I’ve been hearing a lot about pumping hydrogen into tires. Does anyone out there know much about this and is it a good thing?

Unless you are buying Hindenberg brand tires, I doubt that they would be filled with hydrogen. Nitrogen inflation is reputed to have some advantages, but I surely wouldn’t pay extra for it. While Costco provides nitrogen inflation at no extra charge with their tires, someone reported on this forum…

Really, the only benefit of using Nitrogen instead of plain old air is that Nitrogen atoms are larger than oxygen atoms. Therefore, it takes longer for them to seep out of your tires. The end result is that you have to add air to your tires less often. If you used Hydrogen, then you would have to c…

It’s a sales gimmick. If it’s free, it’s harmless, but if they want to charge you pass on getting it. Air is already 77% nitrogen. The real reason race cars use it is that pure nitrogen, because it contains no oxygen, will not feed a fire should there be one in the pits.

I check air pressure routinely one a month and rarely need to air any air, maybe once every 6 months, and then only a pound or two. How much air can seep out through the tire itself???

Very little seeps out, Consumer Reports tested it, and it made a very small (1-2 psi) difference over an entire year, so it’s much smaller than the seasonal variations from temperature, and meaningless to anyone that’s checking tires as often as they should.

Actually some race cars use it because there is less difference between cold and hot tire pressure.

Another thing to consider is, how do you get the remaining air out of a tire that’s even flat before filling it with nitrogen ? You still won’t have a 100% nitrogen filled tire. Maybe in the future they will try and convince you to add helium. Nothing but a gimmick.

A couple of places around here do it, including one who has a little sticker “Do U N2?”

I’ve heard that, the only reason that might be true is because there might be less water vapor in nitrogen, so no condensation can occur. Oxygen is no different than nitrogen as far as expansion with temperature. Race cars need precise pressure control to 0.1 psi, something no street car needs.

Hydrogen in tires?

Maintenance/Repairs

MikeInNH September 29, 2008, 11:47pm 9

There was an article I read recently about this Nitrogen gimmick. A tire company tested 20 different tires over a 1 year period. The tires filled with normal air loss on average 2lbs of pressure per year…While the tires filled with Nitrogen loss 1.2lbs of pressure…So is that .8lbs of tire pressure loss over a 1 year period worth the cost??

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Hydrogen in tires?

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