bodyputtyless

Well technically since the air we breath is what is compressed into a tire during inflation, and this same air is comprised mainly of Nitrogen, then in a lame **** way you could claim you have tires that are mostly inflated with nitrogen. But you'd have to be attempting to win a bar bet or a chemistry major.

wingman75

If you want to be pedantic about it: The Earth's atmosphere is a thin layer of gases that surrounds the Earth. Its composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases.

lldsandsll

never thought i'd be the one to answer a technical question. nitrogen doesnt expand in heatas easily as regular tire air does. when u get up to speed ur tires get hot and the air expands. nitrogen is far less prone to this. constant pressure,that's why it's better.

ohsixgt1217

Nitrogen in tire is BS, trust me, I work at Ford and laugh everytime someone comes in and is willing to pay the $29.99 for this. Soon you will hear " Come fiill your tires with Hellium! It will make your car go faster and feel like you are floating!!!" Seriously its bs.

timothyrw

the straight dope:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070216.html

"Does nitrogen make any practical difference? You couldn't prove it by me. I found no scientific tests showing that nitrogen-filled tires stayed inflated longer than average under normal conditions. A car-buff buddy was sure it worked but conceded he had only anecdotal evidence that it did."

"More important, nitrogen doesn't support combustion, which is one reason aircraft and the space shuttle use nitrogen in their tires. The wisdom of this precaution was brought home by the crash of Mexicana Airlines flight 940 on March 31, 1986. Shortly after the Boeing 727 took off from Mexico City en route to Puerto Vallarta, an overheated landing-gear brake caused a tire improperly filled with air instead of nitrogen to overheat as well and explode, rupturing fuel and hydraulic lines. The ensuing fire and crash killed 167 passengers and crew. However, unless your driving habits are of the X-treme variety, the chances of your tires catching fire anytime soon are slim."

how stuff works:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question594.htm

"Many race car teams use nitrogen instead of air in their tires because nitrogen has a much more consistent rate of expansion and contraction compared to the usual air. Often, a half pound of pressure will radically affect traction and handling. With track and tire temperatures varying over the duration of a race, the consistency of nitrogen is needed.
Nitrogen pressure is more consistent than normal air pressure, because air typically contains varying amounts of moisture due to changes in the relative humidity on race day. Water causes air to be inconsistent in its rate of expansion and contraction. So, a humid race in the southeast United States or a dry race in the desert western United States could make for unpredictable tire pressures if "dry" nitrogen were not used.
Nitrogen is also used in the high-pressure tires on large and small aircraft."

mygt500

Personally, If I did get nitrogen over air it would be for the above stated reasons and that is good enough reason to switch for me. Discount tire offers nitrogen and once filled the tires can be topped off whenever it warrants for the life of the tires for free. Just another surcharge that is not necessary but an option. Its like going from deluxe to premium. JMO

ajaibr

I'm going to post 2 links regarding the use of Nitrogen in tires at the end of this rant so read up on it. Nitrogen is far better in tires in general because it is less susceptible to pressure variations that occur in "air". "Air" as we use it is comprised mostly of nitrogen but the problem with using it in tires is kind of a long term problem. "Air" contains Oxygen. Oxygen is oxidative, meaning it can corrode things like rubber and aluminum.

"Air" is not used as a primary fill for aircraft tires because of the immense amount of heat generated very close to the tires upon landing. "Air" is also not used primarily in aircraft tires because of an issue with the moisture content in those tires freezing at high altitudes where temperatures drop down to -50c and lower. Nothing like landing an airplane to find out your tires were filled with "air" that has a little water in it that froze. As far as street tires on a car, the only thing it really affects is pressure stability. You wont have as much of a fluctuation in tire pressure based on seasonal or driving changes. When it's winter in Chicago, your pressure sensors freak out and you have to put "air" in because the pressure dropped. If you had nitrogen, it might not trip the sensor.

Let's look at this all realistically. Your tires for the most part are never going to experience the types of temperatures that a 747 sees when landing and trying to stop. Even if your car came close to the force required to stop a 747, you wouldn't have to do it with a temperature swing from -50c to ambient like a plane experiences. That kind of tends to rule out your tires bursting into flames when you brake hard.

If you ever do push your car to those types of limits, you better be checking tire pressure better than they ever do on any aircraft. Has anyone ever heard of a car tire errupting into flames from the oxygen content in the tire expanding and combusting? Somehow I doubt it. You might blow a tire from overpressure but I can't imagine one flaming up from it. Something in one of these links did mention the green valve caps that were talked about in an earlier post. Even if your tire was filled with Nitrogen from the factory and went down by 5psi, topping it off with "air" from a filling station would hardly change anything.

Personally, I feel that even if some stations claim they fill with Nitrogen, I doubt they have a Nitrogen generator or Nitrogen bottles that they are filling your tires with. As for the factory, who knows? There is not a whole lot of need to have Nitrogen in the manufacture process so I doubt they have it just to fill tires. Maybe they do though. They sure aren't runningair wrenches on Nitrogen though. They aren't welding anything with it as a purge. I don't work at Ford though so who knows. I'm just a lowly chemical engineer that owns an '07.

http://www.nitrogendirect.com/N2Info.htm

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae192.cfm

wingman75

As I said before, I had new tires put on my Dodge Intrepid a year ago and they filled them with Nitrogen for free. I have not needed to add any air yet.

Does this mean I would pay $20 to fill my Mustang's tires... No Way!

Sleeper05

Our tires are indeed filled with Nitrogen!...

...78%of the way to be exact, as well as...
Oxygen: 20%,
Carbon Dioxide: 0.03%, and
Rare Gases

Sherwood06GT

I fill mine up with Helium. Lightens the car, therefore better mileage. Must take a good 500lbs off the overall weight of the car. In heavy traffic I just put a little more in and float over the congestion! [&:]