Nitrogen In Tires - Page 3 - Ford F150 Forum

All Hat No Cattle · 11-01-2009, 10:55 PM

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Compared to what? Air? Air is 78% Nitrogen, are you saying you can feel the extra 22%??

Not trying to yank your chain, I am more pessimistic than maybe I should be.

OK, I was hoping someone else would come up with the facts, so I wouldn't have to do my 2-finger typing act, but to no avail. LOL

Yes, pure air is made up of the ingredients below, and several other minor ones.

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%

But, and here is the important fact, the air we put into our tires also contains water vapor. The water vapor is the problem. If you could fill your tires with absolutely dry air, there would be little or no performance change over nitrogen alone.

The water vapor heats up and leaks out of the tire faster than pure N does. It affects the tire pressure variation depending on how much water was in the compressed air on the day you topped off a tire. Humid day, dry day, cold day, hot day?

Using N out of a bottle or nitrogen generator will give you a stable , dry gas that has a molecule larger than oxygen. It is the gas least likely to leak out of a tire over time.

It is entirely feasible that if you filled your tire with air having a high moisture content, that the pressure in that tire could be higher than the tires with pure N. Possible problems are obvious.

I don't sell the stuff, LOL, I just saw the difference in my Expy when I got Michelins from Costco and a free nitrogen fill. They stayed at 35 psi for 4-5 months, using a digital tire gauge. When they dropped to 33 I would fill them up at Costco. I was topping off the factory tires at least once a month or more.

Here is a realistic opinion of nitrogen.

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Do be aware though when people claim that just filling the tire with nitrogen will increase gas mileage. At the low pressures tires hold there is little difference between a properly inflated nitrogen tire and a tire properly inflated with air. Both will get the same gas mileage. The big savings is in the fact that the pressure change in a nitrogen filled tire is slower, and since most people tend not to check their tire pressure on a monthly basis, this can save you in fuel costs.
So, if you're offered the option to have your tires filled with nitrogen, and it's free or is at low cost, then it can be worth it in fuel savings caused by your tires being properly inflated longer. If they want to charge you more than you can afford then take a pass, but make sure you check your air pressure on a regular basis or you will end up paying for it at the pump.

skates04 · 11-01-2009, 10:56 PM

It won't save you gas mileage or money. All you have to do is actually check your tire pressure and keep your tires serviced properly. Regular air will fluctuate with temperatures so you can lose pressure and get worse mileage not to mention an unsafe situation. Nitrogen maintains a more constant pressure when the temperature changes and the molecules are larger so it is more unlikely to leak. There is more of a benefit to using nitrogen in race cars and Aviation where there is High heat build up from the speed and braking heat that is involved, this causes a huge fluctation in pressure. A airplane tire pressure can raise hundreds of PSI from the heat from the brakes when landing this is why they use nitrogen to help control the raise in pressure. You are not going to build up that kind of heat driving around town or playing in the mud. Just be smart and check your tire pressure periodically and keep em filled up!

Platinum_Sean · 11-20-2009, 04:09 PM

Sorry to perpetuate this myth... I took this pic at lunch today. Almost spilt my beer.

Kphyle · 11-20-2009, 05:28 PM

^^^ hahaha. yea okay.

I have the same advice as everyone else, if its cheap, then go for it. I don't think they'll do anything about gas mileage, but they do hold up better in temperature changes.

seniorFORDtech · 11-20-2009, 06:18 PM

nitrogen has been used for years in nascar it works great with newer cars that have tire sensors the larger molicules cannot escape. like air that causes the low tire light to come on, it also does not change temp like normal and increase psi like air will do when your driving hence the low tire light usaully goes out when you tire 10-15 min after a cold start.. hope this sheds a little light on nitrogen