Nitrogen Filled Tires
There are a number of threads on the various automotive forums (Gearhead Central,Cheers and Gears, etc) and on the Rvinyl Blog about using N2 in your tires. There is evidence that it reduces deflation from seepage and can give you a 1% gain on MPG overall. These claims make some sense but just looking at the PTE you see that N has a weight of 7 and O has a weight of 8. These gases are diatomic so that means N2 weighs in at 14 and molecular oxygen at 16.From the weights at least it seems that oxygen might be the bigger molecule so it should seep less. Then again it’s been awhile so there may be more to this than meets the eye (think VSEPR theory).
So, the results are in and…
…it turns out that I need to go back to school. For reasons that I won’t get into, diatomic nitrogen is a bigger molecule and can’t escape from inside the tire as easily. So, what are other potential benefits of using N2 in your tires? In short, they are as follows:
- Prevents wheel rot
- Cooler running temperatures
- Better fuel economy
- Improved tire pressure
It’s clear that using nitrogen in your tires wheel save you money and heartache in the long run. And, according to Drew from Cheers and Gears, Costco offers standard inflation with 100% N2 and great warranties to boot so it’s not like you have to go anywhere exotic to take advantage of this low tech, high concept money saver. Happy Monday everyone!
Related articles
- Nitrogen Filled Tires: Scam or Not? (ahotcupofjoe.net)
- Molecular Geometry and the VSEPR Theory (joshfarha.wordpress.com)
- Knowledge base: Nitrogen Generating Plant (angstrom1.wordpress.com)
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