Do I need Nitrogen in my tires?

As the owner of Northwest Auto & Tire I have been asked this question many times, so I thought I would post my thoughts on it here. The simple answer is no. Do tires need nitrogen?

I personally think nitrogen is a waste of time for the average consumer. For one thing, they lead you to believe that you are getting 100% nitrogen in your tires, but are you really? It would be quite a process to actually ensure that the tire has been filled with 100% Nitrogen. The tire already has a volume of air in it before they start filling it with Nitrogen. So you now have some air, and some Nitrogen. The percentage of air verses nitrogen would vary depending how diligent the operator was that filled your tires. I think it would be hard for anyone to answer the question, how much is air, or how much is Nitrogen?

When a tire is first put on the wheel, it has to be "seated". This requires a large volume of air to be blasted between the rim and the tire. This causes both beads of the tire to come into contact with the rim and form an air tight seal. Many places don't use Nitrogen to "seat the bead". They typically just use compressed air for that task. So now all that initial air that was used to seat the bead is already in there taking up most of the volume, then they just add to it with Nitrogen. At this point you really have no way of knowing how much is air or how much is Nitrogen.

You also have to also ask yourself if what they are adding is really 100% Nitrogen? I am sure it was intended to be so when they had the equipment installed, but equipment wears out and needs maintenance, so if they are not diligent about keeping up with the equipment you may not be getting 100% Nitrogen at all.

I personally witnessed a tire tech filling tires in a major brand tire store with just plain air. The hose had a green attachment on it, but the other end had been re-routed and was not coming from the Nitrogen source at all. Instead it had been connected to the air source that was being used to run the air tool used to take the lug nuts off the wheels. I asked about it and the tech just looked over his shoulder and grinned, said "that thing has never worked since it was new". (He did put the little green valve caps on, signaling to the customer that the tires were now filled with Nitrogen.) Now I am not suggesting that this is the norm for all tire stores at all, just something I personally witnessed at one store.

Something else to consider is what will you do when you get a flat tire, or just need to have some air added. Is it going to be Nitrogen? Is the place where you break down going to have 100% pure Nitrogen to refill the tire with? What if you just want to add some air to a low tire. Will you have to drive around until you find a place that has or sells nitrogen?

Just to clarify. I am NOT suggesting that Nitrogen is a bad thing. It certainly has some advantages. If we are talking about NASCAR, where tire pressure is really critical, and they don't want the tire pressure to change due to temperature changes, it is a must.

Also, I am not suggesting that it is bad for your personal tires either. I just have not been convinced that it is of any great value to the general motoring public.

I would appreciate any feed back or comments you may have. It would be of great interest to Northwest Auto & Tire if any of our customers would like us to offer Nitrogen. All comments are welcome, or you can drop me an email at skip ((at)) nwauto.com

Safe Travels,
Skip Deedon – Owner Northwest Auto & Tire