Nitrogen Filled Tires

Jayc1358

Nitrogen fill is port side and usually a dealer installed item. Nitrogen fill in mom n' pop sedans and mini vans is a total waste of time. The air you breath is 79% N...there are no standards for what the dealer will use to fill your tires...conventional theory is up to "93%" N is what will "supposedly" be used. This is just another money making grab by the auto industry.

With that said...putting N in tires is beneficial for high performance cars (ie race cars) only. I suppose if you drive a Porsche or Lamborghini and live in Nevada and drive 110 mph routinely...then N fill in your car is worth it. Definitely not a Kia Niro...unless you live in Nevada and drive 110 mph...lol

The dealerships are setting the stage to charge the consumers $5 per tire to "top it off" during oil change and multi-point inspections. Its not going to be free.

I refused to buy a car with the nitrogen color-coded valve stem. You can put on regular valve stems to remove the "automatic" N fill based on color code. Its that simple.

Hope this helps.

 

Jayc1358

I should have clarified...its possible some are just caps...so many varieties out there...so double check.

If thats all they are on the Kia Niro...you can buy a set of chrome caps for $4 on Amazon...lol

Good luck.

 

As I understand it, "nitrogen fill" for tires is one of the many ways that dealers try to scam you by adding useless and unnecessary upsells to the car you've decided to buy. As Clarity_Newbie already said, the air we breathe is mostly nitrogen anyway.

Here's a quote from Popular Mechanics:

Keith Willcome, consumer tire engineering, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations [states] "Bridgestone does not prefer oxygen or nitrogen—both are acceptable gases for tire inflation. Both air and nitrogen respond similarly to The Ideal Gas Law, which says temperature and pressure are directly related. For tires, this means every ten-degree change in ambient temperature will result in approximately 1 psi change in tire-inflation pressure. This change is the same for nitrogen-inflated tires and tires inflated with air. Proper inflation pressure is key to tire safety and performance."

​

 

Valve stems are the same, it's just the cap telling you what's in the tire. Now why Nitrogen? Firstly, the molecules are larger and thus small leaks are prevented. Secondly, your tires run cooler that just air, thus your tires will last longer. Costco only use Nitrogen and it's free to members. Given a choice only use nitrogen, it makes sense - it is safer also.

 

funny.... so Bridgestone replied oxygen vs nitrogen... there is NO ONE who fills their tires with oxygen...

it's atmospheric air, the stuff you breathe at 78% nitrogen, vs you hope 93% nitrogen if you pay.

so for an increase of 15% in the volume of nitrogen is it worth it? If you are a formula 1 driver in a $10 million dollar car, sure, what the heck.

Can you find any measurable difference in an ordinary car? I highly doubt it.

I agree there are some benefits, but I don't see it being enough to offset the increased cost and hassle.

If you get it free, sure, no harm no foul.... pay for it? Not in any of my cars and my other 2 cars use $350 tires (each).

https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/make-driving-fun-2/pure-nitrogen-in-tires-facts-and-myths-v1

Greg

 

Fresh air actually consists of many gases . . .

• Nitrogen -- N2 -- 78.084%
• Oxygen -- O2 -- 20.9476%
• Argon -- Ar -- 0.934%
• Carbon Dioxide -- CO2 -- 0.0314%
• Neon -- Ne -- 0.001818%
• Methane -- CH4 -- 0.0002%
• Helium -- He -- 0.000524%
• Krypton -- Kr -- 0.000114%
• Hydrogen -- H2 -- 0.00005%
• Xenon -- Xe -- 0.0000087%
• Ozone -- O3 -- 0.000007%
• Nitrogen Dioxide -- NO2 -- 0.000002%
• Iodine -- I2 -- 0.000001%
• Carbon Monoxide -- CO -- trace
• Ammonia -- NH3 -- trace

So yes, the bulk is nitrogen. However, putting pure nitrogen in your tires costs nothing and is a lot safer. Read previous comment.

 

Ahh, but it is not pure nitrogen, and is it free to any member that drives up? I may try it, was just there a bit ago.

But yes, if it is free, great, how much would you pay for it? I would not pay anything. I'm not sure I want to bother to go to Costco to fill my tires, I have 3 vehicles and a compressor in the garage.

Anyway, thanks for the tip.

Greg

 

Nitrogen fill is very rare here in the UK, I have never seen it!

Anyway it can never be pure Nitrogen. The Nitrogen molecule is large and to all intents and purposes will not diffuse through the tyre wall, let us assume it does not. Oxygen on the other hand does diffuse through the tyre wall, not fast but noticeably. Note that the Oxygen will both diffuse IN and OUT of the tyre according to the difference in partial pressure across the tyre wall.

So if you fill completely with pure Nitrogen, within a few weeks Oxygen will diffuse INTO the tyre until its partial pressure balances with the partial pressure outside, this is very close to 3 PSI, thus if you run your tyre at 40 PSI (on the gauge) this will equate to about 5.5% Oxygen.

Also if you fill with air, the higher partial pressure of Oxygen in the tyre will cause the Oxygen to diffuse OUT of the tyre until after a few weeks it is in balance with the outside atmospheric Oxygen partial pressure, which again leaves around 5.5% Oxygen inside the tyre.

Whichever you use the end result will be the same unless you completely purge the tyre with Nitrogen every week or so.

 

Very interesting, I had forgotten the partial pressure would be driven by the percentage concentrations.