# Nitrogen For Your Tires



## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

I just saw an interesting news type show on trying to get the most bang for your buck when it come to driving. They talked about the importance of proper tire inflation and how it can save big $$$ and improve safety. The program said the newest thing is to fill your tires with nitrogen instead of air. The reason is that nitrogen is a bigger molecule than air and tends not to leak. (avg tire will loose about 1.5psi/month - nitrogen tire will loose about 1.5psi in 6-8months) Your tire pressure will remain more constant with temperature as well. The cost is about $4 per tire. The program said that the aircraft industry has been filling their tires with nitrogen for many years and some EMS are now doing this as well. We all know the importance of proper inflated tires ... and my thinking is ....$16 is pretty cheap; and one less thing to be checking on during a camping season.

Looking for thoughts and opinions on this one.

Thor


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Thor said:


> I just saw an interesting news type show on trying to get the most bang for your buck when it come to driving. They talked about the importance of proper tire inflation and how it can save big $$$ and improve safety. The program said the newest thing is to fill your tires with nitrogen instead of air. The reason is that nitrogen is a bigger molecule than air and tends not to leak. (avg tire will loose about 1.5psi/month - nitrogen tire will loose about 1.5psi in 6-8months) Your tire pressure will remain more constant with temperature as well. The cost is about $4 per tire. The program said that the aircraft industry has been filling their tires with nitrogen for many years and some EMS are now doing this as well. We all know the importance of proper inflated tires ... and my thinking is ....$16 is pretty cheap; and one less thing to be checking on during a camping season.
> 
> Looking for thoughts and opinions on this one.
> 
> Thor


Where do you get it, when you are camping, and notice that one of your tires is a little low?

Tim


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## h2oman (Nov 17, 2005)

It sounds ok. I have read of this before. Still, $16 is $16 dolars and I can fill my tires anytime I want to for free with my compressor.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

A couple of things come to mind..

First, we have to figure out where we could get them filled that would actually accommodate our trailers. Most tire stores and such probably wouldn't work.

Secondly, each tire obviously has to be completely deflated and then filled back up with nitrogen. Not such a big deal with your car on a hoist or a tire off the vehicle or maybe even a tire still on a TV - but do I really want to flatten one of my trailer tires on purpose?

Finally, I found my tires were pretty low this Spring. I had a hard time finding any place I could fit my rig that had a high-pressure compressor. Forget those $.25 crap things at gas stations - you'll be pumping air into that little toy if you hook it up to your high psi tire. So, it's somewhat of a annual or semi-annual "project" to get the tires pumped up anyway, and going to the nitrogen place once a year isn't really any less convenient for me.

Now, the other option to taking the trailer somewhere is to buy a compressor, but then I'm out $100+ mainly just to be able to keep my trailer tires properly inflated. $16 a year doesn't seem so bad in that context.


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## Justman (Jul 22, 2006)

There's lots of free air out there...







Buy a mini compressor instead and use it as needed.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Justman said:


> There's lots of free air out there...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah - that's me. I have one of the small Coleman compressors in the Suburban. I always go to the Outback on the evening before we go camping to turn on the fridge. I then back in and check tire pressures and lug nuts and add air if needed (usually need to add a couple psi to each tire). I also check the TV tire pressure at the same time and add air as needed.

It takes quite awhile, because the compressor piston is so small (doesn't move too much air) - but it's free air! I can spend the extra money on new mods or gadgets.


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## chetlenox (Feb 3, 2004)

I'm not a chemist, but I've got to think this is urban legend. Air is mostly nitrogen and oxygen, and oxygen has a higher atomic weight than nitrogen anyway.

Now I know that the NASCAR guys use nitrogen to fill their tires, I believe due to a more consistent amount of expansion when the tires heat up to race temps. I believe that has more to do with moisture content than the actual gas used.

Chet.


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

My trailer tires are not the problem. Its getting those E load range tires on the suburban to 80 psi that is a pain, even with my good size compressor at home.....


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Got new tires put on our van last year at Costco and they were already using nitrogen. Got the green valve stem caps to prove it








Kind of a hassle to go back there to add more though, so I still top them off from the home compressor.

I asked the Costco guy if my Caravan would be faster now that it was "Nitro Injected". He thought I was retarded


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

California Jim said:


> He thought I was retarded


Might have been the cowbell


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## campmg (Dec 24, 2005)

California Jim said:


> I asked the Costco guy if my Caravan would be faster now that it was "Nitro Injected". He thought I was retarded


That was funny. Maybe it was your plaid shorts, velcro shoes, and striped shirt.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Air is 78% NO (Nitrogen), so if only the O2 (Oxygen) leaks out and you keep filling it with 78% NO then after a while it will be really close to 100 % NO.

Don't waste your time, money or worry about it.

The only thing you should ever worry about is making sue the air supply is dry. Water in the tire can cause corrosion on the rim.


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## bill_pfaff (Mar 11, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> The only thing you should ever worry about is making sue the air supply is dry. Water in the tire can cause corrosion on the rim.


Like you really had to tell us that?

Just what I needed, another thing to worry about.... Water in my tires!


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

hatcityhosehauler said:


> Where do you get it, when you are camping, and notice that one of your tires is a little low?
> 
> Tim


That is a good point Tim
Very curious about that

Don


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

If you use helium, could you tow more


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## Fire44 (Mar 6, 2005)

tdvffjohn said:


> If you use helium, could you tow more


But you would loose traction easier!!!

Gary


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Fire44 said:


> If you use helium, could you tow more


But you would loose traction easier!!!

Gary
[/quote]

You loose anymore traction Gary, and you'll have to keep it in 4WD.












> Got new tires put on our van last year at Costco and they were already using nitrogen. Got the green valve stem caps to prove it smile.gif Kind of a hassle to go back there to add more though, so I still top them off from the home compressor.


Well, that explains why my wife has green valve stem covers now. I put new tires on her car 2 weeks ago at Costco.

I don't know about the reasons, but I can attest to the fact that aircraft tires, at least the ones in Navy are filled with N2 (nitorgen).

Andy, just FYI, Nitrogen monoxide, NO, is a pollutant formed by the reaction of nitrogen gas, N2, and oxygen gas, O2, at high temperatures in automobile engines and other high-temperature combustion processes.

Tim


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

hatcityhosehauler said:


> Andy, just FYI, Nitrogen monoxide, NO, is a pollutant formed by the reaction of nitrogen gas, N2, and oxygen gas, O2, at high temperatures in automobile engines and other high-temperature combustion processes.
> 
> Tim


Actually I do know that because I do emissions testing for Rolls-Royce industrial gas turbines but I fat fingered it when I was responding to the post. NO and NO2 make NOx which is the more common pollutant that is tested for. They form in unacceptable levels when the combustion temperature is above 2000 Kelvin.

Well caught though.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

When I was in the Air Force Nitrogen was all we used for our aircraft tires unless we were some were that didn't have nitrogen then we would use air. Used nitrogen in the struts too could not use air there because of the pressures we ran them at. When I worked on the C5 we used a ton of nitrogen on that plane, used it to pressurize the tanks and for fire suppression. Nitrogen is great stuff.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

> Well caught though.


Just keeping you on your toes.









Actually, I had to look it up, as it just didn't look right to me. I am by no means what one would call a chemical genius, but I do know where to find the info I need, and that is what is important.









Tim


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## 3LEES (Feb 18, 2006)

hatcityhosehauler said:


> > Well caught though.
> 
> 
> I do know where to find the info I need, and that is what is important.
> ...


That's what Google is for! I even use it as my spell check.

Has anyone every heard of a Great Crested Flycatcher? I found that with Google!

Dan


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

Hmmmm. Maybe I'll just inflate my tires at work from now on. We have a nice nitrogen compressor to fill our trucks with.

Thanks for the idea...and thank you taxpayers for the compressor!


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## hyewalt34 (May 9, 2004)

O my, the things our forum discusses! We use nitrogen in our camera pedestals at work (a TV station).

Let's see, what was it they used in the Hendinburg zeppelin? Would that work?









Walter


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

So I guess the answer is ... Nitrogen if it is handy and air if it is not. My reasoning is just for one less thing to worry about. I will check out my local tire stores and see what they have to say.

Thanks for the input.

I like the helium idea. With enough balloons you should be able to tow my 28 with a Smart car









Thor


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

chetlenox said:


> Air is mostly nitrogen and oxygen, and oxygen has a higher atomic weight than nitrogen anyway.
> Chet.


Correct. Nitrogen's atomic weight is 14 and oxygen is 16. Thus, an oxygen molecule has a molecular weight of 32 since most free oxygen is O-2 (no subscript available). From what I remember of chemistry, free nitrogen molecules also have 2 atoms and a molecular weight of 28.

And since approximately 80% of the air is nitrogen, you are getting mostly nitrogen when filling your tires with air. I don't understand the benefit of using 100% nitrogen. Maybe someone else on Outbackers can explain this.

Bill


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Cuz the green caps look cool


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

I found this NBC report when researching this topic, from a South Florida NBC affiliate. I appears that it is that it doesn't leak out as much as air does, so you have more consistant inflatation pressures.

I have a compressor at home, so I just check my tires regularly.

Tim


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## Rubrhammer (Nov 27, 2006)

Lets look at one more aspect. Unless you draw a vacume (like evacuating an AC system) on the mounted tire and completely collapse the tire you are still going to have air in the tire anyway. do you think anyone really does the vacume?


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## Dreamtimers (Mar 7, 2005)

Thor said:


> Lets look at one more aspect. Unless you draw a vacume (like evacuating an AC system) on the mounted tire and completely collapse the tire you are still going to have air in the tire anyway. do you think anyone really does the vacume?


Can you draw a vacuum on a standard mounted car tire and still keep it mounted to the rim?


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