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| About
Nitrogen |
| Nitrogen
is an inert, dry, non-flammable gas that’s used by NASCAR racers,
the aircraft industry, the U.S. military, Formula One racers and others
to inflate tires. So why do the tires on a truck or the family sedan
have “plain old air” in them? |
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| Well,
it’s probably because the owners didn’t know about nitrogen
and the benefits of using it instead of “plain old air”.
And frankly, it hasn’t been readily available at local tire
stores until recently because there hasn’t been a way to
easily produce or provide
nitrogen to the average user. |
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| 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 tires,
oxygen is the culprit. Nitrogen in tires instead of “plain old
air” maximizes the vehicle’s handling, fuel efficiency
and tire life through better tire pressure retention, improved fuel
economy and cooler running tire temperatures. |
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| Benefits
of nitrogen |
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Better
tire pressure retention – nitrogen migrates through a tire 3
to 4 times slower than
oxygen. It may take 6 months to lose 2 psi with nitrogen compared
to less than a month
with oxygen. |
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Improved
fuel economy – a result of maintaining proper tire pressure which
lessens the
rolling resistance. Under-inflated tires have a greater rolling resistance. |
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Cooler
running tires – tires inflated with nitrogen run cooler than
tires inflated with
regular air. |
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Removal
of oxidation – oxygen is a highly reactive element at high temperatures
and
pressures. Replacing the oxygen with nitrogen helps eliminate the
oxidation that damages inner liners and belt packages. |
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Improved
retreadability – eliminating oxidation also improves the retreadability
due to
more flexibility in the tire casing. Less tire aging and tire cord
rust could very well increase the number of retreadable casings and
also increase the number of times a casing can be retreaded. |
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Elimination
of rim rust – since nitrogen is completely dry, condensation
is eliminated
which in turn eliminates rim rust. |
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On-the-road
reliability – tire failures can be significantly reduced which
reduces down
time and costly service calls. |
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JUST
THE FACTS > |
