Got Nitrogen?

[gt_dicko]

Well, I finally got my arse into gear and got my much needed new tyres the other week.
The guys at the tyre joint offered to fill the tyres with Nitrogen instead of air from the compressor, so for $6 a corner I thought I'd give it a go.
He said that because it's pure nitrogen and there are no impurities in it, the pressure will be much more stable under different conditions, but what got me is that he reckons I won't have to check the pressures for 3 months , and after 3 months, bring it back to them and they'll keep the nitrogen up to the tyres for their lifetime.

Has anyone else used Nitorgen in their tyres before? Any feedback?

[Arith]

I have a colleague who had his tires inflated with nitro's. The nitrogen are a bit more stable and don't increase the PSI as much as normal air after driving a while. The nitrogen molecules are also larger so that they bleed at a lesser rate and require less checking. But other than less maintenance, he didn't see any other benefit.

[WhiteGTB]

Yeah I heard about Nitro in the wheels, did they change the cap or something near the valve to show it is Nitro?

[chriskan]

I've used it before, some years ago now, but the biggest pain was not being able to check/fill up at any old servo in the situation where you were away on a holiday or something, or you had a slow leak in a tyre. I understand the cons far outweight the benefits, just from general reading recently when I was thinking of doing it again!

[Spec B Wgn]

my mail on this is that its a complete waste of money....

Those impurities are too hard to eliminate .

[Moi]

This is like the "bottled water" debate

I don't use nitrogen myself mainly cos of the following...

1. Air is 78% nitrogen (the rest oxygen plus trace elements)
2. Compressed nitrogen is usually only 95% pure (98% if yr lucky)
3. Oxygen and nitrogen molecules are approx the same size
4. Since I already have air in my tyres, I would have to deflate the tyre multiple times and reinflate with compressed nitrogen to get anywhere near the "pure" 95% mark

As for less maintenance, I don't think that's a good thing with respect to correct pressures in tyres (it's a safety issue for me)...obviously these are only my opinions and I'd be happy to be corrected given some scientific evidence

There's plenty of discussion about this on the net...just Google. If you want an Aus source then try the various NRMA/RACQ etc... websites.


Cheers
Teck

[SkoobyGT]

I was going to post something similar.

IMO It's a crock of shit that people get sucked into.

I thought air was about 70% nitrogen, but meh close enough.

Paying $6 a corner to put "pure" nitrogen in my tyres, I wouldn't waste my money.

Air has been serving me well for years anyways, I only ever probably lose about 1psi in 3 months anyway, so if I do it every week it's all good.

[tangcla]

So what would happen if you tried checking it in a 'regular oxygen' servo?

[gt_dicko]

Yeah I heard about Nitro in the wheels, did they change the cap or something near the valve to show it is Nitro?

I have red valve caps..... they look stupid
I was a bit skeptical too, but thought I'd give it a go. I guess I'll just have to see how it pans out.
I never really had any trouble with good old air in the tyres either, but unless you try these things for yourself, you'll never know what they're like I suppose.