I just noticed that my 2016 R came with Nitrogen in the tires... I know that's not a big deal and the benefits have been discussed and weighed over and over.

Just wondering if this was from my dealer, or do all the F-Types, or R's come with a Nitrogen fill?

 

If it's OEM filled, Jag needs to fire their chief engineer. Nitrogen is the biggest scam going, bar none.

 

It's been a trend with high performance tires. Got nitrogren in 2013 w/ a porsche, same in 2014 w/ the f-type. but yea, pretty useless.

 

Yes, OEM, and they also tend to be over-inflated from the factory for shipping. Check to make sure your dealer lowered the pressures to the 36 psi spec all around. Mine came home with 45 psi all the way around.

EDIT: I know the science says that there is no real benefit, but I have been surprised that my car has not needed a pressure adjustment since I lowered the pressures to 36 psi the day I brought it home in June 2014. During that period to the present, the outside temps have ranged from 2º - 100ºF, but the tires have remained constant. This is the first vehicle I've not had to adjust pressures on between the cold and hot seasons.

 

That seems strange. All tires lose some air over time. Are you saying that in a year you have never had to add air to any of your tires? I check my tires weekly and have to add air about once a month.

I, too, had nitrogen in tires at delivery but worthless if you do not live close enough to a dealer to keep replacing the nitrogen and maybe worthless even then.

 

Yes, I've checked them about every two weeks with the same pressure gauge, and have not added any air since delivery 11 months ago. I lowered the pressures from 45 to 36 psi the day after delivery. They are filled with nitrogen.

I know it's odd. My experience with every other vehicle has been similar to what you describe.

 

I agree with Foosh.. On all three of my current cars I have not added any nitro for close to 2 years and pressure is consistent.
Before this, with regular compressor air I would need to touch up at least a couple of times a year.. also they tend to keep a consistent pressure during the large temp. swings we get around here.
Apparently nitro molecules are larger and do not leak out as easily.. whatever, I don't really care as it has worked well for me.
I have an 'air pig' that I got the dealer to fill with nitro in case I needed it to top up.
Lawrence

 

Scientifically, Nitrogen molecules are larger than Oxygen, so they MAY leak less or slower. Also, Nitrogen doesn't expand as easily as regular compressed air when it get hot (or contracts when cold) so I can see (on paper) benefits of not adjusting air pressure between seasons, or perhaps on track days.

This is now the second car I recently bought that has come with Nitrogen (Subaru WRX has it also) and it's too early for me to know if there is a benefit or not.

Just wanted to know if it was an OEM thing as I was simply unaware.

...and yes, I checked my pressure. 36 psi all around when I took delivery.

Thanks!

 

I have plain air in mine. While they don't lose air, they do change with temperature, as I'd expect.

I put 39psi in them in November when they went into winter storage, and they were at about 41psi when I got the Jag back a couple of weeks ago. Happily, it was a bit warmer when I got it back then when I sent it away.

Just checked them again after getting home from work last night - 39psi all around (they were still warm.)

 

The diffidence in size between nitrogen and oxygen molecules is less than miniscule and neither is as large as the holes in solid rubber, which are inconsistent in any case.

All gases expand and contract at the same rate. If nitrogen expanded at a lower rate as per the advertizing hype, tires would be under inflated at highway speeds.

 

My understanding is they use nitrogen to avoid the water vapor in regular air. Of course, they could just use a dryer to get rid of the water vapor. And I've always assumed it's all hogwash. (Maybe I could fill my tires with hogwash...)

 

Everybody so far has a piece of this right:
1. Nitrogen is indeed a slightly larger molecule and reduces the rate of permeation through the rubber by about 30% over air (either way, still veeeery slow)
2. Air is 78% nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen the rest is water vapor, CO2 and small concentrations of noble gases such as neon and argon.Though neither nitrogen nor oxygen are perfect gases, they are close enough to comply closely with the Ideal Gas Law: PV=nRT. (~1 psi/10 degrees) Under normal driving conditions the pressure differential between air (even with the water contamination) and nitrogen filled tires, as temperatures change) will not be significant enough to make a difference. However, under extreme steady track conditions (read extreme heat) there will be a noticeable difference in performance.
3. The water vapor in air will contribute to corrosion not only on steel wheels, but also on alloy wheels causing seepage around the bead. This may be the biggest advantage for the Nitrogen.
4. Since oxygen is highly reactive and nitrogen is inert, air will promote the breakdown of the rubber compound from the inside in addition to from the outside. However, the tire compounds for the F-Type are so soft, it is unlikely you'll have them long enough for this to be an issue.

My take: for the convenience factor (or inconvenience factor) it's easier and cheaper to buy a good gauge and hand-held compressor and check the air pressure on a periodic basis. I do it usually every other month.

 

Here we go again.

There is no evidence to support the '30 percent slower' claim. Rubber does not have uniformly sized holes that would allow one gas to pass but not the other. If the claim was true, the oxygen in the air would seep out quite quickly leaving pure nitrogen behind. This would resolve all the other issues usually highlighted in the never ending discussion.

As for air causing tires to deteriorate, there's not much point worrying about the inside when the outside is exposed to a far worse environment.

 

True about the uniformity, but if any of the pathways are larger than an oxygen molecule and smaller than a nitrogen Molecule, the air would seep out more quickly than nitrogen. A test done by Consumer Reports confirmed the difference: Air filled tires lost 3.5 psi over a one year period and nitrogen filled tires lost 1.3 psi over one year. Tires - Nitrogen air loss study
Statistically significant, yes. Worth the hassle of looking around for nitrogen, no.
Absolutely correct. That's why you see checking (fine cracks) appearing on tires that have been on cars for years.

 

The Consumers report test was significantly flawed by the small number of test samples and the lack of setting a baseline leakage rate for each wheel and tire combo that measured inherent leakage, irrespective of which gas was being tested.

I believe they themselves later dismissed the results of their test for the above and other reasons.

 

Show me your evidence.

 

Guys and gals, I just want to as the OP... I had no intention of starting a heated argument over the benefits or lack thereof for a nitrogen fill. Was just looking to see if others had the same.

That being given said, I am done in this thread, feel free to discuss if you want...

 

Mikey, lhoboy, I suppose you are just enjoying the discussion?
It looks like you both agree on the conclusion, but then the devil's in the details.

 

What I don't understand is how do you get the tire filled with pure nitrogen. When you mount the tire you have air in there. Then you add nitrogen, but adding nitrogen doesn't get rid of the air that was already in there when the tire was mounted.

So in reality you may by using nitrogen get to a 90% nitrogen fill, versus a 78% nitrogen fill using air to fill the tire. But I don't see how you can get to 100% fill unless you fit the tire inside a vacuum.

 

How do those of you who report an OEM Nitrogen fill know that is what is in the tires in the first place? My 2014 V8S gives no indication either way....