Why Put Nitrogen in Tires?
Nitrogen tire inflation offers several benefits for optimal tire performance. By filling tires with nitrogen, the loss of tire pressure occurs at a slower rate compared to air-filled tires. This enhanced pressure stability is believed to contribute to improved gas mileage and longer tire lifespan, as well as consistent tire performance. Nitrogen-filled tires help maintain optimal tire pressure, ensuring efficient fuel consumption and reducing the risk of underinflation-related issues. While regular tire maintenance is essential, choosing nitrogen inflation can provide added advantages for a safer, more economical, and reliable driving experience.
For some time now, Nitrogen inflation of tyres has been used in trucks, aircraft, race cars and industrial applications. JAX Tyres & Auto now offers this service to customers with passenger cars, light trucks & 4WD's.
There are major benefits with nitrogen inflation over the traditional compressed air that can significantly increase the life, performance and safety of your tyres.
JAX Tyres N27 Nitrogen Programme offers you the following benefits:
- Stable Tyre Pressure
- Better Grip
- Safer in all weather conditions
- Less frequent pressure checks
- Increased fuel economy
- Zero internal oxidisation through elimination of moisture
- Increased tyre life
Coloured Nitrogen Valve Caps:
To identify tyres filled with nitrogen our industry has adopted the use of coloured valve caps that inform the user and service personnel that your tyres are inflated with nitrogen instead of air.
Nitrogen (N2)inflated tyre
Pressure loss is caused by air migration. Nitrogen migrates 3 to 4 times slower than compressed air.
1. Stable tyre pressure
- Pressure loss is caused by air migration. Nitrogen's larger molecules migrate 3-4 times slower.
2. Better grip
- Correct inflation creates better grip with an ideal tyre footprint.
3. Safer in all weather conditions
- Tyre blowouts are more frequent in hot weather.
- 90% of tyre blowouts are caused by Under inflation.
- Nitrogen provides more consistent pressure reducing blowout potential.
4. Less frequent pressure checks
- 85% of Australians fail to frequently check their tyre pressures. Nitrogen helps maintain consistant pressure. Your local JAX Tyres & Auto store offers FREE pressure checks and requisite top-ups for the life of the tyre!
5. Increased fuel economy
- An under-inflated tyre increases a vehicle's rolling resistance, resulting in higher fuel consumption. Nitrogen inflation decreases fuel consumption meaning less impact on the environment.
6. Increased tyre life
- Stable inflation pressures increase tyre life by reducing premature wear.
Recommended Inflation Pressures
To ensure that you are able to enjoy the maximum benefits offered by your tyres, they should be inflated and maintained in accordance to the recommendations specified on the vehicle placard.
The placard may be found inside the driver's door or sometimes in the glove box
The short answer is yes: you can put air in a tyre filled with nitrogen.
Mixing air and nitrogen won’t cause any adverse effects. If you want, you can quickly top it off with a bit of air, however, this will dilute the benefits of having a 100% pure nitrogen tyre and therefore reduce the full effectiveness of the nitrogen.
That being said, a tyre that’s 80 percent inflated with nitrogen, 20 percent with regular air (80/20) will retain many of the benefits of the 100% nitrogen tyre and have fewer of the consequences that can come with 100% nitrogen air.
- 80/20 tyres have less water vapor, so they’re less susceptible to temperature changes than air-filled tyres.
- The 80/20 tyre will also maintain proper tyre pressure for a longer period of time, improving fuel efficiency and traction with the road.
Aircraft and race cars have been using nitrogen inflation for some time now, and in recent years this has become an option for regular road vehicles.
Usually, tyres are filled with air made of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases. Air-filled tyres are sensitive to changes in outside temperature due to oxygen gas expanding and contracting in hot and cold temperatures.
However, a 100% compressed nitrogen-filled tyre can better handle external temperatures and hold their pressure for a longer time.
Nitrogen tyre inflation involves the removal of air from your tyre and replacement with nitrogen. This process significantly increases your tyres’ life performance and safety.
There are typically three places you can get your vehicle’s tyres filled with nitrogen:
- Tyre centres: Find your local tyre centre. At JAX Tyres we can fill or top off your tyres or even sell you a brand new nitrogen-filled tyre. Your local JAX Quickfit store offers FREE pressure checks and requisite top-ups for the tyre’s life.
- Car dealerships: You can usually fill them at the dealer for free when you purchase tyres with your vehicle. Used-car dealers may also have the capacity to fill tyres with nitrogen.
- Top-up stations: While rarer than air pumps, you can often find top-up stations locally that you can use to fill your tyre.
- Cost: Until recently, nitrogen gas tyres have mainly been reserved for aeroplanes and race cars. So, nitrogen for cars remains rarer than air-filled tyres. As such, you should expect to pay more to fill your tyres. On average, nitrogen-filled tyres usually cost about $5 or more per tyre. To fill your tyres with nitrogen is an added cost that you don’t have with air tyres.
- Nitrogen air is harder to find: You need to visit your local gas station when filling your tyres with oxygen. However, filling stations for nitrogen are not as readily available as air ones. Inflating your nitrogen-filled tyres requires more forethought and planning than air-filled tyres. Pop into your local JAX dealership, and we can fill your tyres for you.
- Longer to fill nitrogen-filled tyre: Filling a tyre with nitrogen will take several times longer versus air. This is because the mechanic has to purge the oxygen from the tyre thoroughly.
Having nitrogen-filled tyres certainly comes with its benefits, giving it a cutting edge over some other air-filled-tyres.
- Improved tyre pressure retention: Nitrogen molecules are larger and slower than those of compressed air. Because of that, the nitrogen rarely seeps out of the tyres, while air tends to move out more quickly. Reducing pressure loss through nitrogen can lead to you having tyres with properly maintained pressure for longer.
- Better fuel efficiency: Your fuel economy diminishes as your tyres naturally begin to deflate. A research study by the EPA showed that if you drop 1psi in all tyres, your gas mileage reduces by 0.3%. Nitrogen tyres, which don’t lose pressure as quickly as standard air tyres, tend to deflate slower, increasing fuel efficiency.
- Stable pressure: The nature of any gas is such that it expands when heated and contracts when cooled. In the case of your nitrogen-filled tyres, the nitrogen gas has less water vapour in it than air and no oxygen. It, therefore, doesn’t support moisture or combustion, leading to more stable internal pressure in your tyre.
A nitrogen-filled tyre will last about three to four months before it requires another refill of nitrogen. As nitrogen rarely seeps out of the tyre the way air does, you’ll require top-ups less often than with air-filled tyres.
The nature of any gas is such that it expands when heated and contracts when cooled. However, nitrogen-filled tyres tend to work better than air-filled tyres because nitrogen molecules are slower and denser and therefore do not contract or expand as much.
While nitrogen-filled tyres maintain tyre pressure for longer than air, it doesn’t eliminate the need to check your tyre pressure regularly. We recommend checking your nitrogen-filled tyres once every four to six months.
