Nitrogen for my tires

Triathlon Forum
1

Should I have my tri bike tires filled with this:
Princeton BMW 3630 Quaker Bridge Road, Hamilton, NJ 08619 • 609-452-9400http://images.mmserver.com/img/new/general/recurring_seasonal/2008_2009/june_photo_6.jpg
Two Fuel Saving Specials
And The Benefits of Nitrogen

Dear $$$$$$,

Are your BMW 5 Series’s tires ready for summer road trips? Nothing improves their performance like Nitrogen.

Nitrogen is a safe, dry, non-flammable, non-combustible, non-corrosive gas. The air we breathe contains around 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen.

The US Military, NASA, Indy Car and NASCAR have all used Nitrogen in their tires for years.
With properly inflated Nitrogen-filled tires, you can enjoy a better, safer and less expensive driving experience, while saving fuel and optimizing overall vehicle performance.

Nitrogen will:
• Improve Steering
• Reduce the chance of blowouts
• Improve Handling
• Improve Braking

Take advantage of our Nitrogen Fill Special and the Fuel Saver Special - and hit the road in tip-top shape.

 Nitrogen Fill Special*  All four tires

ONLY $68.95
click here to see the video

Offer expires Aug 8, 2009. Does not apply to previous service and cannot be combined with any other coupon, offer or discount. See Service Advisor for full details. Valid at Princeton BMW. #935672936 Fuel Saver Special* ONLY
$149.95
Full fuel injector cleaning service
Click here to see the video
Offer expires Aug 8, 2009. Does not apply to previous service and cannot be combined with any other coupon, offer or discount. See Service Advisor for full details. Valid at Princeton BMW. #935672936
To book your appointment for the above special, or any other service or repair requirement, please call the Service Team at 609-570-1520. Alternatively, you can schedule online on our website at your leisure, 24/7.

Thank you for being a valued customer and respected eVIP member of Princeton BMW
We look forward to seeing you and your 5 Series very soon.

Sincerely,
Service Director
Princeton BMW

P.S. Please print and present coupon at service write up.

*Offer expires Aug 8, 2009. Does not apply to previous service and cannot be combined with any other coupon, offer or discount. See Service Advisor for full details. Valid at Princeton BMW.

2

Well if you use air in your tyre, as opposed to co2, its 78% nitrogen anyway.

3

Wow, nitrogen improves steering AND handling???

That’s like a double bonus!

FYI, if you have trouble finding that dealership, it’s right next to Dr. Smitty’s Snake Oil Shack.

4

Just keep your tires at recommended pressure with good old fashioned compressed air. It you have a presta/schraeder tire pump for your bike, it’s free too!
YMMV, Joe

5

I have no personal experience with it. However, one of my co-worker’s husbands works for a car dealership, and she got her car’s tires filled with it for next to nothing. She said she felt that the car rode much better with the nitrogen in the tires as opposed to just regular air.

6

I have no personal experience with it. However, one of my co-worker’s husbands works for a car dealership, and she got her car’s tires filled with it for next to nothing. She said she felt that the car rode much better with the nitrogen in the tires as opposed to just regular air.

No, she can’t feel a difference. It’s all in her head. Once any gas is in a tire at the same PSI, it’s going to function the same.

Yes, when I was a jet mech in the Navy, we put N2 in the tires. There’s several good reasons for doing this and they all involve blowouts in the wheel well at altitude and having tires at 350psi be slightly more stable over a large temperature and pressure range. NONE of this is applicable to a regular passenger vehicles. It might be slightly applicable to race cars, but that still verges on snake oil in my opinion.

7

This is a subject that I use for a class I teach on mass transfer. I ask the students to calculate the mass transfer rate of nitrogen, air, and carbon dioxide through a rubber tire wall. Nitrogen has a slightly lower solubility in rubber than oxygen (i.e., nitrogen does not “like” rubber and will thus not travel through it easily). CO2 has a very high solubility in rubber (about 20-30x higher) - so CO2 will be transferred through the tire wall more rapidly. Nitrogen has a slightly lower diffusivity (i.e., the size of the nitrogen molecules is slightly larger than oxygen). This means that a tire filled with nitrogen will lose pressure at a slower rate than a tire filled with air. And a tire filled with CO2 will lose pressure about 30x faster than one filled with nitrogen or air (an easy experiment to try with your CO2 cartridge). This website explains it pretty well:
http://www.composite-agency.com/messages/Pure_nitrogen_in_tyres.pdf

So there may be some truth to the claim that a car with N2 in the tires will handle better and get better mileage - but only later on when the tires filled with air have less pressure, and even then I doubt one could really tell the difference in handling. The immediate benefit is zero.

8

So given the relatively slow rate of pressure loss in car tires (i.e. the change during a single ride is negligible), the advantage of using nitrogen is just that you have to pump your tires less often (good thing at those prices). Two tires just filled with air vs. Nitrogen will perform the same for quite a while.

To the OP; I’d be glad to sell you a special pump that inflates tires with a special 78% pure Nitrogen mix. PM for details :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

9

Costco tire centers use nitrogen and they do it for free. Even if you didn’t buy your tires from them, if you ask them to check your tire pressure and you are low, they will do it.
-Nick

10

I have no personal experience with it. However, one of my co-worker’s husbands works for a car dealership, and she got her car’s tires filled with it for next to nothing. She said she felt that the car rode much better with the nitrogen in the tires as opposed to just regular air.I’m sure she can. Just like those people with the tornado fuel saver who swear they are saving gas mileage, too (but it is worse).

People are so easily influenced and lied to and they then lie to themselves.

11

So if I was to fill my tri bike tires up with it night b4 race chances are my tires would be at the same pressure in the morning ? That little piece of mind might be worth stopping at costco to get filled for free.

12

So if I was to fill my tri bike tires up with it night b4 race chances are my tires would be at the same pressure in the morning ? That little piece of mind might be worth stopping at costco to get filled for free.

Not sure if Costco can fill up tires with presta valves or not. Also not sure if their equipment can inflate to the high psi bike tires usually rate. I guess it doesn’t hurt to try.

13

I dont know about pressures but I could always use a shrader adapter right.

14

So could I assume that over time, when I top off my tire pressure with plain old air before a ride, that the concentration of nitrogen will increase, and eventually, I will have a nitrogen concentration, thus acheiving a certain performance increase over time?

I see a marketing opportunity for N2 cartidges for quick inflators. No doubt, somebody will track these down in a day or two.

15

any dumb old chemical engineer could tell you to forget the nitrogen… fill those clinchers with helium or for a more explosive ride use hydrogen with the latex tubulars.

16

So if I was to fill my tri bike tires up with it night b4 race chances are my tires would be at the same pressure in the morning ? That little piece of mind might be worth stopping at costco to get filled for free.

You’d go out of your way the day before your big race just to avoid having to bring a pump with you to the race or borrow one in transition?

Seems like a lot of work to me for something with no real benefit.

17

Always have a pump strapped to transition bag. Am the guy everybody runs too to last minute inflate. I would stop by a costco if it was not out of the way.

18

…Nitrogen Fill Special* All four tires
ONLY $68.95 …

BMW dealers are a rippoff. I got the same letter from my Audi dealer awhile back. They will do it for free.

Also, if you do a search, there is at least one thread about this subject from about a year ago.