Sheepdip

It's also less suseptible to changes in volume due to temperature, so your tyre pressure won't vary so much when the tyre gets warm when driving. This should mean better fuel efficiency.

It also doesn't retain moisture (or at least anywhere near as much) as air which could be damaging for certain rims / tires.

Think the airplane use was also to prevent explosion of the tire if it overheated on landing and is often used in the race world.

mudmaniac

Brent, you should know this. Nitrogen is being used because of it's stabilty in pressure in various temperatures, this maintains a more constant tire pressure. It also prevents condensation from forming inside the tire which can cause damage to the wheel over time, in cold weather this condensation can freeze in the tire causing an out of balance condition.
This is why we use it in the AC industry for purgeing refrigerant lines and pressure testing.

EvansBlue

I thought it was because its cheaper than Argon?

If you pump an empty tire full of fresh dry nitrogen, there will be no moisture to freeze anyway. It doesn't prevent moisture, its just that you are putting it in dry. So in reality, you can fill your tires with any pure, dry, strait-from-the-tank gas of any kind (except unsafe ones of course). R-744 would work on the same principal with the no-condensation-freezing-theory as well.

I couldn't find a PT chart for N, but R-744 seems to be really stable.

992door

When you get nitrogen in your tires when they mount the tires they already have air in them what are they going to do suck all of the air out of the tires before they put the nitrogen in?

EvansBlue

Looks like you would have to vacuum it down so you have almost completely nitrogen.

992door

It is just another way for them to get money from you i think

EvansBlue

Thats the conclusion I came to...