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Any one tried new tires that were filled with pure nitrogen? While shopping for tires over the phone, one tire store noted for $20, they would fill new tires with nitrogen. Claimed higher gas mileage, extended tire life, less leakage than air and therefore less need to keep pumping in air, no interaction between inert nitrogen and tire interior and rim, and tires won't heat up and cause greater internal pressure variances. I think race cars use nitrogen. But would all these benefits be worthy for the usual street car?
Mike
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'83 245 GLT, '92 245DL, '90 760 GLT
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Two Words:
Snake Oil.
Air is 78% nitrogen. You're mainly pulling out CO2 and oxygen.
Who says the nitrogen purification process actually dries the air? Is that part of the process?
-Will
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1990 740 Turbo, on its way to stock specs, maybe beyond
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I agree - snake oil for automotive use.
Nitrogen is produced by liquifying air and fractional distillation. Oxygen and nitrogen are produced this way. At such low temperature used, water is frozen out very early on.
Carbon dioxide is manufactured chemically given that it's percentage is so low in our atmosphere. Right now about 340 parts per million. Al Gore doesn't understand this point by the way, as he is certifiably stupid.
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Al Gore is a heck of a lot smarter than the morons who bought into this fraud. My guess is he knows better, but the money is too good to ignore.
Dan
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You're right - Al Gore has a nose for money. Right now he's selling carbon credits for huge profit. And of course he did invent the internet....
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The air we breathe is about 78% nitrogen. I'm calling scam....
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N2 works great in the tires. Less air loss and fewer top offs. I use to get it in Costco tires. A local garage sells the N with a BS warranty for $40. Overhead and labor is not free. Since I buy my tires there now, I ask for the no charge N2, no warranty. $20 is not bad and worth trying.
Tom
I keep N2O-O2 in the spare.
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Mike Miller, the tech advice writer for "Roundel" says nitrogen in the tires of an ordinary street car is a mass of doo doo, designed to enhance the profit of the vendor of the nitrogen.
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Not for $20. All of the benefits listed for fuel economy are simply the benefits of keeping proper inflation. A tire with 32psi N2 will get the same fuel economy as a tire filled with 32psi air.
One benefit is that in the process used to extract the nitrogen, they remove the water vapor, which is where the majority of the benefit comes from concerning temperature expansion.
In my experience, it doesn't leak out of the tire less. I usually get nitrogen in the tires because I get my tires at Costco, and they put N2 in for free. I certainly wouldn't pay $20 for it.
Last, its unlikely that the tire tech will go out of his way to put shop air in the tire instead of N2 just because you didn't pay for it.
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91 240 NA Auto 200k+ / 2001 BMW 330Ci 5spd / 1998 Toyota Camry 215k / 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0L 2WD
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We use nitrogen in our Formula Vee race car, less pressure change when the tires heat up and they lose air at a slower rate. For a stret car if it was free I would do it cant hurt.
Eric
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Yes, less pressure change at temperature, but thats only because the N2 is dry. If you got air that dry, it would behave the same way, but most of the time the shop air doesn't have driers on it that get out as much moisture as the N2 machines, if they have driers on at all.
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91 240 NA Auto 200k+ / 2001 BMW 330Ci 5spd / 1998 Toyota Camry 215k / 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0L 2WD
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Man, $20 for 100% of what is present in our atmosphere at a level of 78.08% in what we breathe sounds like a big waste of money for a daily driver! Not only that, those "green colored" valve caps are downright ugly!
Just check your tire pressures on a regular basis and save the $20! Just another marketing ploy!
jorrell
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92 245 278K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!
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John
Marketing ploy is that the PC way to say a scam? It's just another way to separate you from your hard earned money at the repair shop.
Dan
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“You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public.”
Quote from Scott Adams of "Dilbert" fame. Tell me that this guy doesn't know what he is talking about!
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I'm a huge fan of Scott Adams and his insight into the corporation v. employee relationship, but here he's merely paraphrasing columnist H.L.Mencken's quote of some 60 or 70 years ago: "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public".
For some wonderful quotes and witticisms, Google "H.L. Mencken", or a quotations website and look him up. Witty, ascerbic, very observant guy.
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Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F-M46, dtr's 94-940 B230FD, my 83-244DL B23F-M46, 89-745(LT1 V8), 98-S90, 77MGB and four old motorcycles)
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Dan,
Not that you asked me, but I see it that way, to the extent the return on investment is overplayed. All I have is 1995 prices, but I then rented a cylinder for $4.77 a month with a $14.25 fill - using it to dry out A/C lines at the time. Surely for a tire shop the gas will be a high margin accessory.
Lots of businesses use the strategy of upselling from the basic big-ticket items consumers have already done their homework on, and as a result, have low margins. Automobiles come to mind.
Green valve caps!
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
To err is human, to moo bovine.
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Art
I'm just commenting to stir it up so answer away.
It is also sold to keep the inside surfaces of tires from deteriorating. Last worn out old tire I looked inside of looked like new without nitrogen but the outside sure was shot from heat and UV.
I'm glad I can stay away from repair shops, I have a buddy who used to manage one until he got fed up with the owners demands to sell unneeded repairs and services.
Dan
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Dan,
Here is a link I saw this morning: http://finance.yahoo.com/famly-home/article/107429/the-great-car-maintenance-upsell.html;_ylt=Ai4un9X3_27zognf3NobG2WCfNdF?mod=family-autos
The last paragraph pretty much says it all.
And yes, "Marketing Ploy" is PC speak for rip-off of the uneducated!
jorrell
ps, About 6 months ago a shop went ahead and filled a new set of tires for me with nitrogen without telling me. When I got the bill I balked at the $15 charge and they removed it from the bill. The interesting thing is that they put the car back on the rack, took out the valves and drained the tires of Nitrogen... followed by a refill with compressed air! Talk about trying to maintain an illusion!
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92 245 278K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!
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My buddy got out over 7 years ago, you can imagine the pressure on techs today.
Your tire shop spent more money in labor dumping the nitrogen than it cost them in nitrogen to do it. I'll bet you went out of there feeling really good about them!
Dan
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Dan,
I walked out of there with a smile and a giggle at their attempt to "set things right"... idiots I say! They do good work, but from now on, I'll just take the rims to them to get rubber mounted as I don't want to have to deal with their upsell attempts like replacing brand new air filters and wiper blades for inflated prices!
But then again, they are trying to make a buck and keep mechanics employed, so I guess they aren't totally evil!
jorrell
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92 245 278K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!
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