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With the rising prices of gas, it is not surprising for all of us to feel the burden of extra expense on our pocket. It is better to think about how to maximize on the gas you buy and keep spending in check and pain free, rather than indulge in the futile exercise of fretting about days when gas for our vehicles was cheap.

Have you given a thought to the tires of your vehicle in order to increase mileage and save on gas? It helps slightly if the tires are properly inflated and you also get a safer ride in greater comfort. Have you heard of using nitrogen to inflate your tires?

This is the latest ingenuity on the automobile scene. Auto racers like NASCAR often use nitrogen in place of air to inflate the tires of the racer cars because of the several advantages it offers. Better mileage is the least of them. Using nitrogen can increase gas mileage by a sizeable five to fifteen percent at the nominal price of $3 to $5 without having to be anxious about the tires being inflated properly.

Air comprises of several other gases besides oxygen and nitrogen. Filling car tires with nitrogen can do away with the problems caused by the presence of oxygen. Air causes corrosion of steel and aluminum wheels. This causes leakage through the stems of valves, round tire beads and wheel flanges. Air also permeates through rubber; in fact it can escape from rubber even when there is no leak. Humidity present in the air also speeds up corrosion and rusting. These are the reasons why at times a tire wears an ‘exhausted’ look. The loss could be up to 2psi a month when you use air. The same amount of loss would occur in 6 months when nitrogen is used. Nitrogen helps to maintain better pressure in the tires and this helps to improve rolling resistance, give better tread and minimizes fuel usage.

Nitrogen filled tires will also remain cooler than air inflated ones and this helps to maintain a constant, steady air pressure that remains unaffected by fluctuating temperatures. This helps in the long run to improve the life of tires and gives better gas mileage to your car.

What exactly is the amount you can save with using nitrogen? This is a good question. Assume you are inflating the tires your cab pick-up with nitrogen and were till now getting an average of 15 miles per gallon. With nitrogen this will marginally rise to an average of 16 mpg. Not sizeable enough a saving, isn’t it? But with time this will prove substantial. If you pay as much as $3 per tire to fill nitrogen, four will cost you $12 and this will give you 6.66% increase in gas mileage. This means the same percentage of saving per gallon of gas bought. So if you are paying $3 per gallon of gas, it can help you save as much as $.20 for a gallon, effecting a saving of $3 for every 15-gallon fill up. In short you regain after every four fill ups. This will soon lead to your calculating the profits from tires filled with nitrogen!

If you wish to save on gas the best thing to do is to drive less. If that is not possible, improving gas mileage with tires that are nitrogen filled is the easiest way to get better mileage from your car.