Topping up nitrogen tyres

iaind

iaind

iaind

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Quick question really. When I had the new tyres done, they filled them with nitrogen (was free) and I can safely say its made sod all difference to fuel economy, road noise or rate of wear.

They told me I had to take it back to them to have them topped up (for free) although I shouldnt ever need to for the life of the tyre, because this new "nitrogen" stuff is a miracle.

Funnily enough, I now need to top them up and even though the place is around the corner from the office, I'd rather just do it myself in my own time.

Presumably there's no problem topping up nitrogen filled tyres with air? Being that air is ~80% nitrogen anyway...
 
iaind said:
Presumably there's no problem topping up nitrogen filled tyres with air? Being that air is ~80% nitrogen anyway...
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Correct.

The pillocks at said tyre centre probably believe that nitrogen never leaks out of tyres they have fitted since I suspect no-one goes back to get them pumped up.
 
iaind said:
Quick question really. When I had the new tyres done, they filled them with nitrogen (was free) and I can safely say its made sod all difference to fuel economy, road noise or rate of wear.
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I'm pretty sure its only used as its meant to stop tyres deflating over time, which apparently it hasn't :D
 
I thought the idea was that the nitrogen doesn't leak out of the rubber unlike air because the molecules are slightly larger. This would lead to a slower loss of air but not a complete stop...

However, I guess that wouldn't matter if the tyre was seated badly or the rim had a slight buckle...
 
Nitrogen tends to be used for race tyres as its temp doesn't go up like air when it gets hot

didn't realise garages where offering this now, for your road car, stick with air
 
as already said, its main benefit is that the pressure doesnt go up/down with temperature

Usefull on race cars whose tyre temps go up/down a lot

not so usefull on road cars.
 
howler said:
Nitrogen tends to be used for race tyres as its temp doesn't go up like air when it gets hot
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Are we really here again.

Nitrogen - the magical gas which ignores the laws of physics. :rolleyes:

Next you'll be telling us that magnetically aligned fuel molecules produce improved combustion.
 
All 4 of my tyres are filled with nitrogen. So far so good, no loss in pressure as yet (~2 months), not that I would expect any/much over that time period. But as your tyres do deflate over time you get a decrease MPG. So if your tyres remain at the correct pressure for longer you should get sustained average MPG. As I do a minimum of 400 miles a week, this is important to me. But I reserve judgement as yet to see if it works :P
 
To be fair, my rears, which by the book should be at 38psi rose to 45 (according to the same Tesco air pump ;)) during the hot weather recently.

Presumably if we hit a cold snap, tyres suffered a significant pressure drop (and you didn't top them up), their claims of MPG improvements are justified, if not a little tenuous.
 
In fairness I know what the supposed benefits are (the bloke rambled on for ages, which is why I agreed to have it done free) but I havent really seen any myself.

Just checking my sanity that it was ok to do - I couldnt see any reason why not...

Presumably if the nitrogen molecules are too "big" to leak out, yet normal air does, a tyre that has deflated over time will be 100% nitrogen inside :D (joking...)
 
Xee said:
All 4 of my tyres are filled with nitrogen. So far so good, no loss in pressure as yet (~2 months), not that I would expect any/much over that time period. But as your tyres do deflate over time you get a decrease MPG. So if your tyres remain at the correct pressure for longer you should get sustained average MPG. As I do a minimum of 400 miles a week, this is important to me. But I reserve judgement as yet to see if it works :P
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Or you could spend 2 minutes every couple of weeks checking them, just to check nothing else is wrong with the tyres too.
 
Surely they use nitrogen as it's the cheapest dry gas? Air has water vapour in it, which may condense and behave oddly under race conditions, hence race cars wanting dry gas?

To all the people saying that nitrogen is 'special' because it's 'pressure doesn't change with temperature' - did they teach you science at school?
 
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