filling tires with nitrogen....

I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.

Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
not it justifies paying the inflated price?

Just MNSHO, but if its useful benefit is seperating fools from their
money, then it is doing a good job of it.....

--
'And then we wonder why the UFO's won't
stop by and say hello..."
--George Carlin

On Oct 26, 8:06 am, necromancer
> wrote:
> I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
> nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
>
> Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
> not it justifies paying the inflated price?
>
> Just MNSHO, but if its useful benefit is seperating fools from their
> money, then it is doing a good job of it.....

Air is 80% nitrogen already.

For the sake of argument, let's say Nitrogen stays in the tires better
than the other elements (which is doubtful, see below)... So let's
say you lose your 20% of the volume... you refill with air again, and
80% of the 20% is nitrogen. So now after 1 fill, 96% of the volume is
filled with Nitrogen. The other 4% leaks out, refill again, and
you're at 99.2%.

HOWEVER, of all the major elements in air (Nitrogen, Oxygen and
Argon) , Nitrogen is physically the smallest element, so how it could
leak out after the others is beyond me. It's COMPLETE junk science.

necromancer wrote:

> I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
> nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
>
> Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
> not it justifies paying the inflated price?

What benefits are *claimed* for it ?

Graham

On Oct 26, 8:06 am, necromancer
> wrote:
> I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
> nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
>
> Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
> not it justifies paying the inflated price?
>
> Just MNSHO, but if its useful benefit is seperating fools from their
> money, then it is doing a good job of it.....
>
> --
> 'And then we wonder why the UFO's won't
> stop by and say hello..."
> --George Carlin

Racers use it, mainly for thermal stability. I guess that pure
industrial grade nitrogen is cheaper than investing in equipment to
remove all the water and contaminants from shop air supply. AFAIK the
lack of moisture in the nitrogen-filled tires is the biggest
advantage.

I personally have not used it myself; it's a nice elegant touch but
probably not worth it for the majority of street driven cars.

nate

On Oct 26, 11:05 am, N8N > wrote:
> On Oct 26, 8:06 am, necromancer
>
> > wrote:
> > I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
> > nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
>
> > Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
> > not it justifies paying the inflated price?
>
> > Just MNSHO, but if its useful benefit is seperating fools from their
> > money, then it is doing a good job of it.....
>
> > --
> > 'And then we wonder why the UFO's won't
> > stop by and say hello..."
> > --George Carlin
>
> Racers use it, mainly for thermal stability. I guess that pure
> industrial grade nitrogen is cheaper than investing in equipment to
> remove all the water and contaminants from shop air supply. AFAIK the
> lack of moisture in the nitrogen-filled tires is the biggest
> advantage.
>
> I personally have not used it myself; it's a nice elegant touch but
> probably not worth it for the majority of street driven cars.


All you need is a $20 filter on your air compressor to remove 99% of
the water.

On Oct 26, 10:31 am, Eeyore >
wrote:
> necromancer wrote:
> > I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
> > nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
>
> > Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
> > not it justifies paying the inflated price?
>
> What benefits are *claimed* for it ?

The claim is that nitrogen won't leak as quickly as "air".

Larry Bud > wrote in
ups.com:

> On Oct 26, 8:06 am, necromancer
> wrote:
>> I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
>> nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
>>
>> Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
>> not it justifies paying the inflated price?
>>
>> Just MNSHO, but if its useful benefit is seperating fools from their
>> money, then it is doing a good job of it.....
>
> Air is 80% nitrogen already.
>
> For the sake of argument, let's say Nitrogen stays in the tires better
> than the other elements (which is doubtful, see below)... So let's
> say you lose your 20% of the volume... you refill with air again, and
> 80% of the 20% is nitrogen. So now after 1 fill, 96% of the volume is
> filled with Nitrogen. The other 4% leaks out, refill again, and
> you're at 99.2%.
>
> HOWEVER, of all the major elements in air (Nitrogen, Oxygen and
> Argon) , Nitrogen is physically the smallest element, so how it could
> leak out after the others is beyond me. It's COMPLETE junk science.
>

then why do race cars use it?
The PROs.,the top race teams in the top racing sports.

First,oxygen is far more reactive than nitrogen,so it combines with the
tire rubber,degrading it.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Larry Bud wrote:

> Eeyore wrote:
> > necromancer wrote:
> > > I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
> > > nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
> >
> > > Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
> > > not it justifies paying the inflated price?
> >
> > What benefits are *claimed* for it ?
>
> The claim is that nitrogen won't leak as quickly as "air".

Pfft. AFAIK, that'll be determined by molecule size. AFAIK, the oxygen molecule
is LARGER than Nitrogen so that's the wrong way round.

Graham

Jim Yanik wrote:

> then why do race cars use it?
> The PROs.,the top race teams in the top racing sports.
>
> First,oxygen is far more reactive than nitrogen,so it combines with the
> tire rubber,degrading it.

Totally irrelevant to tyres formulated for road cars.

Graham

On Oct 26, 10:06 am, "wtrplnet" >
wrote:
> "Larry Bud" > wrote in message
>
> ups.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Oct 26, 11:05 am, N8N > wrote:
> >> On Oct 26, 8:06 am, necromancer
>
> >> > wrote:
> >> > I've been seeing on the news that the fad of inflating car tires with
> >> > nitrogen has reared its ugly head again.
>
> >> > Dumb question, but does doing this have *any* useful benefit whether or
> >> > not it justifies paying the inflated price?
>
> >> > Just MNSHO, but if its useful benefit is seperating fools from their
> >> > money, then it is doing a good job of it.....
>
> >> > --
> >> > 'And then we wonder why the UFO's won't
> >> > stop by and say hello..."
> >> > --George Carlin
>
> >> Racers use it, mainly for thermal stability. I guess that pure
> >> industrial grade nitrogen is cheaper than investing in equipment to
> >> remove all the water and contaminants from shop air supply. AFAIK the
> >> lack of moisture in the nitrogen-filled tires is the biggest
> >> advantage.
>
> >> I personally have not used it myself; it's a nice elegant touch but
> >> probably not worth it for the majority of street driven cars.
>
> > All you need is a $20 filter on your air compressor to remove 99% of
> > the water.
>
> Racers use it because it doesn't expand as much as pure 'air' when the tire
> heats up. This gives more stable tire pressure. I'd use it in a street car
> if it was free, no way I'd pay for it.
>
> Alan- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Yep, runs cooler and is more stable. For a street car -
fagiddaboutit!

Harry K