Are Nitrogen Filled Tires Worth It

Quick Answer

Unless you are driving a race car AND driving it at very high speeds or just wanting to spend spare income, nitrogen filled tires are not necessary for the regular driver.

Should You Get Nitrogen Filled Tires?

This question can also be answered a bit quickly because the answer is: For most people No. But, if you just heard of nitrogen filled tires the you probably heard about it from one of four sources.

1. • Car Shopping
   • Tire Shopping
   • Learning about race cars
   • Maybe you just watched a documentary on tires?

Why Is Nitrogen Used in Tires

There are three main reasons nitrogen is used in tires. Tire pressure fluctuations, air permeation, and tire degradation. 

First – PSI

No matter the tire manufacture or kind of tire you use, tire pressures will fluctuate. This is simply because of the properties of air. As air heats up it will expand and the air cools it contracts. This causes the pressure of the air in the tire to fluctuate up or down. 

There are several things that can impact the temperature of your tires. The ambient temperature outside can effect your PSI. Many people will notice that as winter approaches and the temperatures began to drop you will many times find that your tire pressure will also drop. Another reason tire temperature changes relates to driving. If you have a car that displays tire pressure on the dash you can actually go test this out your self. As you drive the friction the tires have on the ground will cause the tires to heat up and increase the pressure to increase. You will see the faster you drive the more the pressure will increase. 

It is true that nitrogen in tires will help minimize the difference in pressure changes. This is why race cars and track cars use nitrogen. In the racing world, tire pressure is very important and even the minimal difference nitrogen has can make a big difference.

Second – Air permeation

No matter the tire manufacture you use air will escapes the tire. The main difference between air and nitrogen is that nitrogen will escape the tire at a slower rate. This means that over an extended time you would need to top off your tires a minimal amount of times less over the entire life of the tires. 

Third – Tire Degradation

This is one of the big selling points of nitrogen in tires. It has been proven that tires do degrade slower when filled with nitrogen. But, most tires were designed to degrade slower than the useable life of its tread. So, for most instances degradation has minimal effect for most people. 

So Are Nitrogen Filled Tires Better?

The very simple answer here is “Yes”. But for the average person the cost out weigh the benefits. The NHTSA produced a 50 page report about this and did agree that Nitrogen is better than air in tires. But you can look at the results and decide if the added costs are worth it. 

Should I Get Nitrogen In My Tires?

Even though we have gone over this  a few times. The answer still is, “If you have a race car AND driving it very high speeds And/Or you have extra expendable income to spend. You will usually come across being sold nitrogen in your tires usually from two sources. Car dealerships and Tire shops. Many car dealerships add nitrogen to the tires to all cars they sell to be part of an “addendum”. If you came over from our “New Car Buying Guide” you will know all about these. Nitrogen filled tires can be pretty expensive and to actually take advantage of these benefits, you will need to pay for more nitrogen every time your tires need a top off (usually every few months).

Average Costs

Now that you received the average costs and are aware of its benefits, you can make the informed decision if you really want nitrogen filled tires. If you came over here from one of our New Car Buying Guides, be sure your understand what you are being charged. Some dealerships when selling you a car will many times pre fill all their cars with nitrogen and automatically charge you theses fees. A simple way around paying this is simply finding a dealership that doesn’t automatically sell every new customer nitrogen filled tires. Or you can just ask for them to remove these charges. You would be surprised that this can work many times. 

Conclusion

So, unless you are a race car driver,  Nitrogen Filled tires are usually not worth the extra costs. Unless you are getting the nitrogen for free and the maintenance for free. It is better for most to go with good ol’ air. And remember, rarely is something really free.