Nitrogen in the tires

[mdgeorge]

Do you use nitro in your tires?

My understanding is that the water content of air can cause problems: Loss of air pressure, damage the inside of the tire, rust the wheel, etc

Nitrogen is said to not vary the tire pressure as much.

http://www.getnitrogen.org/

[tombstone]

The Air Force uses Nitro in their plane tires, with nitro carts on each base it is not that big of a pain to use....for them.

[timebandit]

I've got it in all my vehicles and trailers.
Does it do a difference? ???
Don't know, but didn't cost me anything to have them filled up http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif

[dank]

I figure I'm at 78% nitrogen with regular old air. Good enough for me.

[unwind2]

My hubbie swears by it. So we've got nitrogen in all vehicles tires. On his first goldwing.... He used the same type tires each time replaced. 1st set with regular air got 14500 out of them, second set with nitro got 22,000. Got a new goldwing and first thing he did was put nitro in the tires.
When I got new tires for the Nomad he took it and had nitro put in it.

His understanding is that if you don't do it when the tires are fairly new it won't help that much as the tires deteriote from inside and process will have already started...so he has it done whenever gets new tires.

Tire place here replaces air with nitro $5 per tire and will air up whenere needed no charge. $10 pretty good investment to get that much more milage.

[ringadingh]

Im not sure that passenger vehicles will ever notice a difference, I doubt it.
Now running it in an airplane tire, stock car, F1 car, etc, it may make a slight difference, since these tires are running under extreme conditions, for extended periods. My pal who installed it in his bike and truck can't tell a bit of difference. He only uses it because they have it at work, but he said he would never bother paying for it. Like already mentioned air is already 78% nitrogen.

[rickyboy]

I thought the main idea behind using nitro as apposed to air, was that the nitro doesn't fluctuate. I have nitro in my summer tires on the X-trail and I've never had to add. I plan on doing the bike as soon as it's on the road this spring. I would think the higher mileage one might get out of their tires is because the air pressure stays relatively constant. I mean when your tires are too low in pressure is when you're going to get excessive wear.....right?

[cnc]

Thats what I heard Rick. The main reason for doing it is because it does not expand or contract due to temperature. Theoretically this might make a difference in tire wear, but a marked difference that you would notice, not so sure. There are a lot of other variables that will affect tire wear from one set to another. I can see the advantage of using it in race cars, as changing the psi by 1-2 pounds can change the whole handling characteristics of the car.

[dank]

For gases V1/T1=V2/T2. Nitrogen also changes volume as the temperature goes up. Same as air. The potential difference is in water that may be present from the compressed air but isn't in nitrogen. If at room temperature some water has condensed, or the source of compressed air blows some water into the tire, which does happen since water condenses in the process of compressing the air, the some liquid water may be in the tire and shift to gas as the tire heats. That would cause a bigger change in pressure in a tire filled with air. But the pressure will increase in a nitrogen filled tire as it heats up, just as it does in one filled with air.

SO far as not needing to add it as often so you have more constant pressure, supposedly because it diffuses more slowly than oxygen, I find I rarely need to add air, maybe once every 4-6 weeks anyway (I check it before each ride), so this doesn't seem like big deal.

I see no issue with using it, just haven't switched myself because I'm not persuaded the benefits warrant it for me.

[Sin City Stan]

It's been a long time but I believe that Nitrogen molecules are much larger than Oxygen molecules. Which prevents migration through the rubber tire preventing a slow loss of inflation.

Also, Oxygen is an oxidizer and over the long term will destroy the rubber. Note that the Oxygen (air) on the outside of the tire is destroying the rubber anyway.

I'm guessing it will not make a hill of beans difference on a motorcycle tire since the life of the tire is so short anyway.

[cactusjack]

The air we breathe is already 80% nitrogen. You gain very little by putting nitrogen in your bike tires. Race cars, yes, airplanes, yes. For it to work as advertised, you would first need to evacuate all the ambient air from the tire, much like charging an air conditioning system. If it's free, go for it. If someone wants to charge you for putting nitrogen in the tires, forget it.

[rickyboy]

Well !!!!!!! http://s2.images.proboards.com/shocked.gif I guess that settles that! doesn't it !!!! http://s2.images.proboards.com/cool.gif End of conversation then. ; ;) ;) ;) http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif
Thanks for explaining that. Probably saved a few bucks then. I thought maybe I wouldn't have to worry so much about checking the air pressure of the bike tires. I guess I still have to crawl around and find that stem in the back wheel to check the tire pressure every other day or so. :( :( :(

[nomadbehappy]

Here is a great factual article about using nitrogen from a tire retailer http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=191

The final sentence in their article sums it up nicely:
"Rather than pay extra for nitrogen, most drivers would be better off buying an accurate tire pressure gauge and checking and adjusting their tire pressures regularly."

[AlabamaNomadRider]

A motorcycle mechanic here that does everything to bikes and also replaces tires told me about nitrogen. It will keep pretty much about the same pressure all the time. You don't check your tires when nitrogen is in them unless you suspect a leak. He told me when you check them one time the nitrogen is gone as it will escape.

[Yellow Jacket]

A motorcycle mechanic here that does everything to bikes and also replaces tires told me about nitrogen. It will keep pretty much about the same pressure all the time. You don't check your tires when nitrogen is in them unless you suspect a leak. He told me when you check them one time the nitrogen is gone as it will escape.

If the tire is supposedly inflated with nothing but pure nitrogen and you check the pressure, in order for the nitrogen to be gone as a result, the tire would have to be totally deflated. I really doubt that merely checking the pressure will cause the tire to totally deflate. Even if you use nitrogen you better still check your pressure as you can still get leaks from faulty valve stems, etc. I suspect that he has a vested interest in trying to get people to pay extra for the nitrogen. Just my opinion.

[skeeter]

If your worried about water put a water separater on your compressor. With Winter soon to end , it will be time to change out the old stale air for some nice fresh Spring air anyway.

[bogatyrs]

Boy there is no shortage of opinions here. I think I learned a lot about... something :)

Bottom line seems to be regardless of what you use check your tire pressure regularly.

[ringadingh]

I thought the same thing Bob, I think the garage guy meant that if you do have to add to your nitrogen filled tires you should use more nitrogen, if you get stuck out on the road and have to use air you will have thrown the whole purpose out the window.

[rickyboy]

I thought the same thing Bob, I think the garage guy meant that if you do have to add to your nitrogen filled tires you should use more nitrogen, if you get stuck out on the road and have to use air you will have thrown the whole purpose out the window.

Exactly what I was going to say Steve. I'm think'n it might be an issue trying to find someone that can supply nitrogen when you really need it, out on the road. At 7:00 AM when I hit the road I don't want to ride around some town looking for nitro for the tires.

[redjay]

Just because we have the ability to do something new does it mean we should if the results are minimal at best ?

[cactusjack]

Nitrogen has been used in tires in specialty applications for years. It only became known to the general public when gas went to $4 a gallon a few years back. It was another way to reduce the thickness of one's wallet while providing minimal benefit and greatly benefiting those who sell nitrogen.

There's a BMW dealer here in town that advertises their new cars come with nitrogen-filled tires.

[cnc]

I thought the same thing Bob, I think the garage guy meant that if you do have to add to your nitrogen filled tires you should use more nitrogen, if you get stuck out on the road and have to use air you will have thrown the whole purpose out the window.

I like to check my pressure often on the bike and know what I am riding on, not just assume that all is good. Guess I would not bother to use nitrogen for the above reason as well as the fact that when you check your tire pressure you don't always get the gauge on square to the valve and some air escapes. With air I'm ready to put a bit more in and bleed down to the desired pressure, but with nitrogen I have to go grease someone else's palm.

[timebandit]

Like mentioned earlier, didn't cost me a penny and doesn't hurt!

Could be compare to some "bling" on a motorcycle, if it was FREE, we would all have some extra bling. http://s2.images.proboards.com/grin.gif

[bullman]

I worked at a place that did this with cars. We laughed at the people that would come in and pay us to deflate their tires and add nitrogen. There is no benefit to the basic rider. If you are running at high speeds, it will keep the tire temps a little cooler. As others have said, it does maintain the psi evenly.

[VulcanE]

I tried the nitrogen 2 or 3 years ago when I installed a new set of Avon Cobras on my bike. I use a tire pressure monitoring system that shows real time pressure and temperature. The rear tire didn't last any longer than any of the others, it did hold the cold psi pressure throughout the entire summer, but the pressure and temp changes as the tires heat up while riding was the same as using good ol' compressed air. To me, it was $10 just thrown away.
To get the benefits they say you can get with running nitrogen in your tires, it has to be a MINIMUM 98% pure nitrogen. Most all dealerships and service centers can only supply a Maximum of 97% , so if 97% is the best you can get, your just throwing your money away IMHO. You can't just deflate the tire and then air it up with nitrogen, the tire has to be purged first. I did hours and hours of research on this before I decided to give it a try, but all I could find around was 97% pure, I went ahead and tried it, and it didn't make any difference for me.