I have been having problems maintaining proper tire pressure due to the recent temperature changes. I stopped by my dealer yesterday to discuss this with my service tech and she recomended having my tires filled with Nitrogen. Apparently, I will never have to check my tire pressure or refill the tires unless I get a flat.

As we all know, tire pressure is key to increased gas milage and i wasn't too expensive so I had it done.

I will let you know if it works.

Here is the link: http://www.whynitrofill.com/index.htm

David

Well... true that nitrogen will help maintain even pressure but don't count on getting better mileage because of that... and you don't have to believe me either. Just try filling your tires to MAX psi vs recommended psi. You will not notice a difference or a significant difference. You will notice that braking and handling will improve with more psi.

It's been discussed here to death. So do a couple of searches to find out other people's thoughts.

Air is 78% nitrogen. The gas used at these nitrogen fill stations is about 90% nitrogen. Are those 12 percentage points really going to make that much of a difference in a non-ultra-high performance application (read: racing)?

Nitrogen is a scam. It's essential for professional race car drivers, going upwards of 200 miles per hour, with tire and brake temperatures over 1000 degrees. It's a complete waste of money for anyone else.

We used nitrogen in our race car tires for years. Expansion is very critical in high performance/race cars where excessive expansion changes drive ratios and uneven expansion makes for 'unique' handling or a possible 'Kodak' moment.

IMHO I do not see any benefits for passenger type vehicles.

2005 Prius - White, Gray Interior, Option Package 6, Mud Flaps & Auto Door locks from Coastal


2006 Highlander Hybrid - Limited, White, Tan Interior, Nav, 4WD, Trailer Hitch

NOTE: On both the Prius and HH batteries are included with your purchase !

and cost effectiveness is minimal - for normal passenger cars, there doesn't appear to be any advantages.

Rich, Jennie & Boston (with little Piper on the way in April 2006)

2005 Toyota Prius (Driftwood Pearl #4) - 54 mpg average


2002 Toyota Prius (Silver Gen-1) - 51 mpg average

The only reason why to go nitrogen is to reduce the amount of moisture entering into your tire. The water in your tire is what causes the huge spikes in pressure depending on tire temp.

If you go put air in your tire at any service station, you will notice the moisture coming out if you simply test the hose prior to filling up your tire. Just release some air from the hose, you will see this.

If the air pumps have a filter to capture the water, this will reduce the amount of moisture entering your tire. Water in your tire is the real problem.

Just chiming in from my experience with Nitrogen filled tires and no one has mentioned the Tread life advantage.

Nitrogen filled tires run cooler... combined with a small increase in FE you also will see a small increase in tread life.

Food for thought.

Cheers!

http://www.bridgestone.com.au/tyres/...e/nitrogen.asp

Sorry but your service Tech is dead wrong. The only thing you will get with N2 inflation is a slower leakdown of inflation and minor reduction in pressure variation due to temperature changes. YOU MUST STILL check your inflation at least once a month.

The entire myth that inflating tires with N2 will deliver improved mileage is based on the assumption that you do not check and adjust the inflation in your tires as you have been told to. The car doesn't know what gas is used to inflate your tires. All it knows is the rolling resistance which is a direct function of the properties of the individual tire and the deflection of that tire (within normal operating speeds). The deflection is a finction of the load and inflation. Inflating with 32 psi of N2 will give same result as inflating with 32 psi of air or 32 psi of CO2 etc.

Tire Design engineer w/37 years experience.

In both my old stock tires, and especially in my newer lower-profile tires I saw a dramatic difference in coast-down speeds on certain long, sustained downgrades. This was most dramatic when I last went in for maintenance and my pressure was lowered, coastdown speeds dropped, then later that afternoon, the coastdown speeds returned to normal when I refilled them. MPG difference is small but definitely observable. The handling/steering feel difference is much more prominent, and the main reason I prefer high pressure.