dgrady42

Tony,

While I appreciate your comments let me set the record straight, I DID own a tire business, I no longer do so I have no vested interest in it. When I had the business, I never pushed the nitrogen, I had flyers made by tire manufacturers touting the benifits of it. If people asked about it, I explained the benifit of it and let them decide. I also offerred a money back guarantee and was never asked to take the nitrogen out.

I live in New England, we can have a 30 degree temp swing on any given day and unless I check my tire pressure several times a day, then it will not be consistent.

Yes proper inflation does add to the life of a tire, but nitrogen as claimed by many experts also runs cooler (cooler rubber wears slower). At $5.00 per tire for "lifetime" inflation and $2.50 per gallon of gas and a 5% increase in economy the ROI would be very short.

The size of the molecule of nitrogen is also 4 times that of oxygen which means that there will be less seapage through the rubber and make no mistake about it, air seaps through the rubber of a tire.

In my area, there are dealers that are now offering nitrogen as standard on cars (even Fords). They do this because they are paying mechanics to chase down low pressure warnings on their cars on very cold mornings.

You may check your tires on a regular basis but most do not. It is not becasue they are "lazy" they just don't do it, just as some never rotate a tire, these were my best customers. As stated earlier on my customers findings, many checked their pressure reguarly along with thier fuel economy and found that once they put nitrogen in their tires, economy improved. Again, this is new england, not California. In fact, I had more people return to have their pressure checked that had nitrogen than I did with people who had air. When we did check thier pressure, VERY occassionally we had to top it off, but more often than not, it was exactly as we it should be.

The tire industry as well as the trucking industry have done a lot of research and testing and concluded that it was worthwhile.

You certainly have a right to your opinion but you are just killing the messnger here. I started this thread to help people and all I got out of it was a bunch of bovine scatology to use a previous quote for my efforts. As I said earlier, I once owned a tire business and in the town that I was in, I was the "tire guy" for the area which if you take into consideration, I only owned it for 3 years and sold it, I would say that my customer service, integrity and knowledge was pretty good. The current ownership (who owns 60 tire stores) is down 25% becasue they do not give the same customer service that I was famous for.

toneman

dgrady22--my bad...I overlooked your comment about having had owned a tire business shop, so please forgive my "vested" comment.

FWIW--my message wasn't meant to attack the messenger (you), nor was it meant to attack the contents of your message; I did acknowledge that the use of nitrogen in tires wasn't complete hogwash--whether in theory or otherwise. My main point (if not only) was that for me--and probably for quite a few folks--the benefits/advantages/gain from doing so wasn't worth paying for..definitely not at $5 or so per tire. I also did offer that if I was afforded a convenient opportunity to have my tires filled with nitrogen at no additional cost to me, I would not decline the invitation to do so.

kreativ

If the Lexus-recommended cold tire pressure is 30psi, what is the correct range of tire pressures to avoid underinflation or overinflation? (e.g. 28-32 psi, or 30-34psi)

dgrady42

Your tire pressure should be at 30 before the car is driven. This will change with the ambient outside temperature. You should check your tires monthly depending on weather changes and adjust accordingly. If the tires are low on pressure, just remember how many poouds to add if you have to drive somwhere to inflate them and add the proper amount. Remember, pressure changes with temperature and don't forget to rotate. Front tires wear twice as fast as the rear ones do. This is not due to the weight of the engine but because of the steering. Good luck.

dgrady42

Tony,

I am happy to read your response and not to beat a dead horse, but I do think it is worth it. If you belong to Costco, they used to offer it for free with a tire purchase so keep this in mind when it is time to replace.

DrQuality

For those contemplating and/or maintaining nitrogen in tires, you may wish to consider the following information found within Lexus Tech Tip L-TT-0068-11 [2013-07-02]: "Best Practice For Tire Rotation & Nitrogen Filling Procedures."

Regarding nitrogen filling, it states "Some customers may complain about vehicle vibration due to incorrect tire balance following a nitrogen refill. It has been found that nitrogen replacement may cause tire out-of-balance conditions if the tire is deflated and refilled with weight on the tire. When the original air in a tire is evacuated during the replacement procedure, the internal pressure against the tire carcass is reduced. If the vehicle is on-the-ground during this procedure, the low tire inflation pressures may cause the tire sidewall to compress. When performing nitrogen replacement procedure with the tire/wheel on the vehicle, ensure the vehicle is lifted on a rack or jack stands. This prevents the weight of the vehicle from compressing the tire sidewall when tire pressure is reduced. Alternatively, the nitrogen replacement procedure may also be performed with the wheel/tire removed from the vehicle and suspended off-the-ground; for example, on a wheel/tire balancer machine."