Tire is low .. where to fill in sj ?

Costco has nitrogen. They may help you in a bind. They only fill for current customers.

I have been using nitrogen since the car was new. Great for the 5 months of winter storage.

[Kirk]

I've been looking locally myself, but for the nitrogen reservoirs on my coilover shocks. They use a schrader valve just like your tires. Les Schwab did not have nitrogen, but they suggested the Wal-mart tire center. I called them and they were clueless. A local place (also NorCal, but not the Bay Area) called Bob's Tires has nitrogen and will fill each wheel for $7.50. I'd try some of your local tire shops.

Honestly if you're not racing the car, then I think you're wasting your money. I seriously doubt that the tires come filled with nitrogen from the factory. I've never heard this before. However, your dealer may have deflated them and refilled them with nitrogen as a "perk" for the buyer. If you're low on pressure now, fill it with air and then when you find a shop with nitrogen just have them deflate the tire and refill it.

BTW, my solution is to just buy a nitrogen bottle from a welding supply shop. I'm going at lunch today to pick one up. This way I can adjust my shock pressure to my heart's content without paying $7.50 each time. Total cost for the bottle, gauge, regulator, and schrader attachment is going to be about $200 and then ~$15 or so to refill it once a year. I may do my tires too when I start autocrossing the car.

Kirk

[renzop]

Air is 72% Nitrogen. There is no good reason to use pure Nitrogen for tires. Sure there are reasons, just none of them are good enough to justify the cost/hassle.

1) Nitrogen does not expand as much as it is heated as air which results in more even tire pressures but to such a small degree as to not matter (1 - 2 psi)

2) Nitrogen does not oxidize tire insides as much as air. True, but the cost of N2 fills is greater than the increased tire longevity.

3) Its terminally tech-cool. True, you got me there :-)

4) Nitrogen tire fills are a great profit maker for tire shops and dealerships interested in wallet lightening of the clientele. True, you got me there :-)

[ekam]

Took 7 responses for someone to point that out ...

Sorry it was a joke my mechanic told me. Some lady asked him "Can I put air in my nitrogen filled tires?"

[FTD]

Originally Posted by renzop

Air is 72% Nitrogen. There is no good reason to use pure Nitrogen for tires. Sure there are reasons, just none of them are good enough to justify the cost/hassle.

1) Nitrogen does not expand as much as it is heated as air which results in more even tire pressures but to such a small degree as to not matter (1 - 2 psi)

2) Nitrogen does not oxidize tire insides as much as air. True, but the cost of N2 fills is greater than the increased tire longevity.

3) Its terminally tech-cool. True, you got me there :-)

4) Nitrogen tire fills are a great profit maker for tire shops and dealerships interested in wallet lightening of the clientele. True, you got me there :-)

I had a tire expert tell me that you have to have a certain percentage of Nitrogen to make any difference [98%?], which requires filling, deflating, refilling to get that percentage - unless you have a big honking expensive machine that does it, which he doesn't think Costco or anyone would invest in. I bet you could explain this better. And I think he said the benefits has mostly to do with leakage, which also requires consideration of the tire walls? Feel free to embellish here as well. So, overall, its a marketing attraction.

[Kirk]

I don't know, I think it has its place and I think there are some good reasons - but mostly as it applies to racing. Again, I've been looking into getting nitrogen myself so that I can adjust my shock reservoirs. From what I've read a lot of guys will get a 80 csf tank of nitrogen because to fill it is about $35. That one fill will last someone almost and entire season of autocrosses, track days, and light racing. They use the nitrogen for their shocks, air tools, and tires. When you're tuning a car at the track, tire pressure is a huge variable to play with to really get a car dialed in, which is checked and verified with a pyrometer. When you get to tuning a car to that degree, then yes variations of a few psi (and I think it's much greater than 1-2 psi) can be a hassle. That's where nitrogen comes into play by making the pressure more stable when going from cold to hot tires. For autocross tire pressure may be one of the only variables you can play with in relatively stock classes. So again, any advantage (using a pyrometer for setup and nitrogen for stability) may be desirable, although of course the driver is still the biggest variable!

For regular street driving... well I agree, there really isn't much of a good reason except maybe fewer stops at the gas station for air.

Originally Posted by renzop

Air is 72% Nitrogen. There is no good reason to use pure Nitrogen for tires. Sure there are reasons, just none of them are good enough to justify the cost/hassle.

1) Nitrogen does not expand as much as it is heated as air which results in more even tire pressures but to such a small degree as to not matter (1 - 2 psi)

2) Nitrogen does not oxidize tire insides as much as air. True, but the cost of N2 fills is greater than the increased tire longevity.

3) Its terminally tech-cool. True, you got me there :-)

4) Nitrogen tire fills are a great profit maker for tire shops and dealerships interested in wallet lightening of the clientele. True, you got me there :-)