Nitrogen-Filled tires for street?

[Al J]

My wife just took her new Volvo in for its first service, and the dealer talked her into refilling her tires w/nitrogen, claiming better mileage, no slow leaks & a better ride.
Seems to drive the same to me---only difference is $39 less in the checking account.
Is this "upgrade" of any value for a street car--or just a dealer scam to make more $$$$$?

 

[reddy351]

I can't believe they charge for that. From what I understand, because the molecule is larger, there is less chance for leaks. Also, nitrogen doesn't carry water, so the oxidation that normally goes on inside the tire, shouldn't happen.

Stay fair, give me air! Hahahahahahahahaha!

 

[BlackVert]

seems like a rip off to me. outside air is already 78% nitrogen.

http://mistupid.com/chemistry/aircomp.htm

 

[ProKiller]

yeah they tried talking me into that when i got new tires for the jeep. i told them quite sternly no.

 

[Kevin R.]

LOL.

That is ridiculous.

 

[OrangeMustangGt]

Yeah, I agree Its a waste of time and money. The only advantage i can see is that it wouldent have any moisture in it..but who cares. If your tire is leaking with are, nitrogen wont help. Just like when people use those portable c02 kits to fill there tires....now theres and issue...c02 changes 11psi with every temp deg.

 

[90bronconate]

ya, the mercedes dealership pulled that one on my mom... i tried to explain to her that our atmosphere is already like 75% nitrogen. she didn't believe me and her response was, "well then how can we breathe?" haha oh well.

 

[WHITE94COBRA]

See when I got the new tire's put on, thats all they use at my buddies shop. However the charge to the customer is like $4. The advantage is no water, less air leakage, and for high dollar rims and tires like they put on its worth it to the customer, however if you just go and fill them with air in a few months, it's a complete waste.

 

[bimmertech]

i'll copy and paste the bulletin later, but bmw does not recommend nitrogen for your tires.


SI B 36 04 06
Wheels and Tires April 2006
Technical Service

SUBJECT
Nitrogen Inflated Tires


MODEL
All


SITUATION
Many customers have inquired about the use of Nitrogen, instead of air, to inflate tires on their BMW vehicles. Please review the information below to help answer some of the customer's inquiries.

INFORMATION

Nitrogen, an inert gas, is nothing more than dry air with the Oxygen removed. The majority of "air" already consists of Nitrogen (78% by volume). The other elements of air by volume are 21% Oxygen and 1% other gases.

All BMW approved tires have been designed and tested to deliver their expected performance when inflated with "air" and the correct tire inflation pressure is maintained on a regular basis.

The use of Nitrogen to inflate tires is not recommended for normal use of BMW vehicles; however, the use of Nitrogen is also not prohibited.

There are certain applications where Nitrogen inflation is advisable, i.e. in abnormal environment where wheel and tire overheating may occur such as in aircrafts, space shuttles, military vehicles, off-road trucks, and race cars. In these applications, the non-flammable Nitrogen can reduce the risk of fire, because Nitrogen does not support combustion and does not add fuel to the fire.

The physical properties of Nitrogen may reduce the inflation pressure loss only from the tire material natural permeability (diffusion through rubber). However, similar to air, Nitrogen can still escape from other sources of inflation pressure loss such as from wheel, wheel/tire interface, valve, and valve/wheel interface.

The most important thing for the customers is to maintain the correct tire inflation pressure on a regular basis as recommended in the Owner's Manual. Under inflated tires can reduce road holding, increase hydroplaning risk, increase road hazards sensitivity, reduce tire life, increase fuel consumption, etc.

If equipped on the vehicle, always reinitialize the Flat Tire Monitor (FTM) or reset the Tire Pressure Monitor (TPM) after the tire inflation pressure has been corrected.

 

[go-stang5.0]

Nitrogen is nice (for race cars and special apps) because its insensitive to temp. changes. That way you can dial in tire pressures and dont have to worry about them changing as the tires get hot/cold etc. The only benifit on the street would be to not have to adjust tire pressures for winter/summer. However the down side is that on the highway (when you want your tires to get firmer to prevent over heating) the tire pressure wont increase as the tire heats up. SO when running nitrogen the tire pressure must be a lot higher which makes for a harsher ride at low speed so they don't overheat at low speed. Then again, if you like to run a nice stiff tire even at low speeds then its not really a downside. But at 39$ you got raped .

 

[HISSIN50]

Ben, interesting TSB. Thanks for posting that. As I read it, it's not so much that there's an issue with running nitrogen, but rather they feel it's just kind of unnecessary. I'd have to agree unless I had a huge fleet of seldom-driven cars or something (so I'll never need to worry about it ).

As an aside, nitrogen is nice for aircraft because I dont think it freezes as easily as air. Air in a tire after having been a zillion miles-up can exhibit weird characteristics when landing (the air in the tire is still uber cold even as the plane goes to land).

 

[bimmertech]

Ben, interesting TSB. Thanks for posting that. As I read it, it's not so much that there's an issue with running nitrogen, but rather they feel it's just kind of unnecessary. I'd have to agree unless I had a huge fleet of seldom-driven cars or something (so I'll never need to worry about it ).

As an aside, nitrogen is nice for aircraft because I dont think it freezes as easily as air. Air in a tire after having been a zillion miles-up can exhibit weird characteristics when landing (the air in the tire is still uber cold even as the plane goes to land).

back in my aircraft days we used liq nitr converters to fill up tires.

they would still leak if they sat out on the flightline/hangar for a while.


but yeah, bmw thinks its a total waste on a regular car.

 

[GTA_V6_Mustang]

I get it free at my dealership so I use it in my front tires to keep tire weight down and reduce road force and I can balance with less weights and keeps the steering wheel solid with no vibrations up to 110+ MPH for those long trips