Not too long ago I came across an article on nitrogen generators. I don’t recall ever reading about it before but as with anything else, once you see it, it pops up everywhere. Filling your tires with nitrogen has all sorts of benefits, the tires don’t lose pressure since nitrogen doesn’t migrate through the rubber as quickly as oxygen which means less rolling resistance and better gas mileage, the rubber doesn’t deteriorate like it does when oxygen permeates it on the way out and the pressure remains almost constant even when the tire heats up. Recently I noticed Jay Leno, who has the garage everyone dreams about, uses nitrogen in all of his tires. He uses the Ingersoll-Rand Nitrogen Tire Inflation System. It’s an all in one setup that adds a special membrane to an air compressor’s output to filter out the other gasses so you’re left with nitrogen. This also means you don’t have to get cylinders of the stuff from somewhere, you just make it on demand. Of course, Jay Leno can afford this setup. It’s really meant for service shops, tire outlets and places like that.
The company that makes the actual attachment is Branick Industries but it looks more and more like you won’t have to buy the setup for yourself, even if you can afford it since some outlets like Costco are offering it for their customers.
This is very cool technology, and just the thing we will be seeing more of in the future.