| [GMCnet] Nitrogen in tires [message #110084] |
Wed, 29 December 2010 07:48  |
Gary Casey
Messages: 448
Registered: September 2009
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Senior Member |
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I feel the urge to reply to Desmond's statement. I've heard all sorts of
arguments about nitrogen in tires. Costco hypes it up to make a selling point.
I agree with the statement that it "doesn't make a big difference." The
argument in favor often says that nitrogen doesn't change pressure as much when
temperature changes. Hogwash. They say it doesn't permeate through the tire as
much. Hogwash. But there is a germ of truth in both statements, and the reason
is water. All compressed air systems have water in them. It would be a very,
very rare tire shop that would go to any real effort to eliminate water from
their compressed air systems. Water vapor has about half the molecular weight
of the nitrogen and oxygen in the air, so yes, it could permeate faster. But
what about the claim of less pressure change with temperature? That's also
possible, assuming the air in the tire is saturated with water - entirely
possible. Then when the temperature drops, some of the water vapor condenses
into liquid and takes up less space. This definitely would drop the pressure
more than would be expected. Filling with nitrogen brings with it the byproduct
that the water vapor has been purged from the nitrogen as part of the osmosis
process used. Elimination of water vapor is the advantage. So, yes it would be
good to fill with nitrogen, but not by a lot. Sorry, long answer to a short
question that wasn't even asked :-).
Gary Casey
The PO got his tires at Costco. Supposedly they were filled with nitrogen,
which is standard there. I never had tire pressure issues with them. The tire
shop I've known for years (out of the way in my hometown, but had my tires in
stock) say's that nitrogen doesn't make a big difference but I think I
disagree. I need to find a place to get this done.
>
> Desmond
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