Nitrogen or Not

[Judboy]

What is the advantage to getting nitrogen in the tires? Also, should the psi be 35 or 40? The one I am looking at has 20" Chrome Wheels.

[JaronM3]

I don't think it really makes a difference unless your racing. Tires heat up causing the tire pressure to expand. Nitrogen doesn't change tire pressure much with temperature changes.

[vetteboy9]

It's novelty for almost all users. Think about this- you notice your tires are down a couple psi, as they naturally will do over time. Now you get to go to the dealership or tire shop and pay them to fill the tires up instead of just doing that most basic of maintenence tasks yourself since adding regular air will contaiminate the pure nitrogen in the tire. No thank you.

[tbarn]

Not unless it's free. Nothing wrong it it but no real benefit worth paying for. Air is 78.09% nitrogen.

 

GM's Position on the Use of Nitrogen Gas in Tires

General Motors does not oppose the use of purified nitrogen as an inflation gas for tires. We expect the theoretical benefits to be reduced in practical use due to the lack of an existing infrastructure to continuously facilitate inflating tires with nearly pure nitrogen. Even occasional inflation with compressed atmospheric air will negate many of the theoretical benefits. Given those theoretical benefits, practical limitations, and the robust design of GM original equipment TPC tires, the realized benefits to our customer of inflating their tires with purified nitrogen are expected to be minimal.

The Promise of Nitrogen: Under Controlled Conditions

Recently, nitrogen gas (for use in inflating tires) has become available to the general consumer through some retailers. The use of nitrogen gas to inflate tires is a technology used in automobile racing. The following benefits under controlled conditions are attributed to nitrogen gas and its unique properties:

• A reduction in the expected loss of Tire Pressure over time.
• A reduction in the variance of Tire Pressures with temperature changes due to reduction of water vapor concentration.
• A reduction of long term rubber degradation due to a decrease in oxygen concentrations.

  Important: These are obtainable performance improvements when relatively pure nitrogen gas is used to inflate tires under controlled conditions.

The Promise of Nitrogen: Real World Use

Nitrogen inflation can provide some benefit by reducing gas migration (pressure loss) at the molecular level through the tire structure. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has stated that the inflation pressure loss of tires can be up to 5% a month. Nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen molecules and, therefore, are less prone to “seeping” through the tire casing. The actual obtainable benefits of nitrogen vary, based on the physical construction and the materials used in the manufacturing of the tire being inflated.

Another potential benefit of nitrogen is the reduced oxidation of tire components. Research has demonstrated that oxygen consumed in the oxidation process of the tire primarily comes from the inflation media. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that oxidation of tire components can be reduced if the tire is inflated with pure nitrogen. However, only very small amounts of oxygen are required to begin the normal oxidation process. Even slight contamination of the tire inflation gas with compressed atmospheric air during normal inflation pressure maintenance, may negate the benefits of using nitrogen.

GM Tire Quality, Technology and Focus of Importance

Since 1972, General Motors has designed tires under the TPC (Tire Performance Criteria) specification system, which includes specific requirements that ensure robust tire performance under normal usage. General Motors works with tire suppliers to design and manufacture original equipment tires for GM vehicles. The GM TPC addresses required performance with respect to both inflation pressure retention, and endurance properties for original equipment tires. The inflation pressure retention requirements address availability of oxygen and oxidation concerns, while endurance requirements ensure the mechanical structure of the tire has sufficient strength. This combination has provided our customers with tires that maintain their structural integrity throughout their useful treadlife under normal operating conditions.

Regardless of the inflation media for tires (atmospheric air or nitrogen), inflation pressure maintenance of tires is critical for overall tire, and ultimately, vehicle performance. Maintaining the correct inflation pressure allows the tire to perform as intended by the vehicle manufacturer in many areas, including comfort, fuel economy, stopping distance, cornering, traction, treadwear, and noise. Since the load carrying capability of a tire is related to inflation pressure, proper inflation pressure maintenance is necessary for the tire to support the load imposed by the vehicle without excessive structural degradation.

Important: Regardless of the inflation media for tires (atmospheric air or nitrogen), inflation pressure maintenance of tires is critical for overall tire, and ultimately, vehicle performance.

[DanMan_S]

I agree that the nitrogen filling is pure marketing. As air you get for free is already roughly 80% nitrogen, under normal circumstances, it would be nearly impossible to notice a difference between regular air and pure nitrogen. My background is in engineering and I spend alot of time dealing with different fluids/gases under many different process conditions, and if you actually do the PV=nRT and Van Der Waal's calculations for pure nitrogen vs air at temperatures that your vehicle would actually see, their behaviour differences would have a negligible effect on the operation of your vehicle.

 

A person would get much more value out of actually checking on their tire pressure and tire wear on a regular basis in their driveway, instead of paying the dealership to fill the tires with gaseous snake oil. I also don't agree completely with the comments on air migration from the tires. I've left my vehicles sitting in a temperature controlled shop for months during the winter and have many occasions where there was no change in tire pressure. I'd say in quite a few of those instances where gas migration is 'observed', a faulty or loose valve stem, or a bad bead seal would be a more likely cause. Also keep in mind that if the air in your tire is migrating out, and you keep filling it with air from your garage compressor, eventually you'll end up with nearly pure nitrogen anyhow: if the air in your tire is 80% nitrogen, and the other 20% leaks out, and then you top off the tire with your compressor, the 20% deficit will composed of 80% nitrogen, giving you roughly 94% nitrogen total in your tire (if we assume that all of the other 20% components leak out). Essentially, your tire becomes a nitrogen filter, so that argument is flawed from a sales perspective as you would have effectively eliminated the risk of gas migration after filling the tires 2 or 3 times.

 

I do agree with the comments of water in the air in the tires. This can cause issues and change the PVT behaviour, but this can be addressed by using a good dehydrator/separator on your compressor. For safety sake, you should be doing this anyhow to help minimize the risk of the compressor tank rusting and eventually failing while under pressure.

 

In regards to the comments about protecting the tire rubber from oxygen degradation, if you fill the tire with pure nitrogen, how do you protect it from the oxygen in the AMBIENT EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT? I don't know about anyone else, but I've personally never seen a tire fail from oxygen degradation BEFORE it had to be replaced due to having no tread left or some other physical failure. I wouldn't waste time worrying about the rubber decomposing due to oxygen. I would worry more about UV degradation which you can observe with any tire that has been left in the sun for any length of time.

 

Honestly, the whole nitrogen filling fad is the dealership taking advantage of individuals that should be performing this maintenance or observation themselves for their safety, the safety of their passengers or other drivers on the road. It should be a habit to visually check the shape of the tires or use a gauge on a regular basis. I fear that alot of people will assume that because they paid the dealership to fill their tires with nitrogen, they will feel that they won't need to worry about the state of the tire pressure until the next service appointment, which can be dangerous if they have a tire failure or a leak due to a puncture, bad valve or any other minor issue that could have been caught with easy preventative maintenance.

[Spurshot]

Ive never seen a tire deteriorate inside before the outside was unusable.

[Isriam]

didnt realize nitrogen wouldn't change pressure with temps. so really you can set your tires to 32 psi and it should stay there for months?

[LSR Mike]

The basics are that Oxygen carries water, Nitrogen does not. when oxygen heats up, so does the water, water turning into steam occupies 11 times the volume, hence pressure going up.

Racing teams started using nitrogen bottles to power their "air" tools before they used it for tire inflation because the bottles were more portable and didn't introduce water vapor into the tools making them fail... then, having nitrogen around made it easier to inflate the tires also..Viola! Tire shops tout the benefits of Nitrogen filled tires to the masses...they bite, hook line & sinker...

 

landspeed racers have been using nitrogen for years, because you don't need a blowout at 300MPH, and tire temps get really high, and thats another reason they use really high tire pressures; to reduce the sidewall flex, which produces heat in a rolling tire...i could go on but I'll save some for google searches...

 

Oh yeah, short answer, it's bullshit unless you plan on going 200MPH in a circle for 3 hours or in a straight line at 300MPH for 5 miles

[Silverado-Hareek]

Nothing it's all BS. Save your money and just put regular air in your tires.

[BR-TEXAS]

just to comment, mine comes with nitrogen and a fancy brochure explain why it is good, bla bla bla. Maybe the dealer did that and I didn't paid for that, so I don't care.

[soltys]

The benefit is also the Nitrogen molecules are bigger then air molecules so the chances of pressure escaping around the alloy rims (which the metal expands and contracts) is less likely. It still happens, especially in climates that have more extreme hots and colds. And when does it happen, right when you're about to hit the road when all the shops that have nitrogen are closed.

 

I've had factory nitrogen in my past 4 vehicles and tire changes - it does nothing and I see no change. So the first time that I need a top up in psi, I just hit it with the air compressor and continue with the day.

[DanMan_S]

I use 78% nitrogen mix in my truck. Works great!

 

It's competitively priced too!

[patriot]

I run 78% nitrogen in ALL my vehicles. I even breathe the stuff. It's called.....

 

 

 

AIR.

 

You should be far more concerned about dhmo contamination of your vehicle.

 

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html#CONCERN

[surebuttercringe]

The only thing that I will add is that I had nitrogen in my previous truck and for 2 years, it maintained perfect pressure. This is sitting outside hot or cold. Not once did I have to fill the tires with nitrogen and I get it for free since I work at an air separation plant.

 

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[LSR Mike]

The benefit is also the Nitrogen molecules are bigger then air molecules so the chances of pressure escaping around the alloy rims (which the metal expands and contracts) is less likely. It still happens, especially in climates that have more extreme hots and colds. And when does it happen, right when you're about to hit the road when all the shops that have nitrogen are closed.

 

I've had factory nitrogen in my past 4 vehicles and tire changes - it does nothing and I see no change. So the first time that I need a top up in psi, I just hit it with the air compressor and continue with the day.

 

 

Somebody Flunked chemistry.....The periodic table is separated based on molecular weight, not molecular size.