Nitrogen

[Bay33saw]

My new 2012 LE has green dust caps on it. Mow I'm no NASCAR fan but my buddy said if wheels have green dust caps that means they have Nitogen in the tires and not regular air.
Please tell me I can slap him upside the head and that he is full of it?

On the other note, if they do have Nitrogen in them, can you mix Nitrogen with regular air? I am guessing no as the whoe point of Nitrogen is that it does not expand under heat?
eace:

 

[Bay33saw]

Never mind I did a search and found the answers.

 

[Antman]

Green indicates nitrogen. It's a premium service we provide at my work. Nitrogen will not change pressure with temp changes, and will not leak out as readily. You can add just plain air if you want to...

You can still slap your bud- take a pic of him kicking your ass afterwords...

 

[1engineer]

My new 2012 LE has green dust caps on it. Mow I'm no NASCAR fan but my buddy said if wheels have green dust caps that means they have Nitogen in the tires and not regular air.
Please tell me I can slap him upside the head and that he is full of it?

On the other note, if they do have Nitrogen in them, can you mix Nitrogen with regular air? I am guessing no as the whoe point of Nitrogen is that it does not expand under heat?
eace:

Yes, green caps do signify the tire is filled with nitrogen.

Yes, you can mix air with nitrogen, since you are breathing about 78% of nitrogen right now.

Yes, nitrogen expands. All gasses expand and compress at the same rate, about 1/273rd for each change of one Kelvin degree. Nitrogen is dry but that's about it. Nitrogen expands at a more consistent rate vs. temperature because it is dry. The air you breathe (and fill tires with) has moisture and the heating and cooling of this will cause a bigger pressure variance than a pure nitrogen filled tire. Any advantage for us? Nope.

Hope that answers your question.

 

[GrantK]

The reason for using Nitrogen is that it is a larger molecule and won't seep through the tire, which means the tire doesn't have to be refilled as often as a tire filled with air which looses pressure as the O2 seeps through the tire.

 

[Bay33saw]

Green indicates nitrogen. It's a premium service we provide at my work. Nitrogen will not change pressure with temp changes, and will not leak out as readily. You can add just plain air if you want to...

You can still slap your bud- take a pic of him kicking your ass afterwords...

:thanks:

:thanks: I knew I'd get the answers from u guys

 

[Jaker]

Yep, the green cap means nitrogen.

I don't really care for nitrogen as I have my own compressor and prefer to check my tire pressure at least once a week. I filled up to a cold 36 psi the first day I bought the truck.

 

[Bay33saw]

Yep, the green cap means nitrogen.

I don't really care for nitrogen as I have my own compressor and prefer to check my tire pressure at least once a week. I filled up to a cold 36 psi the first day I bought the truck.

Why so High? It says 32 psi on the door.

 

[1engineer]

Why so High? It says 32 psi on the door.

Mine are at 36 psi also. To me it give me a better feel for the road. Tracking and wear are fine too. Just a bit firmer ride. To each their own.

 

[Socco]

The reason for using Nitrogen is that it is a larger molecule and won't seep through the tire, which means the tire doesn't have to be refilled as often as a tire filled with air which looses pressure as the O2 seeps through the tire.

True in theory. However you should still check your pressures at least once a month. If your low, your not going to get it topped up at a tire shop, your going to put air in it. So what was the point of paying extra for it in the first place? The whole Nitrogen filling fad is a total scam in my opinion. People would fill their tires with Mig shielding gas if a good salesman was pushing it.

 

[Jaker]

Mine are at 36 psi also. To me it give me a better feel for the road. Tracking and wear are fine too. Just a bit firmer ride. To each their own.

Yep. That pretty much sums it up for me as well.

 

[Socco]

Why so High? It says 32 psi on the door.

Toyota says 32 psi so the truck has a softer, more comfortable ride. You can inflate up until the max stamped on the tire, but your ride will be stiffer.

 

[1engineer]

True in theory. However you should still check your pressures at least once a month. If your low, your not going to get it topped up at a tire shop, your going to put air in it. So what was the point of paying extra for it in the first place? The whole Nitrogen filling fad is a total scam in my opinion. People would fill their tires with Mig shielding gas if a good salesman was pushing it.

No theory - just fact.
O2 "permeates" approximately 3-4 times faster than does N2 through a typical rubber, as is used in tires, primarily
because O2 has a slightly smaller effective molecular size than does N2.

Why?
The following examples expressed in Angstrom units demonstrate this (one Angstrom unit is 10 to the -10th power meters,
i.e., one-ten-billionth of a meter): from gas viscosity data, O2 2.96 and N2 3.16 (difference 0.20); from van der Waal's
interaction data, O2 2.90 and N2 3.14 (difference 0.24); from molecular refraction data, O2 2.34 and N2 2.40
(difference 0.06).

If you would like to know precisely why Nitrogen will not leak out of a tire as fast (still does though) as Oxygen then you must read and understand Graham's Law as it pertains to effusion and permutation. Oh, you might need to read Fick's law of diffusion as well.

Knowing the facts, I think it's unnecessary to fill your tires with nitrogen unless you are an airplane or a race car driver. You need to ckeck your tire pressure weekly though no matter what it's filled with.

 

[GrantK]

True in theory. However you should still check your pressures at least once a month. If your low, your not going to get it topped up at a tire shop, your going to put air in it. So what was the point of paying extra for it in the first place? The whole Nitrogen filling fad is a total scam in my opinion. People would fill their tires with Mig shielding gas if a good salesman was pushing it.

I agree 100%, it's not worth it.

 

[Jaker]

You need to ckeck your tire pressure weekly though no matter what it's filled with.

:iagree:

 

[Anarch]

Air is around 75% Nitrogen anyways. I wouldn't bother. The benefits or 100% Nitrogen are overstated. IMHO it's just something else for F&I to sell you on.

 

[Ducmonsta]

I fill mine up with Helium. It makes my truck lighter and saves on fuel.

 

[Jaker]

I fill mine up with Helium. It makes my truck lighter and saves on fuel.

:lol:

You should post a "how-to" for the mods to sticky.

 

[STLDAVE]

No theory - just fact.
O2 "permeates" approximately 3-4 times faster than does N2 through a typical rubber, as is used in tires, primarily
because O2 has a slightly smaller effective molecular size than does N2.

Why?
The following examples expressed in Angstrom units demonstrate this (one Angstrom unit is 10 to the -10th power meters,
i.e., one-ten-billionth of a meter): from gas viscosity data, O2 2.96 and N2 3.16 (difference 0.20); from van der Waal's
interaction data, O2 2.90 and N2 3.14 (difference 0.24); from molecular refraction data, O2 2.34 and N2 2.40
(difference 0.06).

If you would like to know precisely why Nitrogen will not leak out of a tire as fast (still does though) as Oxygen then you must read and understand Graham's Law as it pertains to effusion and permutation. Oh, you might need to read Fick's law of diffusion as well.

Knowing the facts, I think it's unnecessary to fill your tires with nitrogen unless you are an airplane or a race car driver. You need to ckeck your tire pressure weekly though no matter what it's filled with.

OK, I have a theory and since we have an engineer available, maybe you can tell me if there is any validity to it.

If I recall, the air we breath, and hence the air we put in our tires is 78% Nitrogen and 16% Oxygen. Since the Oxygen molecules "leak" out faster than the Nitrogen molecules, aren't we going to have mostly Nitrogen in our tires after a couple of top offs anyway?

If this is correct, why pay for Nitrogen service?

 

[1engineer]

OK, I have a theory and since we have an engineer available, maybe you can tell me if there is any validity to it.

If I recall, the air we breath, and hence the air we put in our tires is 78% Nitrogen and 16% Oxygen. Since the Oxygen molecules "leak" out faster than the Nitrogen molecules, aren't we going to have mostly Nitrogen in our tires after a couple of top offs anyway?

If this is correct, why pay for Nitrogen service?

Eventually you wil have a bigger ratio of nitrogen but nitrogen leaks too, just at a slower rate. So when you add "air" you will increas the ratio somewhat but not to the point of pure nitrogen. And with adding air you add moisture which is what causes the more drastic pressure change, etc. Good question though!