I'm thinking of inflating my tyres with nitrogen gas.Does anyone have experience of this,and would it be worthwhile?

why not try helium gas?? should make the car a little lighter

I had a set done once, when new tyres went on (did it without asking). I would say they probably lost less pressure than air filled ones but seen as I check the pressures fairly often it isn't really a problem and air is cheaper.

The last two set of tyres that I have had, have both been Nitrogen filled.

Well that's what it said on the invoice, I didn't ask either.

I think it one of those things that independent tyre places have to try and entice you in.

I tend to follow my wallet.

Anyway, I don't check my tyres as often as I should, but have found that the Nitrogen does hold it's pressure for a long time.

I think all the claims that they make are based on the fact that this is the case.

i.e. a correctly inflated tyre gives you better mpg, wear rate, sex life, etc, etc.

Nitrogen filling gives you a more stable pressure over a greater range of temparatures meaning the pressures remain more constant than they do with air.

Nitrogen filling gives you a more stable pressure over a greater range of temparatures meaning the pressures remain more constant than they do with air.

P1 V1 / T1 = P2 V2 / T2 for all gasses AFAIK. Nitrogen is supposed to not migrate through the tyre wall as much as air where apparently, the oxygen migrates into the liner.

Chris

P1 V1 / T1 = P2 V2 / T2 for all gasses AFAIK. Nitrogen is supposed to not migrate through the tyre wall as much as air where apparently, the oxygen migrates into the liner.

Chris

Your totally right. Apparently oxygen permeates three times faster than the nitrogen.

What I said kind of dumb as what I meant to say was something along the lines of a higher temp can cause faster permiation and this is a lot less with nitrogen. Bah, it sucks being tired :(

Checkout Uniflate

The main problem I see with nitrogen inflation is that you need to do it from home. In order to check tyre pressures regularly to detect slow punctures, slow valve leakage or rim seal problems, you need to lose a little of the medium in the tyre every day (in my job) or at least once a week for everyone. Every time you check the pressures you lose a bit, so in 4 weeks you would lose a minimum of 1 - 1.5 psi from each tyre, just from the losses of checking the pressure assuming you get a spot on seal with the guage every time. You need to top this up before the pressure drops by 1 psi as this will lead to adverse tyre wear.

Further, when the weather turns from hot to cool, you may see a drop in ambient temperature of 20 deg C in the UK. This will drop tyre pressures by around 3.2psi. You will need to add further nitrogen to offset this. Come spring and summer, you would need to let this out again.

You need to check pressures when the tyre is cold, so dropping in at your local tyre fitters for a check and topup will take quite a while as you need to wait for the tyres to cool down.

So unless you have nitrogen available at home, your nitrogen filling will be slowly diluted with air filling.

IMO, anything that infers you dont need to check your tyre pressures regularly is a bad thing from a safety point of view.

Chris