Using Nitrogen For Tire Inflation

By Author: Junior Feaster
Total Articles: 115
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Nitrogen filled tires maintains tire pressure better than air and keeps tires 20% cooler. Less heat results in less tire degradation and gives your car lift. When tires are filled with nitrogen, they use less fuel, prolongs the life of your tires, reduces tire failures, and can improve handling and performance. It has more mass, so it migrates through the tire three to four times slower resulting in tires holding their psi longer and your car lifts and drives smoother. Not only does having nitrogen in your tires produces less heat, but it drastically reduces oxidation on the rim and inner-liner. Oh yeah, it is also environmentally safe.



Correct inflation is highly significant when considering tire life and performance. it is not always possible to look at a tire and detect under-inflation. When tires are under-inflated, they can cause many tire related problems. Nitrogen has been used in tires for many years on aircraft, military vehicles, off road trucks, race cars, and even Tour de France bicycles to help combat ...
... under-inflated tires.



How nitrogen works and what it does



As we know, nitrogen makes up the majority of the air that we breathe. It is contained in the protein of all life on earth. Some of the properties of nitrogen is that is is colorless, tasteless, and is not toxic. The next most common component of air is oxygen. Together, nitrogen and oxygen make up about 99% of the air we breathe and traditionally fill tires with.



Because nitrogen is a larger molecule than oxygen, it cannot escape as easily as oxygen through rubber tire walls. Leaking at a much slower rate than oxygen, a tire filled with a higher percentage of nitrogen maintains its proper pressure longer than air-filled tires. It is known that proper inflation provides better fuel economy, better handling, longer tire life, and increased safety by reducing the likelihood of tire failures such as blowouts.



Another fact about nitrogen is that it is not flammable. Oxygen is a flammable gas and nitrogen is an extinguishing gas. In a vehicle fire, ruptured air-filled tires fuel the fire and nitrogen filled tires slow the fire.



The bottom line is that proper tire pressure is a big deal, and using nitrogen for tire inflation is not just practical but necessary.