So do VW GTI's.

 

God. The main reason new cars starting getting Nitrogen in their tires was for the stupid low pressure warning lights. Since Nitrogen doesn't have as much of a water content it doesn't expand and contract due to temp changes. Thus keeping the silly tire pressure sensors from going off in cold or hot climates.

 

^^ That’s exactly what my Jeep dealer recommended for my Commander that had all sorts of problems with its TPMS sensors. I was getting false readings, especially in the winter months. When I replaced the air in the tires with nitrogen, the problem went away.

I should mention that I’m in a very cold area where winter temperatures vary from -25 F to above freezing (sometimes within a 48 hour timeframe).

On my Z… I run straight air in my summer performance tires, but use nitrogen during the winter months with the studless snow tires I mount on the Z. I have not experienced problems with my Nissan TPMS setup, but do notice less moisture inside the tire and more consistent pressures during cold months with nitrogen fills.

--Spike

 

I work at costco tire shop, which uses nitrogen. Its nice for the average person that dosent check their tire pressure normally because it lasts longer than normal air. I have noticed in my z that my tire pressure in more consistant, usually within 2psi when hot vs cold. If you ask me its a big waste of money for a nitrogen station. Its about 7k just for the machine! If any of you out there want nitrogen buy your tires at costco..... It's free!

 

Correct.

The primary difference between 100 percent nitrogen and compressed air is water vapor content. Similar to the difference between aviators breathing oxygen and hospital oxygen.

 

See here:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/car...nitrogen-.html

Today I went to my dealer to service the Z. They offered me the nitrogen option although they offered it to me for life of my car, they charged me 34 bucks. Since I have 20" rims and have to fill my tires with 42 psi (yes this is correct, see my other posting, had a professional at Falken tire do the math and match my car with tires I had on), I thought ok. I was losing air pressure often and I even had a 10% coupon. So got it.

I have to say, I noticed a significant difference, maybe Im just dreaming this but the car felt much better on the road, maybe my tire pressure was low when I brought it in, maybe the service helped but my car is relatively new, I drive 100 miles every day so just from experience I knew this ride was different.

I will bug the dealer every 2-3 weeks for a fillup.

 

I bet it was noticible - you are about 20% overinflated.

 

I think that Nitrogen is a waste of money for most. However, since my local Nissan dealer is just a couple miles away, if they offered me lifetime nitrogen fills for $34, I'd do it.

I notice big changes in tire pressure during autocross events. I have to keep bleeding air to keep the tires at where I want them as they heat up over the course of the day. A dry gas would help that and I could then swing by the dealer on Monday morning to have the pressure brought back up.

I check my tire pressure in the morning before the car has been driven. With a compressor it is pretty easy to check and correct all 5 cars in the driveway in about 30 minutes.

 

i put nitrogen in my tires and had to stake it down damn thing started floating gonna have to put air back in later or at least a 50/50 mix.

 

^^^ you're thinking of helium or hydrogen. nobody's ever heard of a nitrogen balloon floating away

 

Exactly, if only 1 tire is low on your car and you put air to top it off then it doesn't match the other 3 on the car.


Here's why i laugh at this. Yes, nitrogen is a dry gas but have you ever seen them completely vaccuum down a tire and fill with pure nitrogen? no, they empty the tires by taking the valvestem out therefore the tire is at atmospheric pressure. When the valvestem goes back in and nitrogen is compressed into the tire there is still moisture and other gases inside.

so basically what you are saying is when the temps drop for the winter outside you are too lazy to fill your tires up to the proper psi? I check and adjust my tires WEEKLY...sometimes a few times a week if we have a huge temp swing. It's not hard to go out and adjust your tires for winter.

They put all that bs into my tires when i got new tires and rims and there was no ride difference. After a year of going back to them to get them adjusted i just gave up and kept using normal air. I have to adjust my pressure the same amount as if i did with nitrogen so i really didn't matter to me. The only difference was that i can do it anytime i want in my driveway at any hour of the day.

The ride difference people feel is the fact that they never check their pressure and are usually way low. My neighbor's passenger front tire on her suv is damn near on the rim. If she wasn't such a ***** to me i might say something. It's been that way for a month now and she's too stupid to check it. I bet in the next few weeks she takes it to the dealership for a problem with the car pulling to the right side.

 

Not quite true. The "real" shops that do this use a machine that evacuates 90% of the air from the tire before re-inflating it with nitrogen. Sure, it leaves a small amount of moisture and air but it's negligable.

Some wheels, like BBS come with two sets of valve stems. That allows you to fill with nitrogen on one while purging the air and moisture out of the other.

 

well, that would be the proper way to do it but i've never seen it done like that. Even evacuating 100% of the air it won't change the ride quality of the vehicle.

On both car or race bike i haven't or any other person i know that has switched over has noted no additional changes. The difference might be that we keep our tires at hte proper PSI with air in them though.

 

soooo in the end.... shld i put nitrogen in my tires or not???

 

do you check your tires often and change pressures for track use (or other things)? if so then i wouldn't.

if you like driving to the shop to put air in your tires then go for it. i like being able to adjust mine right at home without worrying about it. I gave up on it for that reason.

 

^ +1

If your car is a DD and you don't have ready access to pressurized air, then Nitrogen may be great.

I do adjust my air pressures for Auto-x. Before I leave home for the event, I'll put 38 psi of cold pressure in each tire. By the time I get to the event, I'm usually above 42 psi. Then before I run, I'll bring the pressure down to what I want to run for the race and then readjust the pressure just before each run. The next morning, my cold tire pressure is often down to the low 30's.

Here is a question. In the above scenario what would be the effect of Nitrogen? A Nitrogen fill changes less with temperature variations than does Air. If I was to find a shop that charged a one-time fee for Nitrogen fill (ie would top-off for free for the life of the tire), I could then increase pressure before and event to the level that I want to run the tires for the race. This would introduce more air to the Nitrogen. The next day, I could bring the tire pressures back down to say 33 psi, and then drive to the shop to have it topped off with Nitrogen.

Advantages to this would be less tire pressure change during auto-X and more stable air pressure for regular driving. Disadvantage is that every time I did this I would be diluting the Nitrogen mix. In theory I suppose, if I did this enough, eventually there would be a 50/50 mix of Nitrogen/Air right?

 

dhays:

holey crap, 38psi?!? that's pretty high pressure. I keep my tires at 30psi for street use. Unless you are running those super econo tires 42 psi is way too much pressure.

About using nitrogen, that is correct, nitrogen in it's pure form isn't affected by heat or cold so the pressure would stay more constant. Your tire pressures shouldn't vary much in your autocross. Once they are heated up they should stay about the same and i doubt the tires are getting so hot that your psi change is a lot. When i go to the strip and drag race i drop to 17psi and after doing a huge burnout i only gain about 1psi. Those drag radials are going to be a lot hotter than tires used at autoX so if you're jumping that high in psi something is screwy.

 

ehh i know helium is for balloon's i guess the nitrogen is just that much lighter I finally got it on the ground today wont make that mistake again.

 

I'm still working with the pressures. Most Z drivers that autocross well seem to be running pressures between 37-42 psi depending on their suspension setup. I've found that that 38 seems about right so far, but I'm still tweaking it. 30psi is way too low for DD on the stock tires. It will be a soft ride, but you will have increased tire heating and increased wear.

My car is not unusual but TP can vary 2-3 psi from right before a run to right afterwards.

 

I wonder if this guy even know what air really is?