Have a wheels and tire package saved in a shopping cart and it's an extra $28 to have all 4 filled with nitrogen ($7/tire). Is it worth it or should I save some money and just get them filled with regular air?

 

Air is ~80% Nitrogen. The other 20%ish will leak out. You will refill with more 80% nitrogen mixed-gas. Eventually, you are within a few zeros past the decimal of having pure nitrogen, just as if you had paid someone to use nitrogen in the first place.



Yes, there are benefits

No, it is not worth paying extra money on a daily driver

 

Save the money for sure. It's just a gimmick.

 

I get my tires filled with helium because it's lighter and saves weight

 

My new wheel and tire package came with nitrogen filled tires but it was free so I went with it. I'd never pay for it though.

 

Race cars will benefit more in using nitrogen for tires. But for regular drivers, regular air is enough. imho

 

The reason nitrogen is used is because it doesn,t change in pressure as much as air when temperature increases, therefore ideally being able to keep tire pressures more constant under extreme temperatures.. I believe only top end race cars and top qualifying drivers need this very small control of the tire pressures. A road car will never benefit properly from nitrogen and once you have filled them with nitrogen they must only be topped up with nitrogen otherwise it is completely pointless anyway.

I have crewed for a competitive race car team and on the same track and same day ran with just air and ran with nitrogen. No noticeable difference or advantage in lap times or even in tire temps but pressures did show a slightly smaller increase than air, however both went up 3-4psi from set pressures.



Basically if you are that anal, like me check your tire pressures once a week or adjust them to your driving and temperature and weather conditions, which you would/should be doing anyway if you are running nitrogen.