I beg to differ with Cecil on his opinion on whether to use nitrogen or not. Two years back I put new Goodyear tires on my daugher’s Monte Carlo. It sat outside during the cold mid-Illinois winter, and the tires became underinflated about twice a month. Last fall we went nitrogen, and the tires NEVER became underinflated the entire winter of 2007. While it might not be worth plunking down around $22 for 4 tires in some parts of the country, I find it very worthwhile to do so in Illinois so I don’t have to worry about checking tire inflation when the cold winds are blowing. I did the test with her car, and for this winter I have put nitrogen in my other 3 vehicles. If they sit outside, it WILL make a difference. The proof is in the test for me. Your choice…
I think you have a valid point. Your assertion is very dependant an the location, though. Although it may be common in colder climates, in my geographical location, it doesn’t appear to be very cost effective as few shops offer this service, and the temurature variance rarley exceeds 40 degress. As my vehicle doesn’t have pressure monitors it doesn’t affect myself like it does my wife, who’s vehicle does. I choose not to fill her tires with nitrogen, as by my way of thinking, it’s not cost effective as her vehicle includes pressure monitors.
I spend most of my winters in northern NH, which is colder then Illinois on average. I’ve had no problems with air in my tires, nor has anyone else who lives up there. Your problem may simply have been badly seated tires.
Does anyone have any reproducible proof on this? It sounds like a correlation of the spurious variety to me. (You know, like the one that says that areas that have higher stork populations have more babies; therefore, storks bring babies).
The car I bought last December came with nitrogen in the tires. (I refused to pay the extra $100 for that, but amazingly enough they decided to let me keep the nitrogen anyway.)
I get it refilled with N because the dealer does it for free.
I’ve had to have them add air to my tires a couple of times. Not a lot, but not really any less than usual.
It sure doesn’t seem to be helping any for me.
I don’t see the article link anywhere upthread, so here it is:
Is it better to fill your tires with nitrogen instead of air?
I have to agree with Cecil–I wouldn’t pay money for a Nitrogen fill.
I have been known to make sure my air valve cores and caps are clean and secure. I think it even helped once.
BTW: Wikipedia’s Schrader valve article mentions the importance of the valve cap in areas where roads are salted. It would be ironic if the improvements credited to Nitrogen are partly due to those pretty green valve caps, wouldn’t it?
I’ll fill your tires with an 80% nitrogen mixture for only $80.
I’ve never had my tires filled with Nitrogen, but I very much doubt that it would do any good. When you put a tire on a rim, there is already air existing in there before you fully inflate it. The only way, IMHO, that you could get a tire full of nitrogen would be to inflate the tire enough to get the bead seated on the rim, then, somehow remove all the air from the tire, then refill it with pure nitrogen.
But, sadly, valve stems are check valves and only allow air to go into the tire - not out. OK, so you pull the valve core and hook up a vaccuum. How do you keep the inside of the tire empty while you hook up your nitrogen tank?
Also, I’m fairly certain that if you did remove all the air from inside the tire, the bead would become unseated and it would suck atmospheric air anyway.
Maybe they do the whole process in a nitrogen chamber?
Until someone explains how they eliminate ALL the oxygen and humidity, I’m not buying it.
Wow, what a deal! You’re the greatest! 
My wife has a new car with pressure sensors. She has taken her KIA back twice for air and the dealer’s service department insists that for $35.00 plus labor ($75.00 per hour) that she have nitrogen put in the tires. They sent home some general benefits on a printed out page and said “Have your husband read this!” I say, that since we have paid for a 3-year warranty on tire repair, why should we pay for nitrogen? From what I’ve read, it is not a necessity in Kansas.
Steven KIA in Wichita is, as usual, just trying to get their hooks into us. I doubt Bill Clinton could outfox some of their salesmen, crazy fees and small print (just ask about the extra $9,600 we paid on our new KIA that they said we “signed the paperwork and are stuck with.”)
If it is the oxygen that is leaking through the rubber, wouldn’t the result be that the “air” left in the tire is higher (percentage wise) in nitrogen than normal air? After several toppings off, the percentage of N should be considerably higher than air and the rate that air is lost should be going down. This of course does not address the water vapor issue.
Water vapour might condense and perish the tyre and I know what they say about women and machinery but I’ve seen just as many terrible male drivers as female (I used to prefer one friend when he drove drunk because he took more care!). But is it really so much of a chore to check the tyres when filling up?