Problem with nitrogen valves - Smart Car of America Forums : Smart Car Forum

unicycle · 09-07-2010, 08:01 PM

Hi, gang. I'm not sure how many of us have opted for the nitrogen-infused tires (tyres for those of you raised on the Queen's English), but I have had three problems in the past few weeks.

1. The leak-proof valve, well, ... leaked. So I had a slightly flat tire.
2. The valve would not come off properly. It's supposed to just twist off, but in two cases, this didn't happen. In one case, the valve broke somewhat, exposing the little doohicky that you can press in order to get the air out. In the other case,...
3. The valve complete broke when I tried to unscrew it, causing the tire to deflate completely in 5 seconds. Luckily this happened in a convenient place, the garage, so it was easy to fix.

The thing about fixing the tire was that the mechanic didn't have the right valve for the Smart, so the car will have the upside-down omega light that tells you to check tire pressure. I'll take care of that in a few weeks when I go in for the 90k check-up.

chumly · 09-07-2010, 08:21 PM

Is there that much advantage of using pure nitrogen when air is 78% nitrogen anyway?

smartcar111 · 09-07-2010, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chumly

Is there that much advantage of using pure nitrogen when air is 78% nitrogen anyway?

Here is a cool article about these. Don't forget to read the rebuttal comments under the article.
Nitrogen Filled Tires: a Scam?

chumly · 09-07-2010, 08:56 PM

That's what I thought, not worth it if you ask me!

Neonspinnazz · 09-07-2010, 09:18 PM

I got an email saying that some Nigerian dude died and I get 1.5million pounds of his money if I send him my SSN, and the rest of the important information I hold dearly

Scams, gotta laugh at 'em...

chumly · 09-07-2010, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neonspinnazz

I got an email saying that some Nigerian dude died and I get 1.5million pounds of his money if I send him my SSN, and the rest of the important information I hold dearly

Scams, gotta laugh at 'em...

Apparently SOMEONE somewhere must fall for it sometime or why would that Nigerian guy keep trying?

Fishing? I read somewhere a while back that someone turned it around and screwed him, I forgot how.

unicycle · 09-07-2010, 10:10 PM

I didn't read the link yet, but I will assuage your fears about my having been ripped off by telling you that my Smart Center gave me the nitro free. I noticed that I didn't have to refill the air/nitro in the tires for a long time after (a year, I think) and have only recently had those problems. I think that the point of the nitro is that it's supposed to be better at not leaking out of the tires, but I have no idea if that's true. Anyway, I'll be glad to go back to all-air tires (and regular valves) when I take the car back in a few weeks.

smartcar111 · 09-07-2010, 10:14 PM

Unicycle, if you can get nitrogen for free, get it for free. According to the article, the creator of the article would choose nitrogen if he got it free, but if you are experiencing issues that you believe is related to the nitrogen in the tires, I would go all-air tires. This is the first time I have heard of nitrogen in tires causing issues though.

unicycle · 09-07-2010, 11:11 PM

My guy at Smart Center Manhattan said that he's seen a few Mercs come in with similar or identical problems. It appears that the valve sort of fuses with the valve cap. That def'ly seems to be the case for me, where so far I'm 2-for-2 on fusion. I doubt that the nitro is the problem per se; I think it's the valves or the caps.

Neonspinnazz · 09-07-2010, 11:33 PM

Darn cheap valves...

Sounds like a safety issue that needs to be reported to the manufacturer of those nitro valve cap thingys.