When considering filling your tires with Nitrogen vs. air there are a number of factors that should be considered. Safety, fuel economy, cost, Nitrogen availability, and the cost of your time.

Nitrogen advocate claims:

-Filling your tires with pure nitrogen and you'll get better gas mileage, your tires will be safer, and they'll last longer.

-The Nitrogen fill up and maintenance fill costs will be recovered from fuel savings and tire longevity

The Nitrogen Cost:

The average Nitrogen fill or top off is $7 per tire or $28 per vehicle. Keep in mind this cost will be occurring each time you buy tires and also when you have your tire pressure adjusted such as during service or when your find your tire pressure low

The Nitrogen fleet cost perspective:

ABC Company has a fleet of 500 units.

Assume vehicles are being serviced every 3000 miles

ABC company vehicles average 21,000 miles per year

That would be 7 services a year where air would be checked or topped off (or NITROGEN)

The average Nitrogen fill or top off is $7 per tire or $28 per vehicle

Total cost $98,000 per year for a nitrogen fill.

The Nitrogen time factor:

If you were to decide there is a benefit in using Nitrogen vs. air you will need to ensure you visit only vendors that have nitrogen fill capability and in the event you had an emergency road service or air fill in an area that nitrogen is not available you will need to have this corrected at a later time in another location to benefit from your nitrogen fill program.

So does Nitrogen really make sense?

Let's look at safety for a moment. Running your vehicle with the correct air pressure as identified on your vehicles data plate is very important. Low air pressure will negatively effect handling, create tire friction and heat causing a higher failure probability and also a high rolling resistance creating a reduction in fuel efficiency. The benefits of Nitrogen do address these issues however is it the right way?

If you were to simply check your tire pressure regularly, the air pressure loss, safety and fuel economy issues would be addressed and solved however most of us are not good at checking tire pressure on a regular basis. This was recognized and addressed by our government.....

In short, Nitrogen was not chosen as a mandated safety solution. Effective 2008 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has mandated all new passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, except those vehicles with dual wheels on an axle be built with a Tire Pressure Monitoring System- TPMS. (§571.138 Standard No. 138) This system monitors and warns the driver when tire pressure falls out of system specification. This does not mean you should not check your tire pressures checked regularly however if you would "forget" your vehicle will have something to say about it when your tire pressure changes.

My take on this matter is as simple as the air we breath- stick with "air" and keep your money in your pocket. TPMS, safety and the cost of fuel should help us all pay a little more attention to our "Tire-Air-Pressure"