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

[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 !!!!!!! I guess that settles that! doesn't it !!!! End of conversation then. ; ;) ;) ;)
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/tirete...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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.