If you’ve stopped by your local car dealership recently, you’ve probably seen them using nitrogen to fill the tires on your car. This is because nitrogen has superior resistance to expansion as heat rises when compared breathable air. Also since oxygen eventually leaks out of tires, nitrogen-filled tires retain their pressure better over time.
The list of benefits goes on for nitrogen, but the downside has always been how one maintains their tires once you get home, not to mention the arm & leg some dealerships charge for filling your tires up with the most abundant element in our atmosphere. Of course the dealers can charge what they do because there aren’t that many people that have a N2 tank sitting in their garage…until now.
A new product from TireSaver, the TireSaver 018 wand, allows you to fill your tires up with nitrogen without the need of a bulky unit and tank. From what we can gather in the materials, the TireSaver 018 has an oxygen-rich membrane and magical unicorn filtering system that take the oxygen, CO2, and water moisture out of the air, leaving only nitrogen to flow into your tires. The membrane/filter element is good for over a 12,000 uses, and produces 95% pure N2, which conforms to some ISO standard that’s too complicated to mention.
The initial cost is a little steep, and TireSaver pitches the product more towards smaller shops. But at $998 for a ready-to-go unit, and $599 to replace the filter, the overall cost for filling up with nitrogen is pretty cheap over the aggregate…assuming you already have the required standard air-compressor, but what self-respecting do-it-yourselfer doesn’t have one of those?
Just think of all the free (as in beer) nitrogen fills you could do with this puppy. That’s a lot of six-packs my friends.
Source: TireSaver
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I’d rather get 78% nitrogen for free (from compressed air).
Agreed. If you’ve got good wheels, Marchesini in my case, they’ll hold their pressure fine with regular air. Cool concept, rediculous price.
Well the thing about nitrogen is that it’s supposed to leak less than oxygen, tires are supposed to last longer due to less oxidation, etc.
I just don’t really believe any of it. I regularly check my tire pressure, and I’ve never had a tire dry rot before it’s tread was used up.
So…just don’t see the point of it. Plus, it’s extremely expensive for minimal gain. No thanks.
If you are replacing tires every 3,000 – 10,000 miles does it matter if they have less oxidation? I think most riders only go a few seasons at the most on a set of street tires, I don’t see the cost benefit to this. As Peter has posted, checking your tire pressure should be part of any riders’ pre-ride check, and is a good habit to get yourself into. If you “eliminate” the need to check your tires, you are going to miss catching the worn sprockets, leaking brake hose etc. Although, I find your theory on beer-conomics intriguing and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Its not so much oxidation as more consistent tire pressure. Regular air expands and creates more pressure when it gets hot and shrinks when it gets cold (remember PV=NRT from highschool physics?). You can get more consistent tire performance with nitrogen.
It leaks down more slowly because the molecules are larger and don’t fit though rubber tire casings as easily. This isn’t much of an issue on a bike where a rider should be checking tire pressure quite often anyway. Might be more helpful on a car that doesn’t see much maintenance (like say the BMW that gets attention only at major service intervals at the dealership).
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If you really wanted to do this you could do it relatively cheaply by getting a 2000 psi tank from your local gas supply for $50. It would last quite a while until you realized that it was superfluous and the fun wore off.
I use the theory that if I’m putting in 78% Nitrogen (confirmed by Wiki) from the start, and my O2 & CO2 is leaking thru the rubber, the more I fill it the closer I am getting to 100% pure Nitrogen. ;-)
I can understand the benefits of Nitrogen but with such a high percentage already in the air, is that last little bit really going to make that much difference?