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"Mr. Darkside, for $8.50/tire we can fill your tires with Nitrogen, which will result in less wear and tear of the tires, less corrosion of the wheels, better gas milage, and Nitrogen tires stay filled longer."
All right. It's my fault for bringing my car to a chain oil change place, I accept that. I've got excuses. I'm busy. I'm on-call this week. It's cold and rainy. Those excuses suck. I just wanted someone else to change my damn oil this time.
The manager, we'll call him Peter so that I don't use his real name, Chester Halson. Peter asked me how my wipers were (fine), when the last time I changed my fuel filter was (5k miles ago), have I seen my cabin air filter (I have, and it's funny, you vacuum them for 4 seconds and they work like new), and would I like nitrogen tires?
Nitrogen Tires? Wow, that sounds so scientific. Nitrogen tires. Sounds like Nitro. And that means something fast, kind of doesn't it? Well, Chester, I mean Peter, tell me about nitrogen tires. "Well, Nitrogen is a larger, denser molecule than Oxygen, which is what makes up air. Since it is a larger Molecule, it won't escape the porus walls of the rubber tires, maintaining your tire pressure longer, thus saving YOU gas! Maybe up to 10% of your milage. Also, it's non-flammable, that's why aircraft and the space shuttle use nitrogen tires. Also, nitrogen dispaces water vapor, which will prevent your wheels from corroding."
Fact check, Chester, um, Peter. Isn't air something like 80% Nitrogen already? I mean, oxygen doesn't exactly "make up air" does it? Also, something tells me that Nitrogen is actually a lighter less dense molecule than oxygen. And even if it were true that it less likey to escape the tire itself and I were running say 20 PSI instead of the recommended 30 (which is something I would never allow to happen anyway, but some people don't check their tire pressure regularly so whatever) the common figure I've seen is something like 5% fuel savings.
Well, I'll give Chester some... damn I mean Peter, some credit here. They do use nitrogen filled tires for the space shuttle and for aircraft. However, a space shuttle tire must maintain integrity in ridiculous environments, from the brutal environment in orbit to the 300 MPH landing speed. They handle 695 Lbs of load per lb of tire, compared to about 114 for a truck, even less on my car. Something tells me my car doesn't need to operate in a near vacuum and at 300 miles per hour.
Chester is also right about the water vapor. Nitrogen would displace water vapor, but I haven't seen an iron wheel in probably 20 years, and my car is equipped with alloy wheels, which after 7.5 years of being parked outdoors have not shown a speck of corrosion. Also, less water vapor would create more stable pressures when you're talkin about raising temperatures well over 100 degrees which under non insane driving conditions would be extremely rare and even when experiencing a chance in pressure it would be so minor as to not have any significant effect on the tire, the driving experience, nor any change in efficancy of the vehicle.
Since my everyday air is already 80% nitrogen I declined. Che.. ah Peter tells me I'll be back wishing I had gotten Nitrogen in my tires and I'm making a big mistake. How many people are sold on nitrogen tires? People aren't that dumb are they? Wouldn't people sold nitrogen tires be less likely to check their tire pressure, and add, gulp, "reglular" air to keep a safe tire pressure?
For $34 for nitrogen all around, I don't see anywhere near $37 worth of rubber, fuel, of safety coming back.
So, Chester Peter, I call you a douche.
Then, on my way home, I saw a Shell gas station that is now selling "Nitrogen Enriched" gasoline...
_________________ "Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014 bigfan wrote: Many that is true, but an incomplete statement.
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