The main selling points for nitrogen in vehicle tires are on display at Get Nitrogen:
Nitrogen in tires is becoming a popular replacement for standard air. Nitrogen is all around us... the air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and the rest is small amounts of other gasses. When it comes to tire inflation, nitrogen has many advantages over oxygen. With nitrogen tire inflation, improvements can be noted in a vehicle's handling, fuel efficiency and tire life through better tire pressure retention, improved fuel economy and cooler running tire temperatures. Here at the Get Nitrogen Institute our goal is to provide consumers, over-the-road truckers, fleet managers and others information about the benefits of using nitrogen in tires.
But the disadvantages are cost and availability. That same website has a portal that purports to steer the user to a nearby establishment where the vehicle owner can get nitrogen tire fill ups. But the site says there is only one such place here in Midland, Texas, and a phone call reveals that they don't provide that service. The kind lady who answered the phone said that she had to drive the 20 mile trip to nearby Odessa to get her tires filled when she owned a vehicle with nitrogen inflated tires.
So it's currently impractical, at least where I live. Meanwhile, Edmunds.com thinks it's probably not worth the extra expense and that the money would be better invested in a good tire gauge. Even Discounttire.com is recommending against it.
The passage quoted above from the Get Nitrogen site said nitrogen has become "a popular replacement for standard air." Here's an experiment for anyone wanting to test that theory. Look for green colored valve caps -- the symbol for nitrogen filled tires. My own limited survey produced zero sightings.
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4:20 PM 5/18/2019
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