Originally Posted by TonyK

About 25 yrs ago, a craze going on was to place helium inside of newly mounted tires.

Helium, like Nitrogen is an inert gas which was suggested to stop or prevent tire rot. It was at the time when tires were starting to have long tread life but the insides of the tire were rotting away and blowing out.

Personally, I just make sure I have winter air and summer air in my tires during the appropriate season. To further refine this, I may also add Spring and Fall air as well. So far, I have been having good luck using this method.

Tony

Originally Posted by njkayaker

A quote from the link helpfully provided by the prior poster.

"His gas mileage was about 19 mpg when he purchased his five-cylinder 2005 Chevrolet Colorado. Now, with the engine broken in and new tires filled with nitrogen, he gets 20.5 to 22 mpg depending on whether he runs the air conditioner, he said."

So, did the increase in mileage result from the engine break-in or the nitrogen? (You can give only one answer and it better not be nitrogen!)

And the guy being quoted is an engineer? Sheesh!

The nitrogen might reduce the rot (a bit).

The only clear, measurable benefit of using nitrogen is to the person selling it!

Originally Posted by birchman2

I could see it being beneficial to people who don't pay attention to their tire pressure. Might have saved some people their lives when the Firestone and Ford Explorer issues were happening. Alot of those tires were found to have been underinflated.

Originally Posted by Tireman9

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.