Is there any advantage to filling street car tires with nitrogen?

Question

I realize why racers fill their tires with nitrogen, but will it actually do anything for everyday driving?

Answer 1

There are some advantages as others have already mentioned but in real life you will not notice any real benefits, and it definitely does not justify expenses. Unless you want to make some dealer wealty, don't do it. I am in Auto Inspections business, and I don't...

Answer 2

1) Reduced oxidation of rubber compounds - which should extend the life of a tire before the materials fail - which probably isn't very useful unless you keep tires a long time.

2) Reduces pressure loss - this is somewhat useful as it extends the time before you need to add "air" to compensate for the air that seeped through the casing - but a lot of the air loss is around the beads where it contacts the rim so that's not as useful as it sounds. Besides even if you only check your tires twice a year (when the weather changes from hot to cold or the other way), you should be able to tell when you need to "top up" and it's not all that difficult.

3) And the reason NASCAR (and other racing series use nitrogen) - there is no water introduced into the tire. Water, in liquid form, can change the way the heat buildup affects the pressure buildup. For racing this is very important as this affects the handling of the car. But on the street, this has almost no meaning as the differences are small and most folks wouldn't be able to tell the difference - not mention use the difference to their advantage.

All the other benefits that are sometimes sited are bogus because you can get those same benefits if you properly inflate your tires with air.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Supposedly, nitrogen is cooler than regular air so the tires wont overheat. Another advantage is that tires take a lot longer to loose pressure so tire check ups don't have to be too often.

Answer 4

Sure, Nitrogen doesnt contain any moisture so it reduces wheel aging and rim oxidation over time which increases the life of your tires and your wheels. Also it maintains its pressure alot better than compressed air and is actually safer. It actually can give you better gas mileage as well.

Answer 5

The Nitrogen is 4 times denser than air, so there is less possibility of the bead leaking out and loosing tire pressure, it is better than just air from a pump.

Answer 6

I have read that it improves gas mileage.