Nitrogen instead of Air in Tyres

[The VTEC guy 0]

Friends, recently I visited a petrol pump and was planing to fill in air for in the tyres. Instead of a air pump I found they were offering Nitrogen to be filled in Tyres. The attendant gave me a pamplet and said its better and he will deflate the air from tyres and inflate them with nitrogen? and was chargin 50Rs for 5 tyres.. Generally I pay 5 Rs to fill in air in all 5 tyres...

Has anyone on Forum used nitrogen in tyres? what will be benefits? and is it worth 10 times the cost?

[bluesapphire 1]

I have not found anything like this in my city or never read anything about this....whats written in d pamphlets about it features n plus points...anyways in which city u live

[sgiitk 0]

It is a con. Nitrogen is used in aviation but in cars it is not required. Remember air is about 80% nitrogen to start with. In aviation filling with DRY Nitrogen reduces the pressure variations in landing and take off. here Zilch. What I will advise is to avoid air at petrol pumps since it is often moisture laden. Keep an inexpensive pump (works off the lighter, costs about Rs.700-800) in the car and you can top up at home. This way there is no moisture worth the name, and also you check the tyres cold. Also, with tubeless tyres in case of a puncture you can easily pump up the wheel. Furthermore, the spare is invariably at a very low pressure when required. This too can be taken care of. easily.

[bluesapphire 1]

On petrol pumps they fill air for free ... no pumps charges money for filling air they even write on their machines that NO TIPS PLEASE

[AdityaM 0]

Friends' date=' recently I visited a petrol pump and was planing to fill in air for in the tyres. Instead of a air pump I found they were offering Nitrogen to be filled in Tyres. The attendant gave me a pamplet and said its better and he will deflate the air from tyres and inflate them with nitrogen? and was chargin 50Rs for 5 tyres.. Generally I pay 5 Rs to fill in air in all 5 tyres...

[DIV']Has anyone on Forum used nitrogen in tyres? what will be benefits? and is it worth 10 times the cost?[/DIV]

That is an original con.

Nitrogen is used only in very high performance applications (Formula1 tyres are an example) since there will be limited variation in the tyre pressure with varying temperature as the tyre heats up.

You don't need that in your car on Indian roads anyways!!

[rssh 59]

I give 2 rupees for 5 tyres its a free thing and we give that guy a tip thinking he is poor.

[designersf 0]

ya...no pump charges for air...its free of charge...we normally give tips....and i dont see any reason for using nitrogen in our cars esp spending that much(50 is a big amt for air)

[vinay 0]

Nitrogen is filled in tyres instead of air in many other countries i have even seen imported cars with nitrogen filled tyres its way lighter than air and has a longer life!

i have heard they are filled in some petrol pumps here in india too but don't know where.

[darklord 0]

It is a con. Nitrogen is used in aviation but in cars it is not required. Remember air is about 80% nitrogen to start with. In aviation filling with DRY Nitrogen reduces the pressure variations in landing and take off. here Zilch. What I will advise is to avoid air at petrol pumps since it is often moisture laden. Keep an inexpensive pump (works off the lighter' date=' costs about Rs.700-800) in the car and you can top up at home. This way there is no moisture worth the name, and also you check the tyres cold. Also, with tubeless tyres in case of a puncture you can easily pump up the wheel. Furthermore, the spare is invariably at a very low pressure when required. This too can be taken care of. easily.

[/quote']

I googled on this one and here's Michelin's statement on it

Michelin officials recommend nitrogen only for tires used "in a high

risk environment and/or when the user wants to reduce the consequences

of a potential abnormal overheating of the tire-wheel assembly (for

example in some aircraft applications)," according to a company

statement.

Nitrogen undoubtedly has pros, in terms of reduced loss of pressure and increased mileage. But at the current price point it may not be worth it (especially if you are in city traffic where your tires are not very likely to get overheated in the stop-n-go traffic)

Here's the complete report if anyone interested.

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/28/Tampabay/Nitrogen_in_your_tire.shtml

[thermalpaste 0]

I have been using nitrogen for the last 5months. I have done a 170 on the expressway with no noticeable difference. It's a waste of money. They claim you don't need to fill it for 6 months, but I had to fill mine in 2 months. There is no difference in mileage whatsoever. The tires run cooler, but that's about it. If you brake excessively and drive really fast, there is barely any increase in the air pressure as compared to regular air, which is a good thing. But I usually experiment on my old esteem ( a low 26 psi for 175/70s, which is relatively high profile) and handling marginally improves under heavy braking and tire overheating. I checked the air pressure gauge after a few drifts on sunny tarmac stretches and the air pressure increased to 29-30 psi, which improves handling (I'm talking about body roll, not traction). When I filled nitrogen, the maximum increase I have seen is 27 psi, so in this case there is no noticeable difference as such. Nitrogen should be useful for cabbies (indica) who over inflate their tires to extract maximum economy on the expressway.

And frankly, they should ban tube type tires for cars that are capable of touching 140 and above.

[AdityaM 0]

@thermal paste

You seem to have done a lot of research!!

[sgiitk 0]

Nitrogen is filled in tyres instead of air in many other countries i have even seen imported cars with nitrogen filled tyres its way lighter than air and has a longer life!

Pray enlighten me.

1. 80% of air is nitrogen.

2. If Oxygen (Mol.wt 32) which is around 20%  is replaced with Nitrogen (Molwt 28) then weight gain will at most (I doubt even this much) will be a few grams.

Either science is wrong or you are misinformed.

Also, I must have driven over 80,000 miles in Europe (still have my EEC license) and never seen Nitrogen being offered for tyres.

sgiitk2008-04-16 04:39:05

[roomy 0]

The advantage I see with nitrogen is that it will not corrode the inside of the rim compared to possibly moisture laden air. The question is how much tyre pressure is lost over a period of time else one would have to top up the tyre using nitrogen every time to keep the advantage.

[sgiitk 0]

In my 10+ years of experience with Tubeless tyres I am yet to see a corroded rim. Of course I do not use the garage air.

[Charlesp 0]

I remember reading somewhere that using Nitrogen for everyday applications is bad, if anything. Can't remember where I read it, though - will look for the source and paste the link when I have the time.