Nitrogen in tyres

[Big E 118]

Was at the stealers today and they suggested I let them fill my tyres with Nitrogen, at a cost of course!

I know Nitrogen is used for high performance cars (GTR has it as standard) because it is affected less by heat, so when you're driving at high speed there's less change in tyre pressure.

Now he told me that my tires will last longer, I'll get better MPG, lower Co2 emmissions,better handling and I'll have to check my tyre pressures less. Now I check my tyre pressures every week and it takes 2 minutes, it's not really time and effort that I'm bothered about.

I would think that Nitrogen would make bugger all difference on a bog standard 3 Series, anyone know any better?

[Hugo a Gogo]

do you know that air is 80% Nitrogen?

[Hugo a Gogo]

and that Boyle's law applies to all gases

[Big E 118]

Hugo a Gogo said:

and that Boyle's law applies to all gases

They've named a law after Susan Boyle? She has done well for a minging mad bird

[ewenm]

See if the dealer can provide any evidence of their "claims".

[spikeyhead]

There's potentially some benefit, but only if they purge all the air out of the tyre before filling. As they can't do that in a kwak krap tire shagger depot then it's not worth it.

[Papa Hotel]

I usually go with 80% nitrogen, all the benefits of the pure stuff except that it's free! Good,eh?

[McSam]

As far as my knowledge of physics goes, yes, the dealer's correct: the nitrogen-filled tyres will maintain a more (but not completely) constant pressure as the tyre temperature changes, which means that the tyres will be at or nearer to their optimum pressure for longer, so your economy, CO2 emissions and handling will improve.

What he's not mentioning is that, as air is four-fifths nitrogen anyway (as said), the gain will not be substantial and in normal driving you will probably never notice. Scrap that, I don't think you would ever notice. The fact that the Nissan GT-R is the only road car I know to have this feature sort of substantiates this.. They have that knurled rim on the alloys to hold the tyres on too. So either their car really does corner harder than anyone else's, or they want to show off more - either way, no other manufacturer has seen nitrogen as necessary from the factory. As far as I know. So odds are that on your daily commute, it's irrelevant.

There is also the (possibly moot) point that tyre manufacturers designed their tyres to be filled with air, and thus designed them to be at higher pressures when the rubber was hotter, and thus nitrogen filling would not fit the profile the tyres were designed for. You could try telling him that if you want to shut him up

[Plotloss]

If they're charging you £1 a tyre for 100% nitrogen, I'll charge you 80p a tyre for 80% nitrogen.

How's that?

[Silent1]

The expansion of nitrogen and oxygen as they heat are minimal, it's the moisture content so you could fill it with any perfectly dry gas you would get the same effect

[Big E 118]

Yeah they wanted £1.50 per tyre.

I get free air at my local pertol station, which as stated is 80% Nitrogen.

Don't think I'll be taking up their very kind offer.....

[TonyHetherington]

Hugo a Gogo said:

and that Boyle's law applies to all gases

You're correct it does. But water, which is in air, is not a gas.

[GreigM]

Plotloss said:

If they're charging you £1 a tyre for 100% nitrogen, I'll charge you 80p a tyre for 80% nitrogen.

How's that?

how many times in 1 thread can we have the same joke?

[ewenm]

TonyHetherington said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

and that Boyle's law applies to all gases

You're correct it does. But water, which is in air, is not a gas.

Water vapour...

[Hugo a Gogo]

TonyHetherington said:

You're correct it does. But water, which is in air, is not a gas.

If they were selling 'dry air is better than wet' I'd support them, but they're selling '99% nitrogen is better than 80%'

[TonyHetherington]

Hugo a Gogo said:

TonyHetherington said:

You're correct it does. But water, which is in air, is not a gas.

If they were selling 'dry air is better than wet' I'd support them, but they're selling '99% nitrogen is better than 80%'

and, as a guy said above, unless they completely purge the tyre prior, surely you'll still have water vapour (!) in there anyway?

[Thorny]

Big E 118 said:

Yeah they wanted £1.50 per tyre.

I get free air at my local pertol station, which as stated is 80% Nitrogen.

Don't think I'll be taking up their very kind offer.....

Was going to make a joke about just taking the nitrogen and leaving the rest, then realised it wasn't funny.

[mat13]

Thorny said:

Big E 118 said:

Yeah they wanted £1.50 per tyre.

I get free air at my local pertol station, which as stated is 80% Nitrogen.

Don't think I'll be taking up their very kind offer.....

Was going to make a joke about just taking the nitrogen and leaving the rest, then realised it wasn't funny.

Thats not stopped half of the posters in the sean Connery thread.

[Scuffers]

TonyHetherington said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

TonyHetherington said:

You're correct it does. But water, which is in air, is not a gas.

If they were selling 'dry air is better than wet' I'd support them, but they're selling '99% nitrogen is better than 80%'

and, as a guy said above, unless they completely purge the tyre prior, surely you'll still have water vapour (!) in there anyway?

exactly

and once you have water in a tyre, it's very hard to get it out without pulling the tyres back off.

decent tyre places will have a decent compressor with a working dryer, job done.

[TommyBuoy]

I had to get my last tyres from Rapid Fit (sic) as the tyres I had at the time had split their walls. They filled them up 'free' with Nitrogen - profit margins must be good

The reason I was given was because the Nitrogen will not draw in as much water vapour and so not leave the tyre, resulting in it staying at pressure for longer.

Sounds like it could be true tbh.

Haven't had to add air to the tyres for two months but I can't remember how often I had to before!