Nitrogen tire filling arrives in Calgary (CostCo)

Interesting. It's not such a big deal since it's about 79% of the atmosphere,... but I still have never heard of it for tyre filling in Europe...

I wonder how much it would cost. Compressed air is usually free or a trivial price.

DAS

In a racing situation, the bigger motivation for using nitrogen is the low moisture => temperature stability (vs. the bleedout), and that's what's probably the fact behind Everham's statement. For the consumer it's both mechansisms (low moisture/temperature stability *and* bleedout over a long period of time) that come into play.

I guess the longer you leave normal air in a tire, the higher the concentration of nitrogen, since the smaller molecules will bleed out and leave only nitrogen. 8^)

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

I wonder if nitrogen-filled tires play any role in preventing leaks on aluminum rims or reducing rust and pit formation on aluminum rims.

hmmm. I wonder what the "nitrogen experts" would say about that?

Marketing baloney at it's best. Thanks Bill for your sunbtle commetary ;-)

Some on the 300M ezBoard have had some bead leak/corrosion problem with some of the Razorstar wheels that came from the factory. There have been some discussions there about using nitrogen as a preventaive for just that problem. Also, a guy in San Diego reported on the 300M ezBoard that a Costco in SD put nitrogen in his tires:

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')

The sad part is that there will be idiots that go to Costco for tires just because of this, which is why Costco is probably doing it.

Ted

Our local Costco uses Nitrogen, but does not really make much to do about it. As for pricing, they are almost always within a couple pennies of the price for the exact same tire at the Sam's Club down the road.

Bob

The average intelligence of people in your area is probably higher. Costco tailors it's advertising regionally.

Whenever I've gone into Costco and looked at tire prices (P185 75r14s) they have always had the most expensive prices in town. Of course, I'm not looking for name-brands since the vehicle that uses those tires I drive and it doesen't care what's on the wheel. I'm looking for the cheapest tires available. I think the last time I asked the cheapest tire in the place was $60.

Now, when the tires on the van finally wear out that will be a different story - since the tires on it now that the previous owner installed are anything but low-noise, and a van amplifies everything from the tires. And the rims on it are cast aluminum. I'm resigned to having to be screwed up the ass for tire prices on that vehicle.

Ted

I fill mine with helium. It has a tendency to lift the vehicle a hair, thus reducing the weight (pull of gravity) and greatly increases the mpg.

That's fine in the summer, but in the winter you definitely want to fill your tires with Freon. Being heavier than air, it helps your tires stick to slippery roads.

Actually, farmers fill their tractor tires part of the way with salt water to help keep the tractors from rolling over. Perhaps this should be required by the Feds in all SUV's to solve their roll over problem. Cheaper than those computer stability systems for sure.

Richard.

Mercury would be even better for handling. Plus, it conducts electricity should your car be struck by lightning.

Seriously though, liquid-filled tires are only suitable for very slow-moving equipment like farm tractors. They would never balance at speed.

Wrong. I have developed a complex computer program that will predict the dynamic balance requirements of brine filled tires on the run, so to speak. Cheap Chrysler has so far refused to fit this $3,800.00 system on any of its cars or SUV's. Where is Ralph Nader when you need him?

Richard.

Completely with calcium chloride for traction !