Home | Automotive

Is Nitrogen the Key to Better Fuel Economy? 

A new strategy that is being talked about claims that it will save you gasoline and dollars and more. In essence it is using one kind of gas to save another kind of gas. The gas you will save is the liquid gasoline you fill your car with. The gas you use is nitrogen instead of plain old air.

Racing cars have used this strategy for a long time. Airlines have used this same strategy on their jets and planes. Even large retailers are starting to offer it to their customers.

Alright already, what is this strategy? It is the new rage in truck and car tires. It is using nitrogen in your tires instead of air.

Costco now is offering nitrogen fill ups for new tire customers. That is how popular this strategy has become. Why fill your tires with nitrogen? What do race car crews and airlines know that we don't?

Here is what nitrogen is supposed to do. It is supposed to keep your tires inflated at the proper level longer than air will. Apparently nitrogen seeps out of your tires at a rate reported to be three times slower than air. The logic here is that if your tires are maintained at the proper pressure for a longer period of time then you will save gas because under inflated tires increase friction and decrease fuel economy.

The proponents of nitrogen also state that aside from the fuel saving benefits there are other benefits to using nitrogen. Nitrogen supposedly runs cooler than air. Therefore your tires will run cooler and there will be less expansion in the tire. That means that your tires will require less maintenance and may experience longer life.

The benefits of nitrogen are further enhanced by claims that there will be less internal corrosion of the rubber and the rim. Since air contains oxygen it starts to oxidize everything it comes in contact with. That means the tire rim will be oxidizing or rusting as soon as it is exposed to the air filling the tire. The tire itself also is oxidizing and eventually will break down.

If you fill a tire with pure nitrogen then there is no oxygen in the tire. The result: no oxidation will occur. The claimed benefit? Your tires should be safer and last longer.

Are these claims true? Is nitrogen a wonder drug for your tires? It is certainly worth a thorough investigation. The Jury is still out on this.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of automotive industry insider information on saving gas and dollars at the pump (beatthegaspump.com). Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage. Don't reprint this article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE VISIBLE links (without "nofollow" tags).