Nitrogen in tyres

muks11

Active Member
Oct 30, 2007
77
0
Leicester
Just been down to my local Kwik-fit and they are offering to fill tyres with Nitrogen for £1 each tyre. Just wondering if anyone has done this and if it makes any difference to performance or tyre life.
 

Dajmin

Guest
Never done it myself, but I know some people who have.
Apparently it reduces internal corrosion because the process removes any water from inside the tyre, and it loses pressure far slower because the nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen so can't seep out as easily. Although both of these are a matter for some debate.

No performance increase as far as I know.
 

cmc

ohhhhh yes.
Sep 13, 2002
637
0
Glasgow
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Just been down to my local Kwik-fit and they are offering to fill tyres with Nitrogen for £1 each tyre. Just wondering if anyone has done this and if it makes any difference to performance or tyre life.

I had it done 2 weeks ago. Only reason I done it though was becasue it's supposed to hold the pressure for 6 months so you don't need to check the tyre pressure. A pure convenience thing, but then again if your pressures are right for 6 months it might save you a bit in fuel.

As said it's supposed to stop corrosion of the alloy as there's no moisture but at the end of the day I don't really see that as a serious threat to your wheels!

cmc
 
Jan 11, 2005
680
0
Barnsley
I get my tyres from a place that fills them with nitrogen for free and I agree that they hold the pressure for much longer so from a convenience point of view I'd pay £1 each wheel
 

sheffboy

avoiding potholes
May 25, 2007
655
1
I've got nitrogen in my tyres. they've held the same tyre pressure for the last 8 months!

Must of saved me a tiny bit of cash in fuel. for the sake of a quid a corner it saves having to check pressures every month.
 
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AntneeUK

2 Wheels 2 Many
Mar 8, 2009
1,491
0
Nottinghamshire
I wish I knew about this earlier. I'd have paid a quid per wheel for not having to check my tyre pressure every few weeks. Do they do it so you can just go in and have it added?
 

turbin

Guest
I had this done when I got 4 new summer tyres. he workshop did it automatically. Apparently its better for the pressure in the tire when the wheel gets really hot during racing. Pressure more constant.
 

AntneeUK

2 Wheels 2 Many
Mar 8, 2009
1,491
0
Nottinghamshire
Yeah, I think nitrogen is more stable in varying temperatures, isn't it? It doesn't expand/contract as much as oxygen. That said, the majority of the air we breathe is nitrogen...

"Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases" - Wikipedia
 

OFI

Active Member
Sep 5, 2007
350
0
Salisbury
Yeah, I think nitrogen is more stable in varying temperatures, isn't it? It doesn't expand/contract as much as oxygen. That said, the majority of the air we breathe is nitrogen...

"Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases" - Wikipedia

Yup, so by that it's fair to say 22% of what usually goes into your tyre ISN'T nitrogen ;)

Sounds like a good idea for constant pressures, as others have said it reduces the fluctuation due to temp.

Not done it myself before.
 

CHRIS87

Active Member
Jul 12, 2009
75
0
We use nitrogen in our race tyres, the main reason is because when using nitrogen all the molecules are the same inside the tyre and therefore all expand at the same rate, when the tyre and nitrogen get hot. this means that the increase in pressure throughout the race is predictable. When using air, there is obviously a mixture of gases and water vapour, these expand at different rates, and therefore since the mixture and more importantly the amount of moisture in the air changes all the time the increase in pressure cannot be predicted accurately. Not really sure if this really happends in road cars as the tyres (not slicks) do not heat up like race tyres do.
 

matt_s

4 8 15 16 23 42
Dec 23, 2004
654
19
Yeah, I think nitrogen is more stable in varying temperatures, isn't it? It doesn't expand/contract as much as oxygen. That said, the majority of the air we breathe is nitrogen...

"Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases" - Wikipedia

The whole point is that the nitrogen is dry. If you use an air compressor then tyre the contains moisture from the air which expands differently to most gases and can condense out in the cold. If you used dry air you'd get the same result, they use nitrogen because it's cheaper than synthetic air.

Don't forget that the other reason to check your tyres is you may have a slow puncture which could cause a blow out or make the car unstable when cornering.
 

cmc

ohhhhh yes.
Sep 13, 2002
637
0
Glasgow
Visit site
I wish I knew about this earlier. I'd have paid a quid per wheel for not having to check my tyre pressure every few weeks. Do they do it so you can just go in and have it added?

I just drove up to kwik fit and asked them to drain the old tyres and re-fill them with Nitro. Took about 10 minutes. Best go first thing in the morning though when they're quieter as they're more likely to do it if they're doing nothing else.

cheers

cmc
 
Aug 30, 2004
662
0
Stockport
I check the condition and pressure of my tyres on a weekly basis, I wouldn’t dream of leaving them for a month never mind 6 months
 
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