Inflation gas?

spearfish25

There are certainly a lot of completely wrong answers in this thread thus far.

Nitrogen is an inert gas and as others have said, 'air' is 78% nitrogen. Removing the oxygen and insignificant other gases from the tire inflation composition won't do much other than minimize oxidation to the surfaces within the tire. As Chris has noted, the weight difference between air and nitrogen alone will be negligible in our tires. Molecular size is also not a factor for tire inflation...tires are not selectively permeable membranes that would leave you with pure nitrogen as the oxygen diffuses out more quickly (very funny idea though). Nitrogen's molecular size is nearly identical to that of oxygen anyway.

The ironic part of all this is that people actually pay more money (or any money, if you will) for a nitrogen fill. In SCUBA diving, we pay a small amount more to minimize the composition's % of nitrogen by adding more oxygen to the fill. This blend is called Nitrox and usually it's only a couple dollars more expensive...and this is a filtered, clean blend that we are actually breathing. Paying more for an abundant gas that gives no benefit and doesn't need to meet any cleanliness guidelines is really not necessary.

TheWeatherman

Agreeing with Spearfish, the scientist above. I actually, mildly poke fun at any friends when they said they paid $10-$20 for a tire fill. I explain what Spearfish said, and they never do it again. There's always someone trying to make money off of you. You better off buying "Acai berries." He he.

jimClark53

You can say that again, try filling with Helium, you will find it does not leak as you would expect, the tyres inner coating is rather Helium proof. So its not leakage. Oh and Helium is softer as a spring medium compared to air.
All you need is dry air.

scorpion90

As a tire engineer for many years with Goodyear, I can tell you that nitrogen inflation has only one plus attribute for tire inflation, and that is it won't migrate through the butyl lining of the tire nearly as fast as standard air does. We have run tests and can confirm significant reduction in inflation loss over time. Basically, you won't have to check your car's inflation monthly as you should, but maybe only ever three to four months. Nitrogen inflation won't do any good if leakage is from the valve stem or valve itself, and those items have been cheapened up over time. Hope this helps.