Has anyone looked into this? The BMW dealer I use for my 06' 530I has an offer for $40 to change over. Claims to get a 3-5% fuel increase and 25% better tire wear.
Seems like a good idea for the TCH too.

 

roseng.

Your dealer is feeding you a line of s**t a mile long.....

Just check the air in your tires every 2 weeks or so, make sure they are at the correct pressure and you will do just as well and have an extra $40 to buy a tank of gas.

By the way, your normal air is 78% nitrogen as is....

 

This is purely hog wash.

1. Pure nitrogen from bottle is moisture free so that the psi will not vary much compare to air. But you are not driving at 200mph like NASCAR, which can make a handling change with tire pressure as little as 0.2 psi. There is no effect at freeway speed even with 2-3 psi variation.

2. To fill it with pure nitrogen, it requires to pull vacuum of the tire. Tubeless tires cannot pull vacuum because the bead will separate from the rim. NASCAR wheels can do this because inner tubes are mandatory. Without pulling vacuum, the best you can do is no more 90% nitrogen compare to 78% in air.

Save you money to buy gas.

 

NASCAR uses pure nitrogen for the tires because it makes the temperature/pressure changes in the tires more predictable than simply filling them with compressed air (78% N, 21% O, 1% other junk).

As noted, a change of only a couple tenths in pressure makes a difference to the handling of the high-performance cars, but it's not something we really need to worry about for passenger vehicles.

 

The entire reason why some dealers push nitrogen is the number behind the $ sign. It is a scam. If you want to buy nitrogen anyway, the right price should be less than one dollar. The cost of production is only a few cents.

There are valid reasons for using nitrogen in tires, but none of those reasons apply to passenger automobiles. Tbone526 explained why NASCAR teams use nitrogen. Nitrogen is also used in airplane tires, because they need dry gas (nitrogen contains no water) to avoid the weight of ice causing a tire imbalance when the very cold tire spins up to 180 mph in a fraction of a second during landing. Some specialized applications are concerned with oxygen feeding a fire if the tire bursts. But none of those issues is a concern for passenger automobiles.

 

WOW! Strong responses.
From the research I have been able to do it seems like the only real benefit is not having to check your tire pressure often. Of course then you need to fill with nitrogen if it's low. I agree that it is a waste of time and money.
Thanks for the comments.

 

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

"...Bottom line: Overall, consumers can use nitrogen and might enjoy the slight improvement in air retention provided, but it's not a substitute for regular inflation checks..."

 

roseng,

Sorry about the "strong" response. I just get mad when I see a dealer try to BS a customer by claiming something as crazy as 25% better tire wear. The tire does not care WHAT it is filled with, just that it IS filled. Regular checks will do more for tire life and economy than being filled with nitrogen. I will not EVEN get into the 3 to 5% increase in mileage.

 

Just to add my $.02: Running the normal air through a compressor tends to drive quite a bit of moisture out of it anyway. Since it's 78% nitrogen anyhow, you aren't getting anything more.

IT'S JUST A WAY FOR THE DEALER / TIRE SHOP TO RIP YOU OFF!!!!!

If you want to _really_ improve your mileage, get a set of low compression hubcaps and a high speed muffler bearing.

 

Another way to put really dry air into your tires is find a friend who scuba dives. The air in a scuba tank is very dry with no contaminants.

All that is required is a air hose chuck that attaches to a LP hose on the regulator. It's part of my dive kit, and has been used many times.