Tyres - Nitrogen

[Andrew S]

Had new tyres fitted on my 5 series BM and Kwick fit now offer for a £1 a tyre to fill them with nitrogen to improve stability through start up and running temperatures and more importantly they said to reduce corrosion of the alloys. They also top them up at any branch for free for life.

Saying that, neither my BM or Stag alloys lose air but I had it done on the BM.

I have a couple of questions for any of you chemists. Does the Nitrogen give you a harder ride being that it will reacts differently to straight air? Can I let the tyres down and just top up with normal air or do the tyres have to be vacuumed to remove all nitrogen traces to avoid water being created.

Cheers
Andrew

[Andy Rundell]

Hi Andrew, practical question first.........you will be fine topping up your 'nitrogen filled' tyres with regular air. Given that air is approx 78% Nitrogen anyway

Personally, i wouldn't have paid the extra, just my opinion based on the first answer The good news is that you are only out of pocket by 4 quid !

cheers........Andy

[Andrew S]

Thanks Andy, well, actually, I got it done for free.

Do you think that you get a harder ride with nitrogen or is it that I have now got tread on my tyres

[EFI Stag]

Hi Andrew,
when i had a puncture repaired at kwik fit they said the tyre(nitrogen filled) would not be affected by temperature changes so much, so when i pointed
out that my other tyres did not have nitrogen in them they were quick to remove the gas, as i pointed out that it was a safety hazard,due to the fact that
the other tyres would change in pressure at a different rate.They also damaged the alloy rim when they repaired the tyre.
Hope you are well cheers Martin.

[Andrew S]

Hi Martin
Good to hear from you.
Thanks for these comments, very interesting. The car feels a harder ride and being that my alloys never leaked, I am tempted to flatten them and pump new air in them.

Cheers
Andrew

[brian0443]

Andrew
Aircraft and FI use nitrogen to exclude water vapour, though for very different reasons. Arguments about oxidation, vapour leak etc are very marginal and unlikely to be obvious in the life of a tyre.And would you ignore pressure checks because you had been told you never needed to check the tyres again? Better MPG etc?????. If you google 'Nitrogen filled tyres' you will find lots of information, including that the only people in favour are the manufacturers of the filling apparatus. Harder ride ? Its the pressure rather than the gas itself, which determines this. So its down to the tyres, or the lack of padding in the hip pocket after paying for them. Also might be worth checking the pressures.
We look forward to your quarterly reports as part of the long term test.
Brian

[NickA]

I agree with Brian; it sounds like Snake Oil to me. Air's 79 % nitrogen already so i can't see what difference removing the 21% o2 going to do for a road car. If you read the BMW Technical stuff they send to dealers they say "dont bother".

[Andrew S]

Thanks Nick

[dasadrew]

Although I don't think Nitrogen filling is something which has a noticeable or real benefit to normal users, I think the real benefit in professional applications like aircraft is not so much the Nitrogen, but the absence of moisture from the filling. Anyone running a compressor knows how much water is in normal air. It's this water vapour heating and cooling which the Nitrogen filling is aimed at getting rid off. It's not snake oil as such as the benefits are well established and, if you are going to be driving the Stag occasionally at 30,000ft then it could be a good idea!

Drew

[nitronig]

i use nitrogen in my business . i am in the fire extinguisher business and extinguishers are pressurised with nitrogen.it is a dry gas which contains no moisture. and it is inert. basically it is just a gas. planes use it in their tyres because it is inert and will not explode and/or catch fire. i have a bottle of it in my van and often use it on my cars and van . even on the kids bike tryes and the wheel barrow. i notice no difference on car tyres what so ever.