Nitrogen in tyres

[Tan]

Hi

I was at Costco today and they said they could change the air filling in my tyres to Nitrogen, so I had it done without giving it too much thought. I have read about the positives of having this done, but what if any, are the negatives?

Must say, the car does feel better to drive, if it goes well then I will go back and get the Porsche done too.

Thanks

Tan

 

[DRBC43AMG]

I have Nitrogen in the tyres of both my cars. Very little to no pressure changes over time. Less road noise too. So my choice is all for the stuff

 

[219]

All of the above relies on a good seal between tyre and rim of wheel .

Since a lot of older alloy wheels become porus and allow air to leak through them , any advantage is academic .

I check my tyre pressures regularly , and they hold up fine with 'ordinary' air .

 

[GordonTarling]

There's MOUNTAINS of BS concerning filling tyres with nitrogen! It doesn't stop blowouts on aircraft, so how can it stop blowouts anywhere else? The reason it's used on aircraft (and has been for years) is that it's dry nitrogen, so there's little to no moisture inside the tyre to cause problems, particularly wheel corrosion. Another reason is that aircraft wheels tend to have a high proportion of magnesium, which is highly flammable and the less oxygen in the area in case of a brake fire, the better! On race cars, I can only think that the moisture content is the largest factor, but I doubt you'd notice one jot of difference if you used nitrogen in your road car's tyres. It's all about psychology!

 

[Spinal]

Hi

I was at Costco today and they said they could change the air filling in my tyres to Nitrogen, so I had it done without giving it too much thought. I have read about the positives of having this done, but what if any, are the negatives?

Must say, the car does feel better to drive, if it goes well then I will go back and get the Porsche done too.

Thanks

Tan

I noticed Costco doing Nitrogen fills on all their new tyres, but never realised you could get them to do it on your "old" tyres. How much did it cost?

Also... do they "vacuum" your tyres first to remove all traces of air/moisture, of do they just fill them?

M.

 

[snoop51]

There's MOUNTAINS of BS concerning filling tyres with nitrogen! It doesn't stop blowouts on aircraft, so how can it stop blowouts anywhere else? The reason it's used on aircraft (and has been for years) is that it's dry nitrogen, so there's little to no moisture inside the tyre to cause problems, particularly wheel corrosion. Another reason is that aircraft wheels tend to have a high proportion of magnesium, which is highly flammable and the less oxygen in the area in case of a brake fire, the better! On race cars, I can only think that the moisture content is the largest factor, but I doubt you'd notice one jot of difference if you used nitrogen in your road car's tyres. It's all about psychology!

Could it also be down to the temperature of the air at the height planes fly at will freeze any moisture in the tyres? Just a thought

 

[Shude]

Could it also be down to the temperature of the air at the height planes fly at will freeze any moisture in the tyres? Just a thought

More to do with the fact that a tyre is a tank of pressurised gas. If it has oxygen in it and it ruptures next to something that's on fire then it will make it worse, potentially a lot worse.

 

[GordonTarling]

I don't think that moisture freezing in the tyres would cause a real problem - it'd soon defrost on touchdown! While the oxygen content of air would tend to exacerbate a fire, nitrogen would tend to snuff it out. If you've never seen a brake fire, you don't really want to!

 

[Martyn_n]

So where does the air that is in the tyre before you inflate it go? Unless you can suck it out leaving a vacuum (in which case you will collapse the tyre) there will still be a large percentage of air, and therefore oxygen / moisture, present anyway. As I guess the major expansion and change in volume / pressure with increase in temperature is down to the moisture content why not go with dry air instead?

 

[moonloops]

Nitrogen has ZERO benefit on road cars - end of.

 

[dtldesign]

Nitrogen has ZERO benefit on road cars - end of.

But it sounds good....

wait i don't have it in mine....

 

[crockers]

Thought Nitrogen was only any good in C63's................................

 

[W220alter]

I have a S600 (heavy, fast) with an instant pressure display on the dashboard. Normally I run with 1.9 bars in the front and when pushing the car on a motorway the pressure goes up to 2.7 (maybe higher when I am not looking). I guess with a car doing 200mph this would be even worse, maybe doubling the pressure and making the tyre unsafe. Having seen with my own eyes how fast the tyre pressure goes up in normal use I'd certainly opt for anything else but air, if I ever had an option. Just to be safe.

 

[tagnut]

How does putting nitrogen in a car tyre it make it safer?

 

[Dieselman]

Because it is dry so doesn't suffer significant expansion under heating.

 

[moonloops]

I have a S600 (heavy, fast) with an instant pressure display on the dashboard. Normally I run with 1.9 bars in the front and when pushing the car on a motorway the pressure goes up to 2.7 (maybe higher when I am not looking). I guess with a car doing 200mph this would be even worse, maybe doubling the pressure and making the tyre unsafe. Having seen with my own eyes how fast the tyre pressure goes up in normal use I'd certainly opt for anything else but air, if I ever had an option. Just to be safe.

Manufacturers totally take into account expansion - why do you think they tell you to measure and set pressures when tyres are cold

p.s.

Tyres : Car tyre safety advice - filling with nitrogen - The AA