Tire Question?

[gaylejoe]

A local lube place is selling 98% nitrogen for inflation in vehicle tires. I did have the nitrogen put into the tires on my wife's vehicle to see how it works. Has anyone replace the air in their TW and trailer with the 98% nitrogen and how do you like it?

It is supposed to be better for the tires. The product is PurigeN98. It contains less than 2% oxygen and is completely moisture free.

[ROBERT CROSS]

IMHO....waste of money... unless 'yer race'n

Air=78% nitrogen, just make sure your compressor has a separator to remove the moisture and maintain pressures.

[moosetags]

I agree with Robert. It's not totally worthless, but not worth the cost.

Brian

[Ahab]

Originally Posted by gaylejoe

A local lube place is selling 98% nitrogen for inflation in vehicle tires. I did have the nitrogen put into the tires on my wife's vehicle to see how it works. Has anyone replace the air in their TW and trailer with the 98% nitrogen and how do you like it?

It is supposed to be better for the tires. The product is PurigeN98. It contains less than 2% oxygen and is completely moisture free.

Better to put helium in, it'll lighten the load.

[markdoane]

I am puzzled why they don't use argon. It sounds much more exotic and I'm sure I could sell it to many suckers for more money than nitrogen.

And it's fairly cheap at most welding supply houses.

[mddsmith]

My understanding is that regular compressed air contains a lot of water vapor, and that the expansion and contraction of this vapor as the tire gets hotter or cooler is the main reason why the pressure in the tire increases and decreases . The benefit of nitrogen is that its expansion and contraction is almost nil. I don't know if the difference is so great that it's worth paying for. If you can get it free, I'd say go for it. I know it's free at Costco, if there is one handy to your location.

[Jammer]

The expansion of a gas is simply a matter of physics and was first described as Charles' law:

Charles's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The increase in pressure in air as a result of heating is the same as it is with dry air, which is the same as it is with air including water vapor.

The benefit of having nitrogen filled tires, such as it is, is that with air-filled tires, the oxygen will react with the rubber over time, gradually reducing the air pressure as the oxygen molecules are "captured" as they react with the rubber. In tubeless tires, especially on aluminum rims, the loss of air due to leakage will far exceed the reactive loss.

Some people swear by it but I wouldn't bother.

[markdoane]

Agree. I think the real reason to use dry air is that wet air might condense and form ice cubes inside your tires. That could lead to balance problems.

In Minnesota.

Hey, I was just in Northfield this afternoon! Took a tour of the Ames Mill.

[Road Ruler]

We have two vehicles in the driveway. Of the 8 tires on those vehicles 6 are Costco, nitrogen filled tires.

It is interesting to report that the two, non nitrogen tires occasionally need to be topped up with air. The 6 nitrogen filled tires get checked regularly but have never needed to be topped up.

Not a rock solid conclusive test but it strongly suggests an advantage with the nitrogen.

[Beginner]

My experience with nitrogen in tires is the same as Road Ruler.
I also got mine at Costco.
Beginner