jcmseven
Veteran Member
Fellow Posters:
I am almost embarrassed to post this, and might be more embarrassed once I hear your responses, but I wanted to provide some information regarding the fad "the nitrogen filled vehicle tire." As many of you know, I recently bought a new GMC heavy duty pickup. The truck has the stock Duravis Bridgestone tires mounted on the factory option 17" rims. The truck, save for bedliner, etc. is totally stock. I drive a lot, and have about 15,000 miles on my truck that I purchased in May. My friend, who is the sales manager at the local John Deere dealership, mentioned that he had put nitrogen fill in his 2006 GMC Yukon tires and that he felt there was a tremendous difference in the ride, tire wear, and mileage doing so. These claims were not verified, but based on his "opinion." He also felt the tire pressure held more steady from cold to hot. He recommended I do the same. Thusly, I went to the local tire shop where this is done to investigate. The shop is reputable, profitable and has been now in three generations of the same family. Their usual charge for this service is $10.00 per tire, and since they recommend obviously all four be done, this is $40.00 plus tax. I was skeptical and they knew this, so they copped me the fee and filled mine for free, with the understanding that if I liked it that I would consider having my other vehicles and equipment done.
Locally, due to our "green" contingent--a large number of whom drive Jetta diesels and Toyota Priuses, the local car dealers have gone crazy promoting this--at an additional charge I might add. Well, I opted to use this time to conduct an uncertified experiment with my truck. IMO I am in the ideal situation to do this: I have gathered fuel economy numbers consistently since my truck's purchase; I fill up at the same station each time; I have a stable driving cycle that has some distance and frequently is consistent in time of day and limits extraneous influences; I rotate my tires with each oil change and am very particular about maintenence, one part of which is keeping each tire within pressure spec.
After collecting over 4000 miles of data with the nitro fill I determined the following with regard to my vehicle (may not be exact with others):
Myths:
1. Nitrogen filled tires promote better mileage--while I cannot speak to other vehicles in my 2500 GMC truck there simply was no consistent difference in fuel economy before and after. I will say that my truck is a high-powered, heavy vehicle--perhaps there might be some difference in a small econobox, but not in what most of us drive.
2. Nitrogen filled tires hold pressure better and are not as subject to heat variation- false, I actually noted MORE pressure variation with the tires filled with nitrogen than when they were filled with plain air.
3. Nitrogen filled tires provide a more quiet and better ride - while this is subjective, I did not appreciate any difference here.
4. Nitrogen filled tires wear better - cannot confirm/deny this but my car dealer service manager says my tire wear is great, but it was before. He also says that it is about average for someone running my current tires, spec pressures, and who rotates often. He did not see any obvious slowing of wear.
In short, I could find no tangible benefit to filling one's vehicle tires with nitrogen, and I would not have paid $40.00 to have it done. I would say that many of the dealers are charging over $100.00 to perform this "service" as part of a "fuel efficiency" package on new cars they sell. Given the economy, I know few people who would not prefer to have that $100 in their pockets and based on my findings I feel that might be where it belongs. Hopefully this is helpful. My contention is that this might be another money-making scheme, but I can only attest to its lack of benefit in my vehicle, not in others--though I think the data would hold accross vehicles. I am happy to provide a synopsis of the hard data to anyone who wants it--that part might be a snoozer (not that this part wasn't also).
John M
I am almost embarrassed to post this, and might be more embarrassed once I hear your responses, but I wanted to provide some information regarding the fad "the nitrogen filled vehicle tire." As many of you know, I recently bought a new GMC heavy duty pickup. The truck has the stock Duravis Bridgestone tires mounted on the factory option 17" rims. The truck, save for bedliner, etc. is totally stock. I drive a lot, and have about 15,000 miles on my truck that I purchased in May. My friend, who is the sales manager at the local John Deere dealership, mentioned that he had put nitrogen fill in his 2006 GMC Yukon tires and that he felt there was a tremendous difference in the ride, tire wear, and mileage doing so. These claims were not verified, but based on his "opinion." He also felt the tire pressure held more steady from cold to hot. He recommended I do the same. Thusly, I went to the local tire shop where this is done to investigate. The shop is reputable, profitable and has been now in three generations of the same family. Their usual charge for this service is $10.00 per tire, and since they recommend obviously all four be done, this is $40.00 plus tax. I was skeptical and they knew this, so they copped me the fee and filled mine for free, with the understanding that if I liked it that I would consider having my other vehicles and equipment done.
Locally, due to our "green" contingent--a large number of whom drive Jetta diesels and Toyota Priuses, the local car dealers have gone crazy promoting this--at an additional charge I might add. Well, I opted to use this time to conduct an uncertified experiment with my truck. IMO I am in the ideal situation to do this: I have gathered fuel economy numbers consistently since my truck's purchase; I fill up at the same station each time; I have a stable driving cycle that has some distance and frequently is consistent in time of day and limits extraneous influences; I rotate my tires with each oil change and am very particular about maintenence, one part of which is keeping each tire within pressure spec.
After collecting over 4000 miles of data with the nitro fill I determined the following with regard to my vehicle (may not be exact with others):
Myths:
1. Nitrogen filled tires promote better mileage--while I cannot speak to other vehicles in my 2500 GMC truck there simply was no consistent difference in fuel economy before and after. I will say that my truck is a high-powered, heavy vehicle--perhaps there might be some difference in a small econobox, but not in what most of us drive.
2. Nitrogen filled tires hold pressure better and are not as subject to heat variation- false, I actually noted MORE pressure variation with the tires filled with nitrogen than when they were filled with plain air.
3. Nitrogen filled tires provide a more quiet and better ride - while this is subjective, I did not appreciate any difference here.
4. Nitrogen filled tires wear better - cannot confirm/deny this but my car dealer service manager says my tire wear is great, but it was before. He also says that it is about average for someone running my current tires, spec pressures, and who rotates often. He did not see any obvious slowing of wear.
In short, I could find no tangible benefit to filling one's vehicle tires with nitrogen, and I would not have paid $40.00 to have it done. I would say that many of the dealers are charging over $100.00 to perform this "service" as part of a "fuel efficiency" package on new cars they sell. Given the economy, I know few people who would not prefer to have that $100 in their pockets and based on my findings I feel that might be where it belongs. Hopefully this is helpful. My contention is that this might be another money-making scheme, but I can only attest to its lack of benefit in my vehicle, not in others--though I think the data would hold accross vehicles. I am happy to provide a synopsis of the hard data to anyone who wants it--that part might be a snoozer (not that this part wasn't also).
John M
