N2 will exert an "even pressure" on the tire.

And whats more about "pure" air is that most gas station fill ups have friggen moisture in them. Put your hand in front of an air nozzle and feel the water.

I assume it evaporates, even inside the tire, eventually.

I used the term pure air (because AIR is a relative term) to denote the stuff we breath all day and not a mixture like Nitrox.

sdashiki · 09-23-2005, 12:12 PM

Well partial pressures aside, pure air and pure N2 will exert an "even pressure" on the tire.

And whats more about "pure" air is that most gas station fill ups have friggen moisture in them. Put your hand in front of an air nozzle and feel the water.

I assume it evaporates, even inside the tire, eventually.

I used the term pure air (because AIR is a relative term) to denote the stuff we breath all day and not a mixture like Nitrox.

bring me Avagadro's NUMBER PRONTO!

IntellaWorks · 09-23-2005, 12:15 PM

I'm wodnering with more stable and equal pressure will the vehicle have a 'better ride'?

sdashiki · 09-23-2005, 12:21 PM

There is no "equal" pressure. Thats what a GAS inside a volume is, EQUAL.

Stable?

What?

turbocad6 · 09-23-2005, 12:31 PM

It's bull.... a tire that is in normal use will spend the first 10 mins or so at a psi or 2 less than it will the rest of the usage time..... there is no problem there.... in the winter you may notice that your tires are a few psi down..... that's the only real issue here as far as normal passenger tires are concerned....