Nitrogen . . . any thoughts on this?

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
This is not necessarily a tow vehicle question . . .

I recently got new tires on my passenger car and decided to try the nitrogen (cost $20) instead of air thingy.

Despite the fact that I should have said "NO!" when they told me my alignment was off (interesting since it drove perfect when I took it in and my old tires were not unevenly worn out).

Anyway, now the car drives terrible . . . I actually hate driving it now where before I called it my "poor man's Porche" . . .

I've taken it back three times . . . even told them to set the alignment back to where it was . . . it still pulls hard to the left and just rides funny.

I've been thinking that maybe I should switch back to regular air . . .

Is it possible that nitrogen gives a different ride and feel?

Or did the tire shop just screw up my car?
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Doubtful that the nitrogen affects the ride unless the tires are not all inflated the same. If they rebalanced your tires, then there's a real good chance they screwed that up.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Have them, or you can, switch only the front tires only side to side,,, if the car pulls the other way, then you have a defective tire. If it does pull the other way do not let them put the tire on the rear to stop the pull, the tires or tire is defective.

Jim M
 

Nabo

Southeast Region Director-Retired
We have been running nitrogen in all of our vehicles including the Big Country for over 8 years now without having any problems, especially the problem you are having. Ummm - wonder if they dropped your vehicle on the rack. It's been known to happen especially since you have had it back to the tire place so many times without any success getting it corrected. Our son had a Durango that a local tire place dropped, didn't tell him and he later found out that the front end was damaged due to something bent. Of course they denied it but it was pretty obvious after seeing the damage..
 

westxsrt10

Perfict Senior Member
Sounds like the new tires are the problem. Like Jimtoo says try swapping tires, Id's suggest front to back if you can. Also take a height measurement of each tire. I had a set of identical new tires with one tire being 3/8" taller in the rear RWD, moved it to the front and all was well.
 

jimtoo

Moderator
Sounds like the new tires are the problem. Like Jimtoo says try swapping tires, Id's suggest front to back if you can. Also take a height measurement of each tire. I had a set of identical new tires with one tire being 3/8" taller in the rear RWD, moved it to the front and all was well.

If you swap tires front to rear and it stops the pulling,, you still have a defective tire on the rear. Need to find the defective tire and dealer should replace N/C. It is possible that if all the tires have the same build date you could have more than one bad tire also,, not to likely but possible.

Jim M
 

porthole

Retired
Before the shop put 100% nitrogen in (nearly impossible BTW) you had 80% nitrogen.
Seriously doubt the nitrogen change had any affect.

Now if they didn't put the proper pressure in, by all means that will give you problems. My guess is they screwed up the alignment.
 

GOTTOYS

Well-known member
Nitrogen will have no effect on how it drives. It's just a way to charge you for something you don't need. Regarding alignment. If your car drove well and the tires were wearing okay you should never have it aligned. You are just throwing your money away. In 52 years of driving I have yet to have a front end alignment done. Never saw that it was needed. I've seen many alignment "techs" that were just hacks and many vehicles left in worse shape than when they went in. I suspect one of them worked on your car. Bring it to quality shop and have it properly aligned. When it drives much better go back to the original shop and get your money back...Don
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
Nitrogen will have no effect on how it drives. It's just a way to charge you for something you don't need. Regarding alignment. If your car drove well and the tires were wearing okay you should never have it aligned. You are just throwing your money away. In 52 years of driving I have yet to have a front end alignment done. Never saw that it was needed. I've seen many alignment "techs" that were just hacks and many vehicles left in worse shape than when they went in. I suspect one of them worked on your car. Bring it to quality shop and have it properly aligned. When it drives much better go back to the original shop and get your money back...Don

YES . . . I believe that the alignment was screwed up and I think I will take it to a different shop and have it redone right.

I also do think that one of the tires might be defective as well as I've been getting a strange vibration (that wasn't there before) that doesn't resemble an out of balance tire, plus I've noticed that there is a strange pull that makes the car swerve hard to the left if I tap the brakes on hard (like when getting cut of in rush-hour traffic :mad: ).

Also, I've noticed that I get a strange feel in the steering wheel when on the highway (32 mile highway drive to work each day each way) where where the steering wheel just flops and pulls to the left or right randomly without notice or regularity.

This whole thing is driving me nuts as the car steered perfectly (like a Ferrari) up until the day I bought these new tires.

Now I just want to park it and drive my truck (which at 12 MPG . . . I can't afford that, which is why I bought this car in the first place).

Car will be 2-years old in December and already has 42,000 miles on it.

At least the price of gas is dropping . . . just filled up the car tonight at $3.02.9 per gallon . . . lowest I've seen in close to two years!
 

jimtoo

Moderator
John,,, when you take it in to different shop, make sure they road test the car with you so they will know for sure what your complaint is. Just saying it needs an alignment or it shakes or pulls, does not always take care of getting the problem fixed or relayed to the service man. The more you post about it,, the more it sounds like something left loose,,wheel not mounted on to hub flange(something not tight maybe). All kinds of things can happen. Speaking from 34 years as GM certified service manager in all phases of mechanic work and road testing to make sure things were done correctly the first time.

Jim M
 

NWILSON

Kentucky Chapter Leaders - retired
Selling nitrogen in car tires is a gimmick! Will you take your car back to the tire store every time the tires are low?
Don't be too surprised with what turns out to be your problem. I once had a similar experience (not not as bad as what you describe) only to find one tire was a different size!
 

tmcran

Well-known member
I thought the nitrogen thing had sort of died out. It has not shown to really do much. Regular air has about 80% nitrogen.
 

whp4262

Well-known member
Air or Nitrogen? You won't be able to tell the difference from behind the steering wheel so don't think that is your problem. I would have another shop inspect the car for damage and check the alignment. I would also follow the suggestion of others and switch the tires front to back but don't do everything at once or you won't know what fixed the problem. Do the cheapest thing first which is probably swapping the tires.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Switching to nitrogen will do nothing to your cars handling. It is a money making gimmick. I did step up and buy the nitrogin package for the new truck. Only because I get free tire rotations, flat repairs and a bigger discount on new tires. What I payed has all ready paid for itself. All the machine does is remove moisture from the air in your tires. They say your tires will run cooler and wont leak down as fast when sitting. Well maybe. Do as others suggested, take it to another shop and have it diagnosed ONE step at a time. JMHO from a GM tech of 45 years. Remember "cars is cars", they all work the same way no matter who built it.
 

Manzan

Well-known member
I have nitrogen in my Suburban tires. Bought them at Costco and have the pressure checked there before a trip with the trailer. Free. Bought the trailer tires there but too much of a hassle to have them checked there. For awhile, three of the tires on the trailer had nitrogen and one less of a percentage. That tire consistently ran a little warmer and lost are a little faster until the other tires had been topped off a few times with plain air. If I had to pay for the nitrogen, I doubt very much I would have it. At Costco frequently so having them check the pressure is not big deal.
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
Just got back from the tire shop . . .

I mentioned all of the stuff that we discussed here in this thread and explained the issues thoroughly.

Since my last visit there three weeks ago they have had their alignment rack serviced and calibrated, plus they informed me that they 'relieved' the alignment tech and brought back one that had worked there previously.

They checked out all of the tires and they seem fine and the alignment was way off, so they redid that.

I took it for a drive and it now seems to be OK, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I hit the highway for my 32 mile drive to work!

I'll let you know how it goes!

I also was looking into replacing the BlowMax tires on my trailer . . . but that is another topic thread
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
I always run 78.09% nitrogen, I have found that this concentration of nitrogen give me excellent handling characteristics and extended tire wear. I use it in all my vehicle tires and even burn it in my motors. LOL.

Its a gimmick unless you are driving a lambo. Just like premium gasoline. If you need premium gas, or nitrogen you will know it, because your owners manual will tell you so. otherwise your money is being wasted.

You can't fault this tendency in people, they work hard for their cars and trucks, they instinctively want to take care of them. So this leads to being sold all kinds of B$ by hucksters. Don't buy snake oil.
 

donr827

Well-known member
I believe, not sure, that airplanes use 100% nitrogen in their in their tires but I have no plans on traveling with my trailer at 32,000 feet in the air..........Don
 
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