Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[bmwexecutive]

My dealer is offering to fill up my tires with NitroFill for $59.99 plus tax. I was looking into it today and it seems to prove beneficial. What do you guys think? Do any of you have nitrogen in your tires right now? Here are the benefits: http://whynitrofill.com/benefits.php

[SP330]

Do it, it's not much I'd like to see that improvement in mileage is true.

[KevinC]

While I can believe there is *some* benefit to filling with Nitrogen, it would seem that their claims are all greatly exaggerated. Better handling? Riiiight.

[bimmer4me]

I think it's worth $60 to at least try it out. If you don't like it for whatever reason you can fill your tires back up with normal air later.

[ward]

absolute snake oil bullshit

don't give them 60 bucks for less than a dollar worth of nitrogen.

no chance in hell a properly inflated tire with air is getting 5% less MPG than a tire with nitrogen.

don't encourage the shady bastards selling this garbage by giving you their money

the less suckers that buy in the less of these scams will come up

[ward]

oh yeah, and side note

your tires are already full of 76-78% nitrogen

[ska///235i]

try it...but becareful not to hit a pothole, tire might explode..jk

[Nikki]

It does have benefits, technically, but not worth any amout of money IMO. My boyfriend used to work at an Audi dealer and felt like crap having to ask people if they wanted it. He put it in my tires and his own since it was free but we would never pay for it.

[shadowcoder]

Originally Posted by Nikki

It does have benefits, technically, but not worth any amout of money IMO.

None of the benefits except from diffusion are applicable to the E90 or any
other production car. And the loss of pressure due to diffusion is negligible
to justify that amount of money. It's money straight down the toilet.

[Gearcraft]

i should write jamie from the mythbusters about this one. also, how about if you fill the tires with helium... will it be lighter?

[manilae90]

60 bucks is a bit too much for a nitro fill. In the Philippines, they do it for 10 bucks but I have seen tire stores in the States do it for 20. Although, they say that nitro in tires will give you better gas mileage etc... The main benefit that I experienced was the improved ride. It is a more comfortable, less choppy ride compared to regular air, specially now that I put on 19 inch wheels.

[Krockit]

Tire pressures change. And when you have to re-air the tires do you have to go back for more, at what cost? I'm not buying it. But if you are I'll be keen to know the result.

[Asiann]

This is from howstuffworks

I used to use nitrogen to fill my race car tires because it was the cheapest bottled gas I could buy in big cylinders at the welding shop. Twenty bucks' worth of nitrogen would fill enough tires for a whole weekend of endurance racing, and also would run the air wrenches that I used to change the tires.

Remember, air is about 80 percent nitrogen to start with--so the difference is not profound. The balance of the volume of air is mostly oxygen, which is bad for your tires. Oxygen promotes breakdown of the rubber, so your tires should last longer with pure nitrogen. Furthermore, nitrogen molecules migrate through rubber more slowly than oxygen, so your tires should lose pressure more slowly. (I'm assuming you check your tire pressures on a regular schedule.)

Another, perhaps more important, advantage to nitrogen is that the nitrogen delivered from a welding cylinder or nitrogen generator is desiccated and clean. Moisture inside a tire is bad because it causes pressure fluctuations and corrodes rims. And, I've seen lots of water come out of service-station air pumps. I generally will check the line for moisture before I use it by depressing the inflater pin with my thumbnail. If my thumb gets wet, I try to purge the line for a few seconds. There's also the potential for the compressor to force lubricating oil and garbage from the inside of the tank into the tire. Oil will further accelerate breakdown of the rubber, and dirt can be trapped in the valve core, starting a leak. Worse, some shops use automatic oilers to lubricate their air tools, adding even more oily mist to the mix.

To properly use nitrogen in your tires, all of the air has to be purged, generally by the time-honored tradition of alternately filling and venting the tire. Unless the tire is broken off the rim, cleaned of moisture and debris, and remounted with a waterfree rim lubricant before purging with nitrogen, you'll miss most of the benefits.

Bottom line: I'd fill new tires with nitrogen if the tire shop will do it for free or at least at a discount. Most will. But just cruising in and topping off from a nitrogen hose for 20 bucks? Save your money.

I think you would be wasting your money as well.

[shadowcoder]

Originally Posted by Asiann

This is from howstuffworks

I used to use nitrogen to fill my race car tires because it was the cheapest bottled gas I could buy in big cylinders at the welding shop. Twenty bucks' worth of nitrogen would fill enough tires for a whole weekend of endurance racing, and also would run the air wrenches that I used to change the tires.

Remember, air is about 80 percent nitrogen to start with--so the difference is not profound. The balance of the volume of air is mostly oxygen, which is bad for your tires. Oxygen promotes breakdown of the rubber, so your tires should last longer with pure nitrogen. Furthermore, nitrogen molecules migrate through rubber more slowly than oxygen, so your tires should lose pressure more slowly. (I'm assuming you check your tire pressures on a regular schedule.)

Another, perhaps more important, advantage to nitrogen is that the nitrogen delivered from a welding cylinder or nitrogen generator is desiccated and clean. Moisture inside a tire is bad because it causes pressure fluctuations and corrodes rims. And, I've seen lots of water come out of service-station air pumps. I generally will check the line for moisture before I use it by depressing the inflater pin with my thumbnail. If my thumb gets wet, I try to purge the line for a few seconds. There's also the potential for the compressor to force lubricating oil and garbage from the inside of the tank into the tire. Oil will further accelerate breakdown of the rubber, and dirt can be trapped in the valve core, starting a leak. Worse, some shops use automatic oilers to lubricate their air tools, adding even more oily mist to the mix.

To properly use nitrogen in your tires, all of the air has to be purged, generally by the time-honored tradition of alternately filling and venting the tire. Unless the tire is broken off the rim, cleaned of moisture and debris, and remounted with a waterfree rim lubricant before purging with nitrogen, you'll miss most of the benefits.

Bottom line: I'd fill new tires with nitrogen if the tire shop will do it for free or at least at a discount. Most will. But just cruising in and topping off from a nitrogen hose for 20 bucks? Save your money.

I think you would be wasting your money as well.

There is absolutely NO benefit in using nitrogen in the tires of production
cars. NONE. Oxidation of the rubber is minimized through the tire's
manufacturing process. People should start worrying about the outside,
rather than the inside because by the time oxidation makes a difference
on a tire, you may have changed your car not to mention the tire itself
a couple of times. For the insane there are even chemicals to protect
against depolymerization, fatigue, brittleness and even disintegration of
a tire. The diffusion point is a moot one - people should check their tires'
pressure regularly.

sc.-

[Asiann]

I wouldn't say that there are no uses for nitrogen but the small or minute benefit is not worth paying for. Don't know if you actually paid attention but it was a quote from a web site and I stated at the end that it was not worth it.

[Josh49]

You'd be better off taking that money and wiping yourself with it. They probably are saying to themselves, "what a stupid rich moron" every time someone does this..

Fill your tires with air, check them regularly, and you'll be all set.

[fueledbymetal]

Originally Posted by shadowcoder

People should start worrying about the outside,
rather than the inside because by the time oxidation makes a difference
on a tire, you may have changed your car not to mention the tire itself
a couple of times.

Exactly. Also, as mentioned above, natural air is already ~78% N2

[BenMW]

My dealer told me to do this the other day...they wanted 50 bucks for all 4 tires... So I looked into it....and found out the autoshop across the street would do it for $16. But they were out of it. So I didn't get it and just had them check my air pressure.

Also every autobody shope made fun of me for asking for it..."Are you driving a racecar or something?"

Ps I thought about putting up this thread last week but then did a search.

[desinole]

how about if you fill the tires with helium... will it be lighter?

Finally, we might have the flying car that was promised by popular science. But do you guys think the I-Drive will work off the ground ?

I know it does in the LR3 (yeah I saw the ad).

[larryn]

For track and autox, it is beneficial, I have started at 37 lbs cold, and three runs later (I try to check pressure after every run, but forgot), had 52 lbs of pressure. This does not happen with nitrogen fills.

For the street, I see no benefit for it at all.

[SoYank]

Airplane tires are filled with nitrogen but when was the last time you drove your BMW at 33,000 feet?

[SoYank]

Originally Posted by BadBob

This is a good example of how people are taking advantage of the declining math and science education standards in the USA.

Hear, hear!