As i was watching TV last night there as a thing on the news about putting nitrogen in tires, i guess it give you better gas mileage, and improves the tires stabilaty, therefore improving the handling.... has anyone heard of this? what are the advantages to use nitrogen in our tires?

 

It doesn't really give better gas mileage, it just doesn't leak as much therefore less underinflation and better gas mileage. If you check your inflation every so often it's no big deal.

 

The advantage to using Nitrogen is prolly that there is only 1 type of gas in the tire.

Therefore, the tire will heat evenly at a predictable rate.

Normal air has all kinds of gas in it, Carbon Dioxide, Oxygen, Helium, Nitrogen, Carbon Monoxide.....etc.

 

adding to what drewbie said, it supposedly doesnt leak out / deflate as fast as regular compressed air

i know my parents take their car to costco sometimes to get their rotation done, and they always put nitrogen into the cars they service. the tire pressure in my moms car is very consistent all year long.

 

Since nitrogen is typically distributed in pure form (pressurized tank) it has virtually no moisture in it. This prevents major fluctuations in tire pressure when the tires are heated and cooled.

For example: when you fill your tires with standard air, there will be water vapor in that air. When you heat your tires (whether on the track or just ambient temp rises) that water vapor will expand greatly, raising your tire pressures more than expected. This is a problem for race engineers as they operate their cars at the limit. If there are unknown variables, their settings won't be accurate and the car's handling will suffer. The same is true if the temperature falls after you fill your tires with air (midwest winters). That water vapor will shrink and your tires will loose a ton of pressure thereby killing your mileage.

In summary, any gas without moisture can be used, but is it really worth the cost? Isn't it cheaper to just check your pressures regularly? If you do end up doing it though be sure to do it when your new tires are mounted, and purge 3 tire volumes before setting the pressure. Helium can also be used and has other advantages because it is an inert gas. And NO it will NOT make your car lighter to any noticeable degree.

Doesn't this belong in the wheel/tire forum anyway?


Modified by SGVridgerunner at 8:05 AM 5/7/2006