Tire inflation

Early on in the race for president Barack Obama, in his interview at Saddleback church said "Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune‐ups. You could actually save just as much"

Who knew I had an Obama friendly car!


Yesterday on a trip back from Kalamazoo this light came on my dash.



I didn't know such a warning existed on my Civic
.

So prior coming to work today I stopped at Basney Honda to have my tire inflation checked. The service person at Basney advised that they were now putting nitrogen in the tires rather than air and that it would cause the pressure in my tires to remain constant. He said otherwise with the colder weather the warning light would likely come back on after putting air in the tires. He said they could inflate the tires with nitrogen right then if I had a few minutes. I said ok and made my way to the waiting room for service.

Well, $25 later my tires are now inflated with nitrogen. I was looking over the bill and this was printer under my acceptance signature for the service: NITROGEN
CUSTOMER REQUESTS/ACCEPTS RECOMMENDATION TO SAVE FUEL, TIRES, MONEY, FOR THE PLANET EARTH, INCREASE HANDLING, AND PROVIDE EXTRA SAFETY FOR ALL PASSENGERS

Notice the inconsistency in the disclaimer...save money, what savings? It cost me $25, last I knew air was free. I'm also wondering if the nitrogen will make my tires wear less? It will be interesting to see if my mileage increases (I'm already getting about 30+ mpg) or if my tires last any longer. I'm seriously thinking of putting a sign in my car for passengers alerting them that they are now safer because I have nitrogen in my tires.

Maybe I'll get an extra $25 on my next stimulous check for helping to save the planet earth!