MythBuster

Any one heard of that

I found a local tire shop who can inflate the tire with nitrogen instead of air.

he claims it is safer and save gas (I doubt the gas saving).

When I think about it, the heat is generated outside the tire not inside it. If any oxidation process is being accelerated it will be out side not inside.

the nitrogen may have slightly more mass (weight) this adds slight more cooling but I don't think it is significant to make difference

any opinions, thoughts, or facts.

Lexmex

I recommend it.

In Mexico, we had a tuning shop that was the first place to offer it in Mexico City and I used to get my tires filled up for free, but cost $25 USD for all 4. By my calculations, my tires last 25% longer than before and that was even after I put on more mileage in the final 3 of 6 years that I lived there. What is noticeable also is that you have a firmer grip to the road. Finally, because the nitrogen molecules are larger, if you happen to get a nail in your tire, you might survive a bit longer than air.

BTW, how much are they charging you for the nitrogen there?

MythBuster

Lexmex

Interesting

thanks

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

There is a lot of controversy in the tire business about nitrogen...

It maintains pressure more consistently than air does, however, every other claimed benefit of nitrogen is directly because of pressure...

tires last longer when ran at the correct pressure - typically people don't check their air pressure often enough, thus contributing to premature wear... oxidation, corrosion, all that stuff - never saw it as a problem in tires, and no one ever claimed it was a problem until nitrogen became something to buy...

it has nothing to do with where the heat is in a tire - nitrogen doesn't expand when it gets hot like a air (20.9% oxygen / 71% nitrogen) does, the tire still goes through the same heat cycle...

is it worth it - if you own an air pressure gauge and check your air regularly, then, not really... if you don't own an air pressure gauge and don't check your air regularly, then you should, because most tire failures are caused by low air pressure due to a nail or other slow leak that not even nitrogen will save you from...

if you are realllly reallly serious about how you drive your car and worried that 2-3 psi worth of variation in tire pressure will cause dramatic handling problems (it most likely won't), or you drive a race car, then nitrogen is for you, but for 99.9% of the drivers on the road, nitrogen *may* help, but not all that much...

Seize

This topic has been in covered in the past, check the thread below

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...light=nitrogen

MythBuster

Thanks Seize very interesting I learned few things from the link.

Just like what I thought, the key word is aging (Oxidation)

Like any other material, rubber will lose physical strength by oxidation (aging) Nitrogen will at least slow the process.

All other properties, I don't feel that they will make big difference, in other words it is the absence of oxygen rather than the presence of nitrogen.

MythBuster

Mitsuguy

what I was trying to say that at least the inner surface of the tire will undergo slow aging due to the abscense of oxygen. Rubber will continue to chemically react with oxygen at very slow rate if oxygen is present.

Actually this falls at the heart of tire failure. Tire failure is nothing but physically weak points which can be manufacture defect, physical damage or aging.

Aging or degradation is nothing but combining with oxygen.