Does Nitrogen Tire Inflation Improve Mileage & Save Money?
If you’ve bought new tires, had old ones fixed up, or had a regularly scheduled oil change, then chances are that you’ve encountered a salesman who tried to sell you the benefits of nitrogen tire inflation and why it’s worth the measly $5 or so per tire to fill your tires with nitrogen. I thought it would be interesting to take a somewhat scientific look at nitrogen tire inflation to answer the question of whether or not nitrogen inflation will save you money over time.
The Nitrogen Tires Argument
Proponents of nitrogen tire inflation generally offer up the following benefits in its favor:
- Nitrogen tires get better gas mileage. As a result you save money and the environment.
- Nitrogen tires need to be filled less often and maintain higher pressure, making them last longer, which reduces tire replacement costs.
- Oxidation from tires filled with oxygen can reduce your tire life – so you should use nitrogen to extend the life and save money.
On the surface, these are legit sounding benefits because it sounds like there is some science behind the claims. But even if all are true, are the added benefits really worth the added cost to get your tires filled with nitrogen?
Nitrogen Tire Inflation Savings Calculators
Some nitrogen proponents, such as the Get Nitrogen Institute have appealing nitrogen tire inflation calculators that run some nifty math on how much you are saving by filling your tires with nitrogen.
I filled in the following numbers in the calculator (versus the ridiculously inflated pre-set numbers): 12,000 miles per year, $75 per tire replacement cost, $2.75 cost per gallon, and 25 miles per gallon fuel efficiency. As a result, the calculator determined that nitrogen inflation would save me:
Don’t buy it. This calculator is the most prominent in search results, but the ‘Get Nitrogen Institute’ has a list of sponsors that all benefit monetarily from you filling your tires with nitrogen (i.e. Costco sells nitrogen tire inflation, Parker Hannifin sells nitrogen machines, etc.). In fact, the calculator doesn’t explain at all where they came up with their numbers. Smells fishy to me. Let’s look at the science a little further.
Isn’t Air Mostly Nitrogen?
Let the middle school science class nostalgia begin. Dry air (the stuff we breathe) actually consists of 78.09% nitrogen, and 20.95% oxygen. Therefore, ‘the free stuff’ that air compressors blow into your tires is already roughly 78% nitrogen. In other words, you’re already getting 78% of the total benefit being sold to you for free with regular air. Wow, I feel so lucky to ‘nitronize’ my lungs for free!
According to Consumer Reports, the nitrogen consistency in the air produced by a nitrogen tank is about 95% nitrogen (and the recommended tire level is 93%). So, you’re really looking at only an 15% difference in added nitrogen.
But wait, according to the same Consumer Reports article, the person filling the tires would actually need to completely purge and refill the tire 3 times to get a 95% nitrogen consistency. Do you trust that the guy in the back is really doing that and rigorously measuring your tire’s nitrogen consistency? My guess is that he’s filling the tire to the spec PSI and calling it a day.
Do Nitrogen Tires Retain PSI Better than Air Filled Tires?
In the aforementioned Consumer Reports test, 31 pairs of tires were filled to 30 psi and then measured one year later. The results show “nitrogen does reduce pressure loss over time, but the reduction is only a 1.3 psi difference from air-filled tires. The average loss of air-filled tires was just 3.5 psi from the initial 30 pressure setting. Nitrogen-filled tires lost an average of 2.2 psi from the initial 30 psi setting.”
So, over the course of a year, there was only a 1.3 (or about 3%) improvement in psi retention in nitrogen filled tires vs. air filled tires. And that is with 95% nitrogen filled tires – not what you are most likely getting from your local tire shop.
The Oxidation Argument
The other argument for nitrogen over air is that oxygen within normal air causes ‘oxidation’ within the tire. However, I haven’t seen any concrete evidence as to what oxidation really is or why its such a bad thing. Some nitrogen proponents refer to oxidation as a chemical process that deteriorates the rubber in the tire, causing a sort of rot from the inside out. Others refer to it as a corrosive rust causing problem around the rims, accelerated by oxygen within the tire. If it’s rubber deterioration from the inside, I have a feeling that tire tread wear on the outside from normal use probably has a much larger impact, regardless of what’s inside the tire.
More important than ‘oxidation’, likely, is making sure that tires that you buy are made recently. Unethical tire retailers selling older tires is a huge problem. Here’s how you can check the age of your tires.
Conclusion on Nitrogen Tire Inflation Cost Savings
Nitrogen tire inflation likely does have some benefit over standard air inflation, but no evidence points towards it being significant. The cost savings is virtually nothing if you are maintaining proper tire psi, regardless of what they are filled with. The bottom line is that instead of worrying what you are filling your tires with, you should worry about them being filled up to recommended psi levels. For more on how to do that, check out my post on how to inflate your tires properly.
Properly filled nitrogen tires should have no added benefit over equally properly filled regular air tires.
Nitrogen tire inflation appears to be little more than a clever marketing tool with a tiny bit of scientific benefit supporting it that is blown massively out of proportion.
Nitrogen Tires Discussion:
- Have you filled your tires with nitrogen? Did you pay for it?
- Are you willing to pay for nitrogen tire inflation in the future?
Related Posts:
I am G.E. Miller, & 
Well, they’ll try and sell us whatever they think we’ll buy.
I’d actually like to thank you for showing me why I should get nitrogen in my tires.
I went to the Get Nitrogen Institute website and learned a lot. The “ridiculously inflated preset numbers” are all based on national averages from various governmental agencies such as the NHTSA. I looked them up myself and they were all accurate (except gas price but that fluctuates so I’ll forgive it).
I then looked at the section on research. I had to enter my name and email to access it but there were a lot of studies there that all showed that nitrogen inflation works as the industry proponents say. For the Consumer Reports article the tires weren’t even mounted on a car but those with nitrogen still showed the ability to hold pressure better.
I contacted Costco to see how much they charge for nitrogen. They don’t. You have to be a member but they inflate all their customers’ tires with nitrogen for free.
I did a little more digging and found that the NHTSA says 85% of Americans DON’T maintain their tire pressure. Sounds like for most people, there would be benefits.
It seems like the “science” you’re offering is based solely on the Consumer Reports article, the rest is opinion. I found more study material showing that it worked and not a single study of any kind showing that it didn’t.
I’ll be switching my car to nitrogen. Thank again!!
Rob, Thanks for your comments. Can you produce any real life documentation that nitrogen fill tires last longer, get greater mileage, run cooler, have less internal oxidation and how much $$ do you save over the life of a tire? The fact is, their is no documentation. If a dealer is willing to fill your ires with nitrogen no charge then do–but don’t pay for it–it simply is not worth it.
Bob
Of course there is documentation. Ford Motor Co, GM, Volvo and host of other mfgs, also the tire institute, the tire mfg, there are volumes of invested money and time to support the value of Nitrogen.
There was a 100,000 tractor trailer test done by Ford. What you and the author don’t get is N2 is a dry inert gas containing no water or moisture vapor. While air is 78% N2 the N2 has to be extracted from the compressed air, which is wet and oily to inflate the tire. the tire must contain 95%+ in N2 to be effective. While proper tire pressure will give you the same mileage factors, less roll resistance when properly inflated, N2 value is a dry tire, no tire rot, rusting of interior wheels causing valve damage and TPMS false signals and a slower permeation of leakage thru the tire. Thus maintaining proper pressure for a longer time period. (Quality of the tire is a large factor). Get Educated….Get Nitrogen Tire Fill.
and….do your homework.
Add Goodyear, Bridgestone to your list. After converting my tires to 95+% dry nitrogen purity with a superior NitroFill machine, I immediately noticed a smoother ride and shockingly calculated a 9% improvement in fuel economy going forward. I didn’t need to add nitrogen for over 6 months, and only a few psi at that. Cost = $0 at the Dealership for top-offs.
Regarding you all saying you shouldn’t have to pay for nitrogen, do you realize it takes a very expensive machine 15-20 minutes to purge the tires from air to nitrogen? Moreover, I bet 100% of you skeptics have never tried it, and are too cheap to spend $20 or so at a shop. Penny wise, pound foolish.
Enjoy yourselves spending your valuable time adding air to your tires every month, hopefully in freezing weather. Get a clue!
I am a car guy and I use plain old atmospheric air.
The oxidation argument is a valid one, sort of.
Rubber does react with ozone and ages because of it, but your tire is exposed to ozone all day long from the outside. As a result, modern tires are designed with this in mind and chemicals are added to their production to slow this process (ever see a tire look brownish after a hot summer day with poor air quality? that is the chemicals reacting with the ozone).
Adding atmospheric air will not accelerate this process as the tire is built to deal with it. Maybe over a LONG period of time it would, but your tire will already be well beyond its usable life anyway.
Same goes for your rims/wheels – As long as you are not filling them on a damp/humid day, you won’t be putting anything that can rust them into them.
Nitrogen hit the consumer circuit via the race track. In a race car, its critical to use Nitrogen as its expansion is more predictable under high heat loads than atmospheric air. If you are tracking your car (frequently), I absolutely would use Nitrogen, but for 99.9% of us, it is a waste.
GE – I would be curious to see what IP address Rob posted from. Maybe from a Nitrogen supplier?
Rob – I hope your employers learn that people on the internet are not stupid enough to fall for a Marketing Intern posting comments on blogs.
I smell a rat!!! (Rob) Haha. Marketing intern.
P.S., I like the way he worked in ‘sign up with your address’ on the nitrogeninstitute site to get studies…… marketing while impostering. Clever.
When I purchased my 4 new tires, the installer inflated them with nitrogen, no extra cost. Doesn’t matter to me, I check my tires & wife’s tires twice a month minimum. My car is easy, my computer on board states the pressure & I verify that twice a year manually. I used to work with a lot of semi-trailer tires and oxidation with dry-rotting on those tires did not occur before the tires were 15 years old.
Just because Rob is defending putting Nitrogen in his tires does not make him a rat or marketing intern. He is weighing the cost (free to him with a Costco membership) against the benefits (which even this article agrees with is above zero).
The issue with Rob’s post is more that he uses (essentially) the exact language from the Get Nitrogen Institute’s website.
If it was a valid cost benefit analysis I would debate it, but not dismiss it as I did.
Thanks so much for taking the time to put this all together. When we first bought our new Jetta it came from the dealership with Nitrogen. When we swapped our winter tires last season they put regular old “air” in there and when I swapped them back this spring I stuck with the air.
I knew about some the points you mentioned but really it just didn’t make sense to me how it could be such a huge savings. Seems to me likes it’s more hype then help.
I paid $24 for Nitrogen gas from Big O Tires for new tires.
I’ll never do that again.
The issue with Rob’s post is more that he uses (essentially) the exact language from the Get Nitrogen Institute’s website.
If it was a valid cost benefit analysis I would debate it, but not dismiss it as I did.
..
I paid $24 for Nitrogen gas from Big O Tires for new tires.
I’ll never do that again…
Costco fills your tires with nitrogen for free. Member or not – here in Canada anyways. Just tell them that you want to have all your tires inflated with nitrogen – it takes time though if you want all the regular air out and changed with nitrogen but its done automatically.
Under-inflated tires cause 90% of blowouts. Nitrogen provides more reliable pressure for reduced blowout potential.
The common retort from nitrogen opposers was also found in the article written by G.E. It goes as follows:
“The bottom line is that instead of worrying what you are filling your tires with, YOU SHOULD worry about them being filled up to recommended psi levels.”
The problem is just as Rob mentioned. If you do some very easy research on the web, you will find much of the same conclusions and that is Tire Inflation Maintenance is not being performed.
How hard is it to do Tire Inflation Maintenance? It’s not hard at all. How CONVENIENT is it to do Tire Inflation Maintenance? It’s hardly convenient at all.
IF you know where the pressure gauge is and then IF you have shop air in the garage or IF you know where the portable pump is, it is still time consuming and, kind of, messy. But wll YOU do that each month. Every auto manual in North Amerca says we all should.
Or, you could drive to the gas station where the pumps have been moved to the edge of the parking lot sometimes blocked by another car and you may need correct change even if that water filled air compressor even works.
“Honey, I’m gonna go do some Tire Inflation Mintenance.” Hardly! The fact is Tire Inflation Maintenance is often only a concern when a low tire is noticed. In the old days with softer more pliable tires that was probably okay. Today’s tires, especially run flats, are much more rigid and could be severely underinflated and not show the effect.
Most Tire Inflation Maintenance programs DO sale the nitrogen conversion service but then enroll their customer into a one year auto club program which allows customer’s a lttle peace of mind. The auto club benefits rival the nationally known auto club in the benefit arena and the cost for the conversion and the auto club is about half the cost of the natinally known company. In other words, if you’re enrolled in an auto club now, these nitrogen dealers will give you the known and irrefutable benefits of nitrogen plus the auto club for about half the cost. Note: the nationally known company does not offer unlimited use tire hazard repair and they do not offer tire hazard replacement. Most of the nitrogen dealers do.
The auto club also sends a monthly reminder to the member reminding them to return to their dealer for Tire Inflation Maintenance. The dealer usually offers coupons with the monthly reminder so the member actually can save more money on other needed servces. Most folks have preventative maintenance done close to home. I pass by the dealer that did mine sometimes three times a day.
We live in a “do it for me” world anymore because it’s easier, faster, cleaner and often just as inexpensive. If you call that a marketing gimmick I would then say that the 40 million or so enrolled in a nationally known auto club company without having the benefits that the nitrogen dealers offer have been completely duped.
Thanks for the disclaimer Mike – I was going to have point out that the link your name goes to is an industry website.
From there I would have to point out that that website was run by The Besser Group which is a subsidiary of Besser Industrial Tools. Which at one point shared an address with NitroFill (2100 Park Central Blvd N Pompano Beach, FL 33064) a maker and supplier of Nitrogen filling Systems.
From there I would have to point out that it appears that your website is simply a front for NitroFill and that you are trying to drum up business for yourself rather than offer a public service.
Dear Marketing Executive with NitroFill/Besser Industrial,
Welcome to the Internet. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes.
Failingly Yours,
Paul and everyroadtaken.com
@ Paul – thank you…. and hilarious.
Amazing how a group of non scientist and engineers have such a vast knowledge of tires and the principals of pneumatics, physics and the like. Sorry all you consumer posters and G.E., some of the comments here are so third grade science class. They lack the deep understanding of the laws that effect the world we live in, and that’s what this subject is all about. I will just mention two details there has be little mentioned of and then I’ll leave you all to attach me too.
The air around us if filled with water, humidity. When we compress it (for inflating tires, ect.) the water content is concentrated and increases. When that air is put into a tire the relative humidity can be nearly 100%, virtually raining inside the enclosed area (bad for TPMS, etc). This is the main reason we want to inflate the tire with nitrogen, among all the other benefits. That is why increasing the concentration from 79% to 96%, 97% or 98%* or higher is better… we help eliminate water vapor in the tire. So what you say? What vapor expands at a much fast rate when heated than dry air! Therefore, when you are using a car daily the up and down tire temperature will change the pressures you are riding on. Some times up and sometimes down, this makes it much more difficult to keep optimum tire pressure 24 hours a day. (*Note: There are machines that produce higher than 95% purity)
Second issue is related, that is heat build up based on low pressures. Note that just 5 psi lower that OE suggested (door sticker) will increase the operating temp by 30% to 50%. Take that to 10 psi low and you have now doubled the temp and put the tire out of the safe operating range, above its factory limit for heat. That’s a blowout waiting to happen, fortunately it not on my car. Are you now saying most people don’t have low tires, that no one is that stupid. Well just visit NHTSA site and look at the numbers… 75% or more of the cars on the highway every day have at least one tire more that 5 psi low. They, not me, state that over 600 deaths per year are credited to under inflated tires. They, not me, state that we could save billions of gallons of gas every year with properly inflated tire.
Bottom line, filling tires with nitrogen helps us all get closer to that goal. If you still think you keep you tires properly inflated, how do you control the water vapor pressure change from occurring. You can’t! Well you could, if you filled your tires with nitrogen.
I don’t know about you, but to me tires are the most important part of my car. The last thing I want is a blow out at high speed because we all know what happens next! If anything improves my and my families chances of returning safely from a trip to grandma’s house, I am going to do it. Don’t be so cheap, it might save your life
Oh, by the way…. If you want to get into polymer chain reactions, or partial pressure laws, let me know.
Go ahead, chew me up. I know you want to.
P.S. Even is nitrogen only saved 10 or 20 lives a year because some dumbbells never check their tire pressure, isn’t it worth it.
I agree with mike. So you save $150.00 a year on gas , big deal right. Just think if everyone did it. There are about 250,000,000 cars on the road if everyone did it that # jumps to $34,500,000,000 that we didn’t spend on gas or burn the fossil fuel that contributes to our carbon footprint You sound like a bunch of twenty something’s you have to think about the future. It’s like spending the extra money on those light bulbs that save energy It know it made a difference at my house. If you think small it doesn’t sound like much but if you look at the big picture it does add up that’s what president Obama was saying when he said to keep your tires properly inflated. The scientific facts about nitrogen are what they are they use it to preserve food they use it to preserve ancient artifacts they use it to preserve tires etc. It is a dry , inert , non flameable gas. I’m a carpenter and at the end of the day when I drain my compressor there is a lot of rusty water that come out with it. With compressed air it puts water into your tire which corrodes and dry rots your tie from the inside out you just can’t see that til it’s too late. So for me and my wife and two kids we will be riding on nitrogen if it gives us a little better odds of reaching our destination saftey.
Paul,
It would be interesting if you could realize that the link I posted is not a “front” to “drum up business” for Nitrofill. Rather, it is the actual web-site for the Go Green Auto Club which is another service brand that Besser Industries offers along with Nitrofill. Although they come from the same stable, one is identified more by its equipment and the other is identified more by its auto club. However, both brands are involved in providing a service known as Tire Inflation Maintenance which irrefutable research provided by the NHTSA and the GAO shows is lacking among the motoring public. You may not like that companies actually make money while providing a beneficial product and/or service, but neither do the French and look at their society today.
While correct in stating that the internet is “one big tube,” unless you really know in the end what you are talking about you can find yourself to be quite incorrect. I have no direct involvement in promoting the sale and use of Nitrofill products. As union members like to say; “That’s somebody else’s job.”
And G.E., when you can cause the driving public to do the one thing every auto manual in North America says to do once a month, thus eliminating the concept of nitrogen tire inflation altogether, then your statement that I eluded to originally wouldn’t have been hilarious.
If both of you haven’t noticed (and how could you not being as well informed though believing you know so much) much of the driving public has tire pressure checks performed at oil change. Which, as mentioned, many have done for them due to cost and convenience. While shops still promote the three month/3,000 mile oil change, do you find it interesting that oil companies do not and auto manuals written over the last number of years don’t either? Do you know that some GM manuals do not even have mileage intervals for oil change? Talk about a sham. When oil companies and auto manufacturer’s don’t even recommend the three month/3,000 mile need then why are shops? That, my naysaying poster friends, is part of the problem. American drivers are learning that three months/3,000 miles isn’t so necesssary and tires slowly bleed more air as each month between checks goes by. And, again, the studies on the problem (underinflation) and the studies on the benefits (nitrogen) are irrefutable. Pardon the folks with the solution for actually wanting to promote what they offer.
Rob, G.E., tell you what I’ll do. Shoot me an e-mail at mike@gogreenrep.com and I will take two of my auto club enrollments that I have paid for out of my pocket and enroll each of you at no charge. I will need to have some info such as name, address, phone number, e-mail and vehicle info such as make, model and year of your vehicle. One per naysayer please. In return, I will send you back my information (address, phone and such) so we are equal. I won’t stalk you cause you could do the same with my info. In the end, I believe you will find the service benefit provided by the Go Green Auto Club to help reduce what is known to be a problem to be beneficial to reducing the problem. And it is a problem because why else would we even be discussing it if it weren’t?
Disclaimer #2: I have nothing to hide here. How could I? I’ve offered you every link to my involvement with Go Green. Unless you are a shop owner and want to buy what I sale then there is possible financial benefit to me. If you are merely a consumer, and unless my writng has urged you to find and purchase a Go Green conversion, I would make very little if anything not even paying for my time typing away here.
Stay happy!
Alluded. You alluded to something. Eluded is what you did after the police found out you were shilling nitrogen inflation to senior citizens at $10/tire.
As someone who both has a college degree and works in the tire industry, I can promise that 99.99% of consumers will see much more cost-effectiveness in simply checking their tire pressure once a month versus paying money for nitrogen inflation.
Like many before me have said, however, nitrogen inflation has a benefit – however infinitesimal to most that may be – so if you can get it FOR FREE, you should absolutely do so
I just talked some stupid car shop and declined his $10/tire for nitrogen. He told me he’d work on the price, and when I said that other places do it for free – he explained to me that Costco will price the nitrogen tires into their price – I explained to him maybe I should go there and buy the tires cheaper then… Bottom line is – It’s a money making idea for the shops… fair enough, they need to make money too.
As for Rob’s post – The FCC has passed a law that if you are marketing on a message board, you must give full disclosure that you are apart or working for a specific entity that you are representing – otherwise, there will be fines and such. I know this because I represent a company for the outdoors, and when I am actively skiing/snowboarding, whenever I mention the name of the company, I must tell them that I am apart of the company – doing it free for gear, but doing it nonetheless… So, be careful.
@ Mike – Just read your disclaimer… Very good… @ Rob – Where is yours?
Jay, thanks. I try to keep an upfront and honest approach while discussing the topics that I involve myself in. Also, I have a real hard time selling something that I don’t believe in or cannot research. I can’t “sale an ice maker to Eskimo’s” as some claim to be able to. I have to be able relay to the prospect the need, the value and the benefit. If I were selling to a shop something that benefits the shop for doing a service that everyone knows they need, such as in oil changes, that wouldn’t require much work if I can show it saves time/money and is affordable. Basically, the “need” is already well recognized by the consumer. Call it “duh” selling. Nitrogen, as you can clearly see, has many more detractors than supporters. So I have had to do many, many, hours of research and put the puzzle pieces together to realize the need, the value and the benefit.
I hope you went the nitrogen route regardless of how you acquired it. If you are, or were, like most and do not have your tire pressure’s checked monthly (kudo’s to those that do) you should see less drop in pressure due to permeation over time. One article I read from a Corvette magazine, wish I owned one but I was researching and found it, suggests that tires will lose air at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds per month where nitrogen would take about six months to do the same. It was an article, not an advertisement, so I think fairly we could agree it may have some validity. That’s one of and the most common referred too benefit. It still does not take away the need to check the tires as a very small and slow leak can form thus a loss of pressure. However, if like most, your tires get serviced when the oil gets changed or when they look low, you should see some pretty consistent tire pressures from one service to the next. Please, though, do have the tires checked. You never know what might be picked up on the road.
For the company I involve myself with, we see nitrogen tire inflation as an initiative. Because here’s what we know from what the NHTSA, GAO and the RMA (Rubber Manufacturers Association)have studied, reasearched and surveyed and found that the majority (70% +/- depending on survey) of the driving public simply does not do it adequately if at all. We know who the NHTSA and GAO are but the RMA is comprised of rubber tire manufacturer members. For my money, if there’s one group of people who would not want the driving publc to know how severe tire under inflation is and how lacking we are at performing it, the tire manufacturers would be it. As in, don’t you think they would want you to wear out your tires sooner than necessary? Not throwing those guys under the bus. They’ve done inflation surveys for years in attempts to bring awareness to the need. Looking at their years of surveys, the message, still, is just not getting across. The fact is under inflation and lacking maintenance is a problem in the U.S. As a matter of fact, there are many letters of approval for the use of nitrogen by several of the RMA members. Goodyear, for example, “supports the use of nitrogen, as an inflation gas” in all Good Year brands “based on the ability of the tire to retain pressure for a longer period of time.” Of course, it also doesn’t kill the warranty.
The message of performing monthly checks, after years and years of tire companies, auto manufacturer’s, the media and even Barack Obama bringing it up, has still not resonated. I alone, or with the company I work with, could not possibly do any more to get the message out by just saying “we should.” So what can be done? Produce a product and a service, supported with an insurance and assurance value followed with a notification to consumers to do what nobody else, evidently, is able to get them to do: Check their tire pressures monthly. In other words, get the consumer more involved. Question for you; how much more have you appreciated something and taken greater care of something that you have an investment in? You would think a car would be an important investment to anyone. Why not, then, perform the monthly tire maintenance that the auto manual says to do and do it for free? Every arrow shot at the subject has shown that motorists don’t. So put a little investment cost into it, give more than just a tire inflation, communicate regularly the need and keep the customer engaged in the maintenance. Allow me to ask this question; if it weren’t for the auto manual, the oil companies and shops reminding every car owner of the need to change the oil, would it become an under performed service? Most likely. That’s not saying we’re dumb. It’s saying we don’t, and often can’t, pay that close attention to simple stuff. Especially in the world where “needed it yesterday” is more truth than it is a joke.
One can not argue that every test performed using nitrogen does have the benefit claimed over air. Nitrogen’s performance is irrefutable. Unfortunately, it cannot be separated from the air we breathe for free. Even Costco has a huge investment in the system. Costco also has a business that can absorb those costs much easier than your local independently owned shop. Those are the folks we prospect to. Why is it important to target the independents? Infrastructure. Think of this, there is not a Costco around the block from everybody. For me, the closest is about 200 miles away in Kansas City. They give it away and good for them but it does me no good if I have to keep driving 200 miles for top off’s. In short, if the best substitute over air to help assure the motorists have the best product is not easily accessible, we stay in the same position we’re in where very few are performing proper maintenance. Again, Costco can absorb more easily the cost of the equipment. Independents cannot. Thus, it is wise for them to charge to cover the costs. Your business, if you had one, would do the same. I can tell you that shops that use our approach really are not making a lot of money on the conversion. I have seen some shops that when selling tires will include nitrogen as Costco does. But as a stand alone product/service, they will sale the service. If you think about it, tire pressure maintenance is a preventative maintenance service. Oil changes are too and, like, nitrogen, a shop has costs associated with selling an oil change and you get something you can’t pull out of the air for free. With the cost of the equipment in the thousand’s, they have to sale a lot of conversions to realize an ROI. Basically, these guys are really doing a really low profit service, that has irrefutable benefits to their customers hoping too that their customer does their part in assuring they better maintain their tires. Call it a partnership in an initiative to solve a severe problem. Here’s how the “intiative”, though, is supposed to work:
For the motorist agreeing to convert to nitrogen (shops set the price, not the supplier) they may be enrolled into an auto club that, by my comparison, rivals a well known brand in benefits. Basically, the typical cost of a nitrogen conversion, with the annual auto club membership, included cost less at “sign up” than some national auto club’s insurance and assurance. We all buy some form of insurance, right? Why? Financial loss due to circumstances often beyond the insureds control. For this club, it has tire hazard repair/replacement soverage through the year. It has towing, lock out, battery service and a lot more. Now, there are differences between the club’s but realize we use the club as part of an encouragement to convert. The national brands, with all due respect, sales, basically, an insurance package along with some member travel benefits which ours also has some of those. Please read previous posts for my disclaimer. Now, I don’t think Costco goes so far with their nitrogen no offense to Costco. I like what they’re doing. From our dealers, the auto club reminds its members to go back to a dealer, preferrably the servicing dealer, for checks. The servicing dealer is encouraged to check and top off the tires for free and, while there, inspect the tires for damage or uneven wear due to, possibly, an alignment or shock absorber issue. Of course, if the tires have one or more inconsistent pressure(s) from the others, it becomes a great opportunity to find that small screw, per se, causing the small leak saving, possibly, the customer finding out about it much too late. Of course, if they have a flat because of a screw, per se, they have the auto club sending someone out to hang the spare, tow them in and/or reimburse them to have the tire fixed or replaced. Before I get myself in trouble I will say that like with all policies of this sort there are limitations and small print. Please see the policy for accurate details of the auto club benefts.
So, for maybe $40.00, or about .09 cents a day per year, what is wrong with having the irrefutable benefits of nitrogen, enrollment into an auto club that can rival the others, general and unintrusive monthly reminders, as many as you want inflation checks and tire checks (more vehicle checks if the dealer does so) all done in an effort to reduce, hopefully one day eliminate, a very well known problem among the motoring public? It’s an initiative and yes there can be costs to the consumer, but the way we have been doing it apparently isn’t working either and it costs the motorists nothing, or very little, to do on their own. Much like the comment I made to the owner of this web site that prompted these posts, when (he) can get the owners of approximately 254 million U.S. registered vehicles to check their tire inflations monthly as prescribed in evevry owners manual in North America, I would say then that nitrogen has no place in the market and no value whatsoever to the consumer. But it hasn’t happened and, for the foreseeable future, I don’t see it happening. So, nitrogen has its place.
I cannot find the actual survey by the NADA but I read that 1.5 times a year is the going rate for a motorists to visit a shop. A shop I visited a couple of weeks ago said pretty much the same. The shops that are on our program surveyed they see their customer 4.5 times a year. For the “intiative” I could say it’s doing what we hoped it would, though not quite where it needs to be, in getting the motorists back to the shop to have a service performed that is clearly lacking.
In the end, if my shop will use an inflation medium clearly shown to help tires stay inflated more toward their placard level over time than with air, resulting, obviously, in maximized fuel efficiency and better tire wear due to nitrogen keeping the tires inflated toward the placard level better than air over time. Plus, I enroll you into an auto club that if you had a problem, would cost nothing or, at least, less out of pocket to fix the problem. Also, send a gentle reminder to come back once a month, hopefully not to far out away from the house, to check the inflation and inspect the tires that you and your family, maybe, are riding around on, for probably less than .09 cents a day. Take one dime out of your pocket and try to buy anything somewhere today with that dime. It won’t get you much. But less than a dime a day to save fuel, save tire wear, reduce your carbon footprint, help reduce the number of waste tires in the landfills, reduce crude consumption isn’t a lot ot ask for.
Kindest regards,
It seems the discussion has lost some air… Nitrogen joke…
As an independent garage owner I purchased a Nitrogen generating machine. There are several tire shops in my area who do the install free with tires. I am not a tire shop, but when those green tire caps come in I feel that I should keep their Nitrogen level as high as possible. Of couse, with the expensive machine, I am glad if I can sell the service of conversion.
One area not mentioned so far is the tire pressure senders in the modern cars. The moisture in the “air” can cause damage to those senders causing faulty readings or even failure. Since not all shops supply dry air when filling tires there can be a big finacial impact. The cost of Nitrogen is way less than replacing the pressure sensors which means the tire has to come off the rim for access. I have found tires, which I had to send to a tire shop, with quarts of water in them. I’ll choose the Nitrogen.
Even if you think it a scam, the Feds are requiring Nitrogen come from the Factory in new cars, soon. So I will need to be able to keep the Nitrogen pressure level up with my expensive machine.
Finally, in California, we are required to note tire pressure and fill tires if they are low. So, if you pull in my shop, have Nitrogen, would you be happy if I top up your tires with wet shop air? I don’t think so. That’s why you have green tire valve caps and I have the machine.
I hope I have added to the conversation.
I had nitrogen in my tires for 2 years. It was free when I
paid for another service. There was no noticeable improvement
in mileage. The performance type tires wore out in 34,000 miles (the manufacturer claims 40,000 life but offers no warranty).
When the tires were replaced, the installer had to use a power
brush to remove a lot of crud from the rims before installing
the new tires. They put nitrogen in the new tires also,
but based on this, I do not expect anything.
“J” I’m glad you’ll stick with the nitorgen, but your comments have too many veriables to help people on the fence decide. You say performance type tires… are you driving a Corvette or a Geo? New caar or old car? Did you check the tires and add Nitrogen or air during those two years? Do you live in Alaska or California?
I got no more than 30K out of the tires that came new on either of my new cars. As I said above, I have a shop, I converted my cars Nitrogen. My Prius mileage increased 2 MPG at the factory recommended 35/33 PSI even though the high mileage blogs recommend 40/42 PSI. That was on the same tires… California short commute distances and rare trips over 20 miles. I try to keep veriables to a minimum. When I get the new tires, then I’ll up the Nitrogen pressure and see what happens. My CRV had too may veriables, i.e. new oversized tires to measure milage. However, my old tires were harder causing easer tire slip on acceleration.
All this discussion and no one else is offering actual evidence, except criticism that I might want to charge for doing the Nitrogen conversion. I stand by my claim that my Prius gets 15 – 20 miles more per tank with Nitrogen.
“Somewhat scientific”? Wow! “Smells fishy”, “I have a feeling”, etc is not what I’d consider even “somewhat” scientific.
The figures you put into the calculator are for the most part way too low. $75 to replace a tire? Not for most vehicles at today’s prices. $2.75/gal for gas? Where? Certainly not around my area. I’ll give you 12,000 miles/year, even though I believe that’s still below the national average. 25 mpg seems fair enough also.
Because the figure the calculator came up with (using your unrealistic for most applications figures) “smells fishy” lets cut the figure in half and say N2 inflation then saves you $45/YEAR. Lets assume the tires only last 3 years (very conservative, especially driving 12,000/year). Again using your figure of $5/tire cost to get the N2 ($20/set of 4) that’s $6.67/year cost. $45-$6.67=$38.33 PER YEAR. Over the 3 year life of the tire that’s $114.99. That’s better then getting 1/3rd off the purchase of that next set of $300 tires you put on your car. Even assuming the only benefit is monetary and using your figures and then cutting those in half, it still looks significant to me.
I do agree there is at least some exaggeration going on about it’s benefits. I also agree that you can reap a good part of the benefits (but not all) by using “dry” air and frequently checking your tire pressure. However, that’s much easier said then done. “Dry” air is not that common. You left it out of your article but there is also moisture in the air. Using Nitrogen is not only a good way of ridding oxygen from the tire, it also eliminates the moisture. Maybe you’re the exception, but in general people are not very good at maintaining their tire pressures. All the little things add up.
btw,
For some more insight into the effects of oxidation on tires you could start by re-reading your article on “how to check the age of your tires”.
The FAA requires N2 inflation in commercial airliners, it’s the law.
Nascar, Indy cars, and other racers run it in their tires.
I heard (but have not confirmed) that Wal-Mart is converting all their corporately owned vehicles to N2 inflation, although I don’t believe they have any intentions of offering it to their customers. I believe if you look into it a little further you’ll find it’s becoming more common in fleets as it does offer some “significant” benefits.
Yes, I own an auto repair shop and yes I offer N2 inflation. I did a great deal of research on the matter before I decided to offer it to my customers and ultimately decided that when you add all the advantages together it becomes something worthwhile and beneficial to my customers.