Nitrogen in Tires

The benefits of nitrogen are very iffy, so maybe tire shops wised up and dropped it?

 

it was a scam, might as well say if you fill tires with helium your car would be lighter and get better mpg..if it worked you would have seen it in auto racing decades ago..they have been putting air in tires for a century and its been just fine..all you did was waste money.

 

I only use 80% Nitrogen.

Edit: Yes, closer to 78%

 

Me too, 78% to be exact...

 

AFAIK, nitrogen filled tires lose air, and age, slightly slower, due to absence of oxygen. But the operative word is slightly. One big downside to nitrogen fill is the limited availability: means you may end up neglecting your tire pressures.

 

The benefits of nitrogen are there, but not large enough to pay extra for.

 

Total wast of time and energy to find a place to keep filling them with nitrogen. What do you do in case of an emergency, Google it? Just put regular air in!

 

I was looking at new mazdas about 5 years ago and looking at the windows sticker break down I saw pin stripe $140 (about 12 bucks at autozone) and nitro fill tires $100...I guess the green valve covers on the tires are expensive.

 

As far as I know, tire manufacturers still like N2 because is does leak more slowly thru the rubber. But for Toyota or a consumer such as you or me, we have to ask if the added cost is worth it. If I was Toyota, aside from cost, I'd be worried about industrial safety of having N2 cylinders around (asphyxiation risk etc).

As a consumer, if you can find a place like Costco that puts N2 in the new tires for free, that's a good deal as it does hold pressure better. Personally I would fill with air after that.

One place it helps is that under-size spare in the back, could hold pressure better with N2. I recently put in a little bit of an expensive gas called STAFILL into the spare to keep it at adequate pressure. So now I am just going to forget about that tire. Oops you gotta PiP no spare sorry.

 

are there any credible studies?

 

...Re:N2 yes basic science fact but it is not a big deal given air is 80% N2 already...Consumer Reports verified it but said its not worth it...O2 leaks 4x faster than N2 but who cares since air is only 21% O2 it is not a big deal in tires but N2 is nice

 

The tire shops offering it have a nitrogen concentrator on site. Which give the nitrogen fill another benefit in removing the humidity from the air. The shop will already have a tank or two for compressed air on site for powering tools, so a tank of nitrogen from an concentrator shouldn't a be any more of a hazard.

Toyota corporate may have gotten one too many complaints about what some dealers charge for the nitrogen fill. Saying no more nitrogen to all the dealers is the simple solution.

If the nitrogen is free with the service, take it. Otherwise, just stick to air that isn't too wet.

 

Every time I get nitrogen-filled tires from Costco, their "sanctity" lasts about 15 minutes. Since they refuse to put in air beyond the spec, I pull into a gas station just up the road to top them up, and replace the &$@)! green caps.

 

Consumer Reports Study here Tires - Nitrogen air loss study

 

thanks! i find toyota wheels tend to lose air much more slowly than other car brands i have owned.

 

Here is a pretty good recent review of N2 benefits, bottom line yes there are benefits but for normal car use it is hard to justify.

Are There Benefits to Nitrogen? - Tire Review Magazine

 

This has been discussed and debated before....and a lot.

It always boils down to me, that any very marginal gains using "Nitrogen" may offer get trumped by losing the relative convenience of just using "air".

I like being able to check my own PSI, and then fill using "air".
The idea of being tied to a specific tire shop or service department just to maintain my tires on a "Nitrogen Fill" seems ridiculous to me.

But people live by it, swear by it, and pay for it,.....and evidently are disappointed when it's taken away.

If that's the case....

Enjoy the Nitrogen Fill...I think in most normal driving cases you're absolutely wasting time and money...but it's your time and money to waste.

 

Air is 78 percent nitrogen, just under 21 percent oxygen, and the rest is water vapor, CO2 and small concentrations of noble gases such as neon and argon. We can ignore the other gases.

There are several compelling reasons to use pure nitrogen in tires.


First is that nitrogen is less likely to migrate through tire rubber than is oxygen, which means that your tire pressures will remain more stable over the long term. Racers figured out pretty quickly that tires filled with nitrogen rather than air also exhibit less pressure change with temperature swings. That means more consistent inflation pressures during a race as the tires heat up. And when you're tweaking a race car's handling with half-psi changes, that's important.

 

^^^quoting the article in Tire Review Magazine?

But the article mentions the race car N2 benefits do not make a difference for regular consumers. So we are left with the fact that N2 leaks about 30% slower, which just means you have to check tire pressure a little more often. Although if N2 is free, go for it.

That article is pretty good, I had not seen it before.