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  #16  
Old 09-28-2007, 07:09 AM
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benebob benebob is offline
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Join Date: May 2001
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Originally Posted by Motorsport-SVX View Post
But nitrogen in place of air stays the same pressure forever
(or as long as you dont get a puncture in your tire)
so your mpg, tire wear and tire life are all improved.
Now you got me thinking Dayle about tire life. I'd suspect you'd actually loose some drivability and tire life somewhat by going to Nitrogen since it doesn't change PSI as readily. A cold tire will have a lower PSI in it then warm (every manufacturer posts cold fill PSI numbers). If you put Nitrogen in there which doesn't rise as quickly as the car warms then you're techincally driving underinflated tires which means you're not getting the mileage a properly inflated air tire should.

Also of course most street tires perform better when slightly over inflated as it lessens tire roll a bit so in essence the harder you drive and heat up your tires the better they are at resisting body roll. With nitrogen you'll loose that unless you fill up your tires beyond the recommended levels. If you add more nitrogen in there then you'll loose that driveability on those cold tire, chilly morning starts since cold rubber isn't nearly as effective at gripping as warmer rubber is plus you're "overinflated" to start with so your tire does not have the same larger contact point that it would if it was inflated less. Remember a tire isn't flat but actually slightly rounded (like a motorcycle tire). The more air you put in the smaller the contact point becomes. Of course I haven't done a study on the subject but just applying the general rules of tires to the subject.

I've talked to my tire guy/sponsor about nitrogen when I got my new tires on there. He said even in my circumstance (drive the car 3k or so a year so my tires dry out before they loose tread) he wouldn't recommend the added expense of nitrogen. Just food for thought. Dayle's right though that rightly or wrongly customers seem willing to pay a premium for the stuff so you do see a lot of tire dealers going to it. It does translate into a higher bottom line for a tough business with the increase of competition with discount tire places.
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  #17  
Old 09-28-2007, 02:12 PM
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Beav Beav is offline
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Y'all could save the $40 and buy something more useful, like magnets for your fuel lines...


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