Fill tyres with nitrogen and gain 5% MPG ?

davetrousers

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

so its for lazy people who cant be bothered to check there tyre pressure

Yep that's it!

anewman

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

well in 20 odd years and 500,000k miles driven i have never seen any corrosion in a wheel

so its for lazy people who cant be bothered to check there tyre pressure

Can be quite common in alloy wheels where the bead corrodes leading to airloss.

focae

daveyjp wrote: »

Airliners use nitrogen filled tyres as pressure is maintained better which is important if your tyres are going from standstill to 150knots in a split second.

Aircraft tyres are inflated with nitrogen for this reason.................
http://www.airweb.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgad.nsf/0/55850E6389EFBA3C8625695B006723A3?OpenDocument&Highlight=87-08-09

Their tyres are inflated to much higher pressures than car tyres and undergo huge stresses and high temperatures during landing, braking and turning.

I can't see that there is any justification on spending money on nitrogen on a family car.

Mankysteve

Not convenience but it would be interesting if someone could test this out.

Jakg

The real reason is the volume of Nitrogren changes less with temperature, so the range of tyre pressures can be more tightly controlled. On a planes wheels or an F1 car thats helpful, on a runabout probably not.

If you push your car hard (track use etc) I can see the benefit, but not for road use.

dacouch

Robert2009 wrote: »

I use a mixture of 78% nitrogen and other gases to fill my tyres and it does not cost me anything

Rob

Personally I run on a similar mixture but add in some golden virginia fumes although I have heard that this reduces the life the items

Inactive

dacouch wrote: »

Personally I run on a similar mixture but add in some golden virginia fumes although I have heard that this reduces the life the items

Not just that, the Golden Virginia fumes are very expensive in the first place.;)

vikingaero

Jakg wrote: »

If you push your car hard (track use etc) I can see the benefit, but not for road use.

Even with track use you need to drive to a circuit on normal tyre pressures, have the ability to inflate the tyres with 100% nitrogen at the circuit to the higher pressures (some cars recommend higher pressures for 100mph+ driving), and deflate back to normal pressures for the drive back.

cyclonebri1

This was an old motor sport trick and discounting the gas stays in longer bit, it was done totally to reduce the pressure changes experienced on cold tracks, in rain and when stinking hot.

For the normal motorist just keep your money in your pocket and check the tyres a bit more often

Austineer_2

I sell tyres (independant tyre and exhaust centre) and wouldn't bother with nitrogen inflation. Unless you're filling the covers in a closed environment (ie a vacuum) you're still going to get a certain percentage of other gases inside the tyre.

I've seen plenty of corroded alloy rims, but the corrosion often starts on the rim area above the bead of the tyre and works its way inwards - nitrogen isn't going to stop this happening. More often than not it's the lacquer coating that comes off, flake by flake. A good scrub on the seating area (!) gets rid of most of this and a bit of heavy tyre-sealant completes the job.

In fact, as far as I'm concerned nitrogen inflation wouldn't make a noticeable difference to the everyday driver unless we lived in a 100% nitrogen environment.

Much better to regularly check your pressures (or get your friendly local tyre fitter to do it; they should do it for free, if not go elsewhere...), that way you're likely to pick up on possible punctures/air leakage sooner.