I filled my tires with Nitrogen

[n1one]

Yes, you can add oxygen to a tire after it has had nitrogen in it. Bring the vehicle back to where you filled it with nitrogen and they ought to drain and refill it for free.

"Topping off nitrogen filled tires with compressed air is no problem. We recommend that you use nitrogen in your tires whenever possible, but if you run into a situation where you can’t get it, no problem. Go ahead and “top-off” your tires with air. Later, you can return to your dealer to have your tires purged of the air and refilled with nitrogen."

Here is a very informative website (American, and Canadian versions available) about the benefits of Nitrogen, who uses it, etc.

Nitrogen in Tires : Information about Nitrogen Tire Inflation News, Benefits, Generator Dealers, Location Finder & More

To summarize:

1. Any vehicle tire can use it
2. You can add air to 'top-up' if required.
3. Increased fuel economy (less rolling resistance)
4. Increased tread life (less rolling resistance - tire loses less psi)
5. Decresed wheel / belt wear = increased tire life
6. Inflammable - does not add oxygen... (a burning tire is difficult to put out)
7. and lastly, you get cool little green valve covers (lol)

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Interesting link...I watched the Leno Video on Nitrogen use in tires....:Flash:

Man that guy has a lot of really nice cars!

Thanks for the link.

 

[Botch]

Hmmm, I stand corrected... :surrender:

http://www.getnitrogen.org/pdf/graham.pdf

The above egghead article describes how, because of their slightly larger size, N2 molecules can permeate rubber at a slower rate than O2 molecules, hence your tires won't lose air as quickly. I don't know if its enough to make a difference if you regularly check your pressure anyway, but there is a reason now. Hmmm...

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Hmmm, I stand corrected... :surrender:

http://www.getnitrogen.org/pdf/graham.pdf

The above egghead article describes how, because of their slightly larger size, N2 molecules can permeate rubber at a slower rate than O2 molecules, hence your tires won't lose air as quickly. I don't know if its enough to make a difference if you regularly check your pressure anyway, but there is a reason now. Hmmm...

Well there has to be a reason why airplanes use nitrogen as well as race cars. Compressed air is conveniently available for them, but they still choose nitrogen. Maybe it's the nonflammable factor.

 

[gusss]

on my personal experience, on my family business, truck's tires are filled with nitrogen, on now the last between 25% - 35% more than with normal air.

It does work!
Air won't expand and the temperature will always stay cool!

But, would we want tires in our bikes to stay cool?
Instead, we seek heating our tires for better grip and performamce!

My 2 cents!

 

[wolfe1down]

Well there has to be a reason why airplanes use nitrogen as well as race cars. Compressed air is conveniently available for them, but they still choose nitrogen. Maybe it's the nonflammable factor.

It's for the LCF (look cool factor) of the green valve caps... :justkidding:

 

[craig007]

If air is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen and oxygen preferentially leaks out, and you continue to fill it with air, then over time, the gas inside the tire will be come become more nitrogen rich (and oxygen poor). It seems that if you check your air pressure once a week, there will not be much of a "slower leak" benefit. Water vapor is bad, so dry nitrogen has less water vapor than dry air...I get that. So, don't fill your tire with air when it is 100 degrees outside and raining, then go riding in the mountains were it is 40 degrees. Since airplane tires have very wide temperature swings, I can understand why they would want to use either dry air or nitrogen. However if you keep your tires properly inflated and check the often, I would be surprised if any difference in performance on a bike. Having said that, if it is available and free, it can't hurt!

 

[chunkygoat]

Completely not bike related, but since the topic of tire pressure is up maybe somebody can shed some light on a probably stupid question of mine...

So on my ford explorer, which no longer has stock tires - the side of my tires say 50psi. The sticker on the inside of my driver side door suggests 26psi front and back. Which is more suitable? The psi suggested for my car on the sticker on my door? Or the psi suggested on the tire?

I settled for about half way - at 38psi and seem to have no problems....its just been a question in the back of my mind for the past 2 weeks.

 

[Fred]

Completely not bike related, but since the topic of tire pressure is up maybe somebody can shed some light on a probably stupid question of mine...

So on my ford explorer, which no longer has stock tires - the side of my tires say 50psi. The sticker on the inside of my driver side door suggests 26psi front and back. Which is more suitable? The psi suggested for my car on the sticker on my door? Or the psi suggested on the tire?

I settled for about half way - at 38psi and seem to have no problems....its just been a question in the back of my mind for the past 2 weeks.

The number on the tire is what the tire can take before exploding.

The sticker on the door is what will make the truck handle correctly.

Go with the number on the door.

Fred

 

[the_newt]

I would think racers use it because they take the law of diminishing returns to the limit. Nitrogen may not make that big of a difference to those of us on the street or occasional track day but that last little bit of tire stability could be the difference between the podium and an also-ran.

And if a lack of moisture is the biggest benefit, just rig a scuba tank compressor to your tire inflator and there you go. Clean, dry air, albeit probably at far too great a pressure. Though I always thought tire fires were difficult to put out because you're burning a tire, not because of all the flammable oxygen inside it. Granted, this knowledge is drawn from the Simpsons and the springfield tire fire so it might not be that scientific.

 

[Wavex]

Dug that old thread up for the following:

If you’ve stopped by your local car dealership recently, you’ve probably seen them using nitrogen to fill the tires on your car. This is because nitrogen has superior resistance to expansion as heat rises when compared breathable air. Also since oxygen eventually leaks out of tires, nitrogen-filled tires retain their pressure better over time.

The list of benefits goes on for nitrogen, but the downside has always been how one maintains their tires once you get home, not to mention the arm & leg some dealerships charge for filling your tires up with the most abundant element in our atmosphere. Of course the dealers can charge what they do because there aren’t that many people that have a N2 tank sitting in their garage…until now.

A new product from TireSaver, the TireSaver 018 wand, allows you to fill your tires up with nitrogen without the need of a bulky unit and tank. From what we can gather in the materials, the TireSaver 018 has an oxygen-rich membrane and magical unicorn filtering system that take the oxygen, CO2, and water moisture out of the air, leaving only nitrogen to flow into your tires. The membrane/filter element is good for over a 12,000 uses, and produces 95% pure N2, which conforms to some ISO standard that’s too complicated to mention.

The initial cost is a little steep, and TireSaver pitches the product more towards smaller shops. But at $998 for a ready-to-go unit, and $599 to replace the filter, the overall cost for filling up with nitrogen is pretty cheap over the aggregate…assuming you already have the required standard air-compressor, but what self-respecting do-it-yourselfer doesn’t have one of those?

Just think of all the free (as in beer) nitrogen fills you could do with this puppy. That’s a lot of six-packs my friends.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I think everybody will be using Nitrogen when I post up that I got 20,000 miles on my 2Ct's.

I'm at 14,000 and it's not even close to the wear marks.

 

[Cali rider]

I think everybody will be using Nitrogen when I post up that I got 20,000 miles on my 2Ct's.

I'm at 14,000 and it's not even close to the wear marks.

Hey Kenny, I don't remember if you have posted your tire pressures before. What is your front/rear PSI out there in the desert heat?

 

[Bikebiz]

If 1,000 of us get in and buy one, that nitrogen gun could work out fairly economical

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Hey Kenny, I don't remember if you have posted your tire pressures before. What is your front/rear PSI out there in the desert heat?

34-35 PSI for the front

38-40 PSI for the rear

 

[Bikebiz]

I thought you may be running a little higher if they don't fluctuate as much. Ie I expected 39/42-ish. Have you played around with different pressures?

 

[jaclroberts]

The Nitrogen won't leech out of the tyre as quick as the oxygen in air, also the tyre pressure will remain more constant as the tyre warms up while riding as the nitrogen doesn't expand as much as air when heated, that's why aviation and motor racing industries use it.