I got a lesson that nitrogen in our tires is good for shaving the nuclear gay unborn whales.




Note the benefit 'a smaller carbon foot print helping the environment'.

OK, help me here. The benefits listed above that can be equally achieved by simply inflating tires to the correct pressure, irrespective if it's with air or nitrogen.

How does running an energy consuming, pollution creating machine that separates the nitrogen from air 'reduce the carbon foot print'?

And yet there's suckers lined up to pay money to get this stuff.

Why is the posted in S-type? That's my car cowering in shame behind the sign

 

It's called Political Correctness for a reason. It's all about emotion and feelings with little to no regard for facts. Remember we are selling it to the sheep (General Public).

It's not by accident that all the idiots in government are lawyers that have never had a real job, instead of people with real life experience in the world!!

You can’t fight it so don’t get mad. It’s just so frustrating when you see the slow motion train wreck that we are living in!!
Another brick in the wall my friend!
.
.
.

 

Funny enough I learned in chemistry class (I'm an engineering student) that

- Nitrogen leaks out of the tire quicker than oxygen
- Air is about 70% Nitrogen already

So I think this is all a sales gimmik, but (big BUT), Nascar uses nitrogen to fill their tires... why? I THINK (I SAID I THINK) is because Nitrogen doesn't change volume as much as oxygen with changes in temperature. Also I THINK oxygen is more likely to ignite. I still use air to inflate the customers tires, I dont charge them money to fill them up

 

False. The difference in expansion coefficient is negligible.

If it were true, this would actually be a good reason to NOT use nitrogen in tires. The inflation pressures recommended by the OEM are based on the useage of 'air', and with the knowledge that the pressure would increase at a certain rate as the tire achieves normal operating temperature. It is the hot, highway operating pressure that is critical, not the static cold pressure, but the former is not practical to measure. OEMs essentially 'reverse engineer' cold static pressures accordingly.

If it were true that nitrogen expanded at a lower rate than air, this would result in a tire being operated in an under-inflated state at highway speeds, a dangerous thing to do.

 

This is the best explanation that I found for race car use Nitrogen in Tires : Information about Nitrogen Tire Inflation News, Benefits, Generator Dealers, Location Finder & More

"Fundamentally; air, oxygen and nitrogen will all behave exactly the same in terms of pressure change for each 10 degrees of temperature change. However temperature alone is not the whole story. Ambient air contains moisture, nitrogen does not. If moisture is present it contributes to a greater change in pressure simply because at lower temperatures water......."

 

Except that the differential in moisture content (as compared to air) sold by by the nitrogen tire guys is usually very low. IOW, nitrogen is not inherently dry- it needs to have the moisture removed the same as compressed air. The same that not all air is so heavily moisture laden that it will cause a problem, not all tire nitrogen is dry enough to avoid a problem.

The cases of air being humid enough to cause either a pressure or corrosion problem are very rare, not a daily occurrence on all cars as this website intimates.

 

In order to have any of the "benefits" of using nitrogen over oxygen (which are basically none), your tires must be filled with pure nitrogen and must have a second valve on your wheel to purge all the regular air out. Nitrogen has next to zero benefit for the average car or driver, and the nitrogen most shops put in only have a nitrogen content of around 10% more than normal air, so you aren't getting any benefit anyways.

 

Hey! Didn't you read the sign? I clearly says: "a smaller carbon footprint helping the environment". That's just gotta help save the children, no? Isn't that what it's all about, saving the children?

 

jaja! ok I can understand that. But I still wonder why NASCAR uses it? I would think they know cars...

And besides, they main problem with the tires is that many people (not the ones in jaguarforums.com of course!!!!) just dont keep them inflated. Which is a problem that got a lot better since TPMS systems where introduced (I get a lot of customers drive by the shop saying that their TPMS light is on and I check them for free)

 

Oh snap! I will rethink my approach on life!

NASCAR, as well as other racing bodies and airplanes use PURE nitrogen because it has a more predictable expansion and contraction than regular air (which is almost 80% nitrogen anyways). They need to be able to tell how the tire is going to react when going 200 mph, then adding heat from braking, etc.



Also, here is Honda's stance on the subject:

Sept 2006
Helping you fix it right the first time - every time
Nitrogen Inflation: What’s Our Position?
Surf any automobile tire-related website these
days, and you’ll likely see something mentioned
about nitrogen inflation. It’s becoming a hot topic.
We’ve gotten a number of inquiries lately
concerning American Honda’s position on this
practice.
When it comes to inflating automobile tires, it’s
our position that ordinary, dry compressed air—
which is about 80 percent nitrogen already—is
the best choice. That’s because it’s more readily
available, and the benefits of using nitrogen
simply don’t appear to outweigh those of using
compressed air.
The practice of inflating tires with nitrogen really
isn’t anything new; it’s been around a long time.
It’s been commonly used on aerospace vehicles,
commercial and military aircraft, military vehicles,
race cars, and even heavy off-road construction
equipment. Here’s why:
• To meet rigid safety and performance specs,
the required tire inflation pressures are often
very high, especially in the aerospace industry.
The tire inflation pressure for NASA’s space
shuttle, for instance, is a whopping 315 psi!
• Nitrogen is an inert gas; it doesn’t combust or
oxidize.
• The process used to compress nitrogen
excludes water vapor. Water vapor can expand
if the temperature climbs above 212°F.
• Tires inflated with nitrogen leak slower over
time than those inflated with compressed air.
Automobile tires, on the other hand, are subjected
to an entirely different set of conditions. Here’s
why inflating tires with nitrogen offers no real
advantages:
• Although tires inflated with nitrogen leak
slower over time than those inflated with
compressed air, they still leak and need to be
reinflated to maintain proper pressure. If you
can’t find a place that offers nitrogen
inflation—and there aren’t yet all that many
places that do—your only option left is to
reinflate with compressed air. Doing that
drops the nitrogen purity.
• Nitrogen offers no better protection against
road hazards such as cuts and punctures. So
no matter what you inflate the tire with, you
still need to check the condition and pressure
of the tires at least once a month as
recommended in the O/M.
• Tires that are inflated with compressed air and
properly maintained offer the same fuel
economy, tread wear, and ride comfort as
those inflated with nitrogen.
• Nitrogen for automobile tires is produced by
nitrogen generators, which typically get about
95 percent purity. But to actually get that
level of purity into an automobile tire, you
would have to deflate and inflate that tire with
nitrogen several times. If you’re not careful
doing this repeated deflation and inflation
process, the purity level winds up being closer
to 90 percent (compared to the approximate
80 percent nitrogen already in compressed
air). Because of this, those claims of less
pressure loss with nitrogen aren’t valid.
So here’s the bottom line: Nitrogen is an ideal gas
for inflating tires in aircraft, military vehicles, race
cars, and heavy off-road equipment, but when it
comes to automobile tires, it offers no apparent
advantages over ordinary, dry compressed air.
Our advice to you: Just stick with the air you
breathe.

 

'Racin' cawrs' also tend to adjust tire pressure when hot in tiny increments using tread surface temperatures as an indicators of what to do. This science/art is very different than street driven cars that have tires pressures adjusted cold without taking other factors into account.

If things were that critical, nobody finds it strange that OEMs specify a set pressure irrespective of whether the tire is at -40*C or +40*C?

 

As far as I can remember, I don't recall NASCAR, the airlines or the military ever saying "we use nitrogen in our tires and are thus helping the environment". Maybe any day now.

...and, nitrogen ain't that inert - a major pollutant in exhaust gas is oxides of nitrogen.

 

i watch Nascar and i seen them talk about it but then again, I guess we can all agree that nitrogen doesn't really make a difference worth the cash.

 

True, but the section I linked to does not refer to daily drivers but to NASCAR,
I'm pretty sure they are using dry nitrogen and the benefit they perceive is the ability to have a predictable pressure change for a specific temperature change.

 

Genuine compressed Limousin Nitrogen Extract (only the Freshest CowPats)
Prevents Punctures
Stops Leaks
Fixes those pesky TPMS problems

Nitrogen has a lower viscosity than air so will leak out more quickly.
The other claimed benefit was that it stops the rubber oxidising, ignoring the outside of the tyre.
I've seen tyres on a burning car explode and you don't want to be near them but it is simply bursting due to internal pressure not any combustion.
I can imagine if there was spilt fuel then a blast of compressed air would be more dangerous than a blast of nitrogen which, maybe, is why NASCAR uses it.

 

Nitrogen has a lower density than oxygen (1.251 g/L as opposed to 1.429), so pure nitrogen is in fact lighter than the traditional mix you humans refer to as "air". This makes your steering more precise and burns less fuel on account of having less mass within the tyres. In fact, each tyre re-inflated with pure nitrogen saves 0.000027 baby dingbats. So go to it, and good luck.

 

Aha. The nitrogen has lower CO2 content than air!

So, lower carbon footprint.

(Someone's gonna point out it's a rather small difference. Oh well. Facts really are a nuisance.)

Er, and someone else may point out that creating the nitrogen probably uses more fuel than would compressed air so actually it causes an INCREASED carbon footprint. Facts, who needs 'em?

 

That was exactly my original point way up top. I was going to go into full pedantic mode on the issue and also consider the amount of energy wasted in creating the advertising signs but that would be silly. There's no room for silly when we need to save the planet, is there?

 

the only good use for nitrogen as far as I'm concerned is keeping my chips/crisps fresh

 

Let's just fill tires with CO2 extracted from air (or smokestacks).

1. It's a bigger, heavier molecule than Nitrogen, should not leak as quickly,
2. It's really inert, will not oxidize and actually puts out fires,
3. Could be collected and re-used at tire stations,
4. It's Environmental enemy #1.

Bad idea?