oblivion
- They give you pretty green caps for your valve stems.
The pro for this is temporary. The cap tops break off if someone does not steal them first… I actually had mine stolen. I get nitr free but is still to much of a PITB to worry about.
Simply:
Buy two balloons.
Fill one with air and one with nitrogen.
Leave them as is laying around.
The one with the air will wilt sooner.
The one with the nitrogen will stay full much longer since less permeation through the rubber will occur.
Complexer and detailed:
First is that nitrogen is less likely to migrate through tire rubber than is oxygen, which means that your tire pressures will remain more stable over the long term. Racers figured out pretty quickly that tires filled with nitrogen rather than air also exhibit less pressure change with temperature swings. That means more consistent inflation pressures during a race as the tires heat up. And when you’re tweaking a race car’s handling with half-psi changes, that’s important.
Passenger cars can also benefit from the more stable pressures. But there’s more: Humidity (water) is a Bad Thing to have inside a tire. Water, present as a vapor or even as a liquid in a tire, causes more of a pressure change with temperature swings than dry air does. It also promotes corrosion of the steel or aluminum rim.
If I ever need to top off a tire when I’m out on the road, I’ll always briefly depress the tire chuck’s valve with my thumbnail and vent some air. If my thumb gets wet, there’s water in the line. Some gas stations don’t do a very good job of keeping the humidity out of their air system. I don’t even like to use a water-based tire-mounting lubricant unless I can let the tire bake in the sun for a couple of hours before I air it up and seat the bead. I’ve dismounted tires (not mine) that had several quarts of water inside—probably from a compressed-air hose that collected water and was never purged properly.
How is water relevant to a nitrogen discussion? Any system that delivers pure nitrogen is also going to deliver dry nitrogen. Filling tires with nitrogen involves filling and purging several times in succession, serially diluting the concentration of oxygen in the tire. This will also remove any water.
It’s certainly simple, although time-consuming, for a tire technician to fill and bleed tires. But most shops use a machine that not only generates almost pure nitrogen by straining the oxygen out of shop-compressed air, but will also automatically go through several purge cycles unattended. Some shops have been charging as much as $30 per tire for this service. I think that’s too much. If you’re buying a new tire, it should be far less. Still, the nitrogen generator, filling system and technician’s time aren’t free—the dealer is entitled to some return for that.
So, to answer your specific questions: With nitrogen, your tire pressures will remain more constant, saving you a small amount in fuel and tire-maintenance costs. There will be less moisture inside your tires, meaning less corrosion on your wheels. You will not be able to feel any difference in the ride or handling or braking, unless your tire pressures were seriously out of spec and changing to nitrogen brought them back to the proper numbers.
I give up! The “Dark Force”, the sales gurus, are just too powerful to defeat!
That would be a pretty good demonstration … if we drove around on balloons. We don’t. We drive around on tires.
Racing rims that are made to use nitrogen have two valve stems, one for injecting nitrogen, and one for sucking air out. If your rims only have one valve stem each, it’s impossible to get the air out.
Passenger cars can also benefit from the more stable pressures. But there’s more: Humidity (water) is a Bad Thing to have inside a tire. Water, present as a vapor or even as a liquid in a tire, causes more of a pressure change with temperature swings than dry air does. It also promotes corrosion of the steel or aluminum rim.
WHAT??? WOW…Have you fallen for the bogus hype…
If water was EVER an issue…rims would have been rusting out to beyond repair for YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS…Guess what…THEY HAVEN’T. I defy you to show me a rim less then 20 years old that’s rusted out beyond use.
Race cars using Nitrogen is one thing…private passenger cars is another…The difference between Nitrogen filled tires and just regular air (which is 70% Nitrogen anyways) is INSIGNIFICANT. Nitrogen will eventually leak out of your tires…So instead of adding air every 12 weeks you might need to add air every 13 weeks…INSIGNIFICANT…
With nitrogen, your tire pressures will remain more constant, saving you a small amount in fuel and tire-maintenance costs.
Won’t save you ONE penny in fuel savings or tire-maintenance…NOT ONE.
Race cars have another reason for using nitrogen that passenger cars need not consider: nitrogen will not feed a fire, air (the oxygen in it) will.
But I think the “Dark Forces” have won out. I’ll say this, whoever buys Dorcom’s car when he’s through with it will get a car that’s at least had attention paid to its oil and its tires.That is a good thing.
What a welll-written load of BS. Dorcon, your balloon test will fail, since 78% of the air in the ballon is nitrogen. Actually, the nitrogen balloon might hold more pressure because oxygen will migrate INTO the ballon, to equalize the pressure of oxygen inside and outside the balloon.
Racers use nitrogen for precise repeatability and for safety in case of fire, there’s no differnce in how either expands with temperature.
Wheel corrosion is not an issue, the amount of water in one tire fill of air is nothing compared to the water encountered by a wheel on the OUTSIDE. Either you’re a salesman or you’ve bought their spiel.
Just what the world needs, an excuse not to check tire pressure as often.
Using nitrogen in your tires has the potential to lead to harm if you think you can go longer between tire checks. That slow leak you didn’t know you had? It just left you stranded because you thought, because you have pure nitrogen in your tires, you don’t need to check your tire pressure as often. The longer you go between checks, whether you use pure nitrogen or regular old air, the more likely you won’t notice a problem until it leaves you stranded.
Gee, because the traction a tire carries is proportional to the weight it carries, why not just add a mixture of water and calcium chloride. Sure, there may be a disadvantage or two over pure nitrogen, but you will amaze your friends with your ability to drive through 6 inches of snow with your Scion tC with vigor. Stopping might be a problem…but then you will actually notice a difference in performance as opposed to using nitrogen. It makes as much sense.
Dag, since I’m the only known tC here, I have to asume that you’re referring to me. And I’m totally puzzled as to your point. My only points were that
- the “dark forces” (the marketing people) have won out and convinved the OP that there’s added valuet o nitrogen, and
- at least the OP is paying attention to his tires. It’s better to be “sold” o nnitrogen and paying attention to te tire pressure than not to pay attention to the tires at all.
In another thread the OP asked about synthetic oils, which is why I included that in my answer.
Same…Two points…yes I was referring to you in jest, and loading with nitrogen makes as much sense as loading with calcium chloride. I agree with your points totally. You get something that is absolutely not worthwhile, but something to brag about with your friends. You do your part to enhance the economy and use some thing American made, nitrogen. Like…buying bottled water for no reason ?
Got it.
The water and calcium chloride threw me. Mixed, the two form hydrochloric acid and calcium oxide…and heat…lots of heat. Put that in a wheel and Lord knows what you’d end up with. At least Nitrogen is inert.
The bottled water analogy is a good one, though.
Same…
http://www.liquidcalciumchloride.com/tire.html
http://www.tetrachemicalseurope.com/Applications/Tire_Weighting.aqf
Hmmmmmm…
I was unaware that this was used in offroad applications as ballast.
It’s a good day. I’ve learned something. Thanks.
I had no idea myself how valuable it was and initially just considered wheel weights. Then, when buying my first tractor many years ago, the dealer, who knew where I would be using it, said he would refuse to sell me one unless I did load the tires this way.
By the way, I have had lots of good days learning things from everyone including many from you in particular.
Thank YOU.