heard that u could put nitrogen in the tires. they say it prevents rust and keeps a constant psi. anyone here heard or tried it before?

 

I have heard of this. More Tire shops across the nation are offering the option to use nitrogen in the tires instead of compressed air. Many performance-enthused drivers have been using this for years and it is just hitting mainstream now.

The benefits however, unless you are constantly ripping corners on the track are very subtle.


To answer your constant PSI question... the nitrogen reacts less to the air temperature opposed to compressed air which may give you a little better gas mileage over longer trips because tires do heat up quite a bit, but its only minor. (maybe 1-2 mpg).

Nitrogen also cannot oxidize causing inner rot inside the tire (the rust you are talking about). But unless you only drive the car on the weekends you are 99% more likely to wear the tread off before inner rot occurs anyways.

it also costs like $19.99 to fill your tires up with nitrogen?

in my opinion for a daily driver car, its definitely not worth it.

And don't forget... The air is 78% nitrogen! (oops)


Modified by ley at 5:25 PM 1/29/2007

 

If you live in an area of high fluctuation, in terms of outside air temperature, having Nitrogen will keep your tires' PSI at a more consistent balance. Is it necessary, not really, but it is a nice feature to not have to fill your tires up every so often. Also, at the places I've seen, that when you get Nitrogen, they give you free fill-ups. But, maybe that's just near me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
And don't forget... Oxygen is 78% nitrogen.</TD></TR></TABLE>

wtf? no. oxygen is oxygen. nitrogen is nitrogen. i think you mean AIR (ex the stuff you breathe) is 78% N2

 

thats what i meant!

 

Its not worth it. Your tires will still loose psi. I work at a toyota dealership and we started using it about 6 months ago and when all the cold fronts came in all the cars with nitrogen had to be topped off.