I'm curious to know how many of you fill your GK tires with Nitrogen (N2)?
Anyone have strong preferences for or against it?
How often do you check pressure if you use N2? if you use regular air?

Mine came with N2 from the dealer, but today I topped them off with regular air to get them back up to the 33psi as listed on the inside of the door for my LX. It should be ok I think, but I get this nagging feeling that I should have gone out of the way to get N2. I've heard many say that it doesn't make much of a difference, even the Discount Tire Co guy said so, but makes me wonder about who to believe.

 

Generally it's said that N2 doesn't change pressure as much as air when the temp fluctuates, but I think the best solution is diligence in checking and maintaining pressures via free air

 

Free (air) is for me.

 

Well, I suspect if the dealer added the Nitrogen as a dealer add-on, then you payed for it (whether you realize it or not). Having said that, since you added regular air, I would just continue to use air. It would be nice to find free air (as Lublin suggested), but most places now charge. I purchased a small compressor, so i can do the occasional pressure balancing here at home, along with the boy's basketball.

I would not continue to pay for Nitrogen in the future.

 

They pump N2 inmine free. N2 is best. We put in airplanes because if not, the plane would get up to FL350 where its -70 degrees, the tires would be flat when landing.

 

I use an 80% nitrogen blend.

 

Ah, the myths that propagate! Even if the tires were to go flat at 35,000 feet (they don't, their gauge pressure actually increases!) they would reinflate as the tires warmed before landing. The gas laws demand it.

Want to know where the nitrogen myth came from? Here's where:

Airplanes often use oleo struts for suspension. these are simply sealed pistons and cylinders resembling motorcycle forks where the springing is provided by very high pressure (several hundred PSI) gas. You don't want to use ordinary air in these because at high pressure and in contact with oil the oxygen is corrosive. The pressures are also beyond the capabilities of ordinary compressors.

To refill oleos, mechanics kept high-pressure bottles of nitrogen handy. It was non-corrosive and had high enough pressure. Soon they realized that they could add a schrader chuck and use the nitrogen bottle as a handy portable tire-filling source.

Well, some of those aircraft mechanics were also car and motorcycle racers so the nitrogen bottles often showed up at the track. They were just a more convenient way of filling tires.

Somewhere along the way, as is common in racing, a mythology developed about why nitrogen was used. People like to be perceived as having a "secret trick" that they can pass on to others. The myths were mostly BS, but the had enough truth in them that most people believed them.

For those who still think that there is magic behind those blue and green valve caps, consider this: When the tire is uninflated it is still full of air. The air added for inflation is about twice this volume, so even if you fill the tire with pure nitrogen it still 1/3 full of ordinary air! The only way to avoid this is to purge the tire which requires either multiple valve stems or repeatedly inflating and deflating the tire. Try to find a tire store that will do that!

Come to my store and I'll be happy to fill your tires with 80% nitrogen for only half price!

 

Yeah that there.

Spreadhead is cheeky.

You need dual valve setup to purge. Or a lot of time to fill, deflate, fill, deflate. IIRC it takes about three times filling and deflating to get it close to pure nitrogen.

 

You don't really need dual stems as you will get the same results in about the same time by merely filling and deflating repeatedly with the valve out of the stem. Remember that the nitrogen rushing into the tire will mix with the gases already in the tire and won't move obediently around to the purge valve in orderly fashion. You will still have to move several volumes of air through the tire to get most of the other gases purged and you'll never get them all out.

No tire store is going to put this much effort and nitrogen into a "nitrogen fill."

 

using the small compressor I've had for decades!

 

I prefer to fill my tires with Oxygen only. Burn outs are a blast!

 

Nitrogen is more beneficial if you're planning to bring your Fit in the track. For normal driving, air is enough.

 

I use a premium 78% nitrogen blend in my tires. We have the good stuff here.