Nitrogen Tyres

[Kambaku]

Calling all experts

I tried to find something about inflating your tyres with Nitrogen, but only found Nitrogen shock posts. I do know a bit more about that now.

I read that it oxygen and moisture can cause oxidation and rust, and nitrogen stays cooler for optimum tyre pressure and is more consistent. Correct me if I am wrong. So it sounds like a good idea, and some garages gives the service for free. Dont see a reason why not to do it then.

My question to the experts is this:
If you do have nitrogen in your tyres and you go on a trip to Botswana and at some stage you deflate your tyres to say 1.2bar because of the terrain and use a compressor to inflate them again to normal, what will the effect of nitrogen and air be in your tyres when mixed?

Any thaughts and or opinions?

[Kambaku]

Just to add something, I emailed Autowiel Centurion and received this reply:

Good day Reinhardt,

It does make a difference as the tyres run cooler, therefore obviously they get better mileage, another advantage is that the tyre pressure remains more constant than normal air and it’s only necessary to check pressure every 3-6 months instead of every 2 weeks.

The cost is once off R20.00 incl. per wheel and free top up after that.

Kind regards
Branch Manager

[Harties]

Hi Reinhardt,

We only use N2 for inflation of our Aircraft tyres. As they said its a very constant gas & does not get effected by drastic temp & pressure change as much as normal O2 will be.

In the field ( South Sudan ) where we dont have N2 aivailable for tyre inflation , we do use O2 to top up , but by saying that, we only use it on Aircraft that doesn't go higher than approx 13000' where the ambient temp is still above 0' C.
What the branch Manager said about only checking it every 3-6 Months.... not so sure about that..

So to answer the question, for normal road use it will not be a problem to top it up with normal compressed air if you have N2 in it already.
Thats my 2cw..
Hope it hepls

[ChrisF]

another one of those "interesting" topics ... :)

Here are my thoughts.

73% of "air" IS Nitrogen ! So going for a 100% nitrogen mix hardly makes that much difference in any event.

My BIGGEST problem with Nitrogen was (yes, I did try this once) that you can ONLY top up at your tire supplier. By the time I get there tire is hot already ! Thus it just was not practicle for me. This was in my platkar.


For 4x4 - I can not see this working !! At the rate we deflate tires and then re-inflate with "ordinary air", the 100% Nitrogen will quickly deteriorate to 73% Nitrogen.

I wont go this route again.

[Traveler]

A very interesting discussion point and when it comes up I tend to sit on my hands to see what the armchair and bar counter experts tell us.

We have nitrogen tanks at work with which we fill machinery tyres for dump trucks, loaders and back hoes. Contrary to what some say, in such an intense application normal air is a guarantee for an explosion. Pure Nitrogen on the other hand will not explode as it cannot fuel a fire like the oxygen present in nitrogen. But we are talking of tyres that carry 80-200 tons.

In Dreadnought as he is standing right now there is Nitrogen in the tyres as it is free at work. But I'll not pay to inflate the tyres each time, here Chris is 100% correct in my opinion. After each play session I deflate completelyand inflate again with nitrogen.

[pietpetoors]

Reinhardt, it is a sales gimmick
I am with Chris on this one, as he said the air you breathe already are 73% N

My bakkie has alloy rims so rust no problem and if i had that in the wheels it would be out after the first session at the dunes anyway.

[ChrisF]

Heinrich now if I had that type of access to N, I might also use it. :)

[Mud Dog]

Ja, I agree that there are theoretical benefits, but as mentioned, just not practical for our use. Maybe your platkar will be able to get some benefit.

[kfxnando]

here is something else that comes to mind!!

it is said that with Nitrogen in the tyres, the tyres run cooler!! great!!

on road cars
however tyres need heat to get a little extra grip from the correct operating temperature!!
a warmer tyre has a little better grip!!
that is despite we not going to the same temp as slicks on a race car, a little more heat increases grip!!

will give another example!!
on my road bike where tyre heat gives one the extra grip that could mean the difference between making it and not making it back from the trip to ET!!

agree: gimmick
another way of milking!!

[ThysdJ]

My thoughts exactly Chris/Pieter.. it will work on a race track where tyres are getting very hot, or for long haul trucks running long distances on hot tar roads, but in a 4x4 application where tyres get dedlated and re-inlated regularly it will be just too expensive to inflate with N all the time. So it remains a case of horses for courses.

Another question, say I inflated my deflated Nitrogen filled tyres with O2 from my double-headed compressor at the trail on a Sunday afternoon after a lekker off-road session, and I need to get the tyre "topped up" with Nitrogen, does the "top up facility" deflate the tyre completely before they add the N? If not then there is still an O2 and N mixture in the tyre, which sort of defeats the object...

[Traveler]

My concern has always been the quality of the gas in the tank. Is it pure Nitrogen, or is it compressed air?

However from a technical view you do get a scientifically proven benefit with pure Nitrogen in the tyres. Looking at the size of the tyres on our Hilux's I can recommend 100% Nitrogen with full confidence, just on the fact that a blow out on a fully loaded overlanding vehicle has scary results.

But what benefit would you get with 90% or 80% Nitrogen? I do not think any worth paying for.

[Karoo]

Is an article on popular mechanics site on this issue and according to them there is zero benefit!

[Kambaku]

Another reply I received from the manager after asking him about mixing the nitrogen with compressed air after self inflating the tyres:

It will make a difference as normal air has H2O which will mix with nitrogen,thus making the tyre pressure normal again,but feel free to bring the vehicle back again for free as we then deflate the tyre and refill again, a lot of the 4x4 clubs do this!

I also dont see the point in paying for something like this everytime you get back from a play ground. BUT, as we all know, tyres are very expensive and if you can prolong the life of your tyres by paying R80 now for the nitrogen refill, then it surely it makes sense to do it...

[Traveler]

Reinhardt, go for it. It ain't snake oil and for only R80 you can only benefit. I'd ask them about the refill of their tanks to guarantee quality of the gas.

PS: Vehicles that are fireproofed may not have compressed air in the tyres, but only nitrogen.