Toyota dealer pushing Nitrogen in tires

Helium would leak out faster

Supposedly so would nitrogen. It is lighter than air, which is 79% nitrogen and approximately 21 % oxygen. . . .

Charles of Schaumburg

Hmmm, the other locals that come to mind are Arlington and Elgin. I know that Sam's also does nitrogen fills.

Here is a pretty good article about the advantages of filling tires with nitrogen:

I've heard of some places offering free top-offs which might make paying to fill tires a little more tolerable, although I like the convenience of filling up from my compressor at home.

One of the advantages touted in the nitrogen tire inflation web sites is that nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen and so it supposedly leaks more slowly.

The theory is that nitrogen does not bleed out through pores in the rubber. Helium will bleed faster than nitrogen because it has smaler molecules.

I'm good with visiting the air pump on occasion, and don't really care that my air bleeds out.

So if you start at 78% nitrogen and the other stuff leaks out faster, wouldn't the end result of many cycles of incremental refills with compressed air be almost entirely nitrogen anyway?

I personally think we should be pushing for people to check their tyres more regularly - not giving them yet another "synthetic oil allows you to double your oil change period".

J

Real Men use a bicycle pump to top off the tires....LOL

gawd it takes a lot of strokes to make a pound....even in my 13 inch tires...LOL

I don't believe its density has as much to do with it as the size of the molecules. It has been a long time since general Chemistry but if I recall correctly, Helium atoms - maybe all the noble gasses - have really small electron shells. Nitrogen has larger ones. He, being smaller, can leak out more quickly, through more holes.

LOL i tried that once when i had a slow flat that got worse in one trip. I only had a short-stroke bike pump with me (had gone for a ride in the mountains). Decided not to bother. Wished i had the spare with me instead of removing it for extra load space lol.

Helium is molecules. It really is. It's not separate atoms. Really, really.

No, helium being a noble gas is usually an atomic gas rather than a molecular one, especially at any "normal" temperature.

length, 55 >angstroms apart. Ronald Gentry of the University of Minnesota creates the molecules by >squirting compressed helium gas into a vacuum chamber and then looking for dimers in a >mass spectrometer. (Science News, 6 Mar. 1993.)

LOL....Happens EVERY time....

I use a large pump, but I can imagine using the one on my mountain bike....

My bike rack attaches to my bumper hitch. The only sorta pain is having to fold it down to get in the back of the wagon. A small price to pay to keep my spare and sanity...LOL

Yes, we did!

I heard someone pushing Nitrogen as a way to acheive better fuel economy, but I believe just keeping your tires to proper inflation with just plain old AIR does as well.

And I like the helium idea! If you fill them with helium, you'd reduce your unsprung weight.....?!

Must be nice in the Humid weather of FLA... Shoot, I work up a healthy sweat up here in New England trying that trick.

Maybe if I had a pump that WORKED!!! Or, one of those foot pumps. They work fairly well.

You probably won't believe this....but I have made it thru the Florida summer without air conditioning!

I do find the beauty of the Spanish Siesta time...LOL

Fans and a pool make it tolerable.

I would never have been able to do it when I moved down in '79, but just as an experiment I tried it and it really isn't that bad.

....and my electric bill is a HELL of a lot lower than my neighbors...LOL

Good question! It seems logical to me, but I do not have a definitive answer.

I agree, as does the U.S. agency that regulates transportation with the phasing in of tire pressure monitor systems on all vehicles.

Then how about hydrogen? Lighter than helium and much cheaper, and you might get the added entertainment value when your tires get hot and become miniature Hindenburgs! LOL

>