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Nitrogen Tire Inflation in the News

On September 1, 2011, in News Roundup, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, by allisonmreilly
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nitrogen tire inflation

Read all about nitrogen tire inflation!

It’s sad that when you Google “nitrogen tire inflation”, the top two related searches are “nitrogen tire inflation myth” and “nitrogen tire inflation scam.” There are a few arguments at as to why nitrogen tire inflation is a waste of time of money: using air is free, air is already 78% nitrogen, benefits don’t outweigh the cost etc. We’ve been doing our best here at Nitronomics and at Nitrofleet99 to bust to counter those arguments. But, it’s time to show that we aren’t the only ones who support the practice of nitrogen in the tires.

Yes, we’ve previously covered studies from tires companies such as Ford and Michelin, but news outlets and industry magazines are covering this topic as well. Surely, they wouldn’t write an article promoting the practice if the whole thing was a scam or a myth. One of the most recent of these articles is a piece from Modern Tire Dealer, a business-to-business information source on the tire industry. Authored by John Daws Ph.D, he studied the oxygen permeation of several different inflation methods. Daws concluded that nitrogen tire inflation does have its benefits.

Nitrogen tire inflation may seem like a brand new concept, but it really isn’t. Not only has the practice been used by NASCAR and the airline industry for a long time, this Fox News article from 2006 shows that the concept of consumers using nitrogen in the their tires was around even five years ago. For something much more recent, Leslie Silverman of the Connecticut Watchdog wrote an excellent post last month on the benefits of nitrogen tire inflation and how it works.

Overall, if you don’t take our word for it, there’s the word of many others who are saying the same thing. We’ve found a lot of skeptics, but we haven’t found anyone or any evidence that say nitrogen tire inflation is harmful for your tires or bad for your vehicles in the long run. If anything, it’s worth a shot, at least once.

The current national average for gas prices is $3.83 per gallon. That’s three cents up from last week, and 30 cents higher than a month ago. It may be time to make a gas buddy by taking a few moments only to find the cheapest gas in your area. Or simply drive less and ride your bike, or walk more. There are plenty of ways to save money on gas, so if you haven’t started thinking of ways to save yet, now would be the time to start.

Now, one way to save gas money is to make our vehicles more efficient. I don’t mean turning them into hybrids. I mean simply maintaining your vehicle, or doing a few small things just a little bit differently. So, what can be done to make your car more of a penny saver instead of a penny pincher?

An informal study from Carnegie Mellon University found that the average person who drives 12,000 miles yearly on under-inflated tires uses about 144 extra gallons of gas, at a cost of $300-$500 a year. Keeping those tires properly inflated would save a few hundred dollars, which the average consumer could easily use in today’s economy. A better way to keep tires properly inflated longer is with nitrogen tire inflation. Keep in mind that regularly inflating your tire with nitrogen doesn’t replace the importance of checking your tire pressure regularly.

Inflating your tire with nitrogen also increases the life of your tire and your car. Nitrogen is a dry, non-corrosive gas and will reduce oxidation and rust due to the absence of oxygen and moisture. This will help minimize wheel corrosion to promote better bead sealing. Nitrogen tire inflation has routinely been used by airlines and racing vehicles, but the practice could prove beneficial for drivers who drive infrequently (car collectors, track drivers, snow tire users, motor home owners, etc).

The best thing about nitrogen tire inflation is that you don’t need to remove the air from you tires to make the switch. Why wait for your tires to lose pressure and risk something happening, when you can start saving money today?


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