Nitrogen for tyres - yes or no?

[Mintox]

I noticed that my tyres on my Swift have green tube caps which indicate that the tyres are filled with nitrogen. If you go looking on the web you'll some benefits but frankly they are for very high performance situations or use in extreme conditions, hardly what the Swift will be exposed to. That and the fact air is comprised of approximately 78% nitrogen anyway so my tyres have at any point 75% nitrogen in them. My issue why bother with it on a caravan? If I am out and about and need to let my vans tyres down for whatever reason where in the hell am I going to fill the tyres up again with pure nitrogen?
Thoughts anyone?

 

[17triton]

Mine are only getting filled by my compressor at home, I think its a bit of a gimmick myself. Nice green caps though at least you can see em when you drop em!

 

[crackacoldie]

Nitrogen is no good for off road, when you let pressures down and pump back up for bitumen. The nitrogen in the expanda lasted about 5 minutes!

 

[BUSH PALACE]

Weve had this discussion previously , using nitrogen has its advantages in your v8 supercar of F1 but in your van its a gimmick as Cracka said mixed with compressed air becomes useless

 

[cruza driver]

Have a read here too

http://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/tyre-pressure.348/

 

[Joanne]

I just wished they had put the white letters on the tyres on the outside and not the inside!!!!!! But as for nitrogen in the tyres, when we took our Starcraft 19.6 OB van out for the very first time, we found the tyres were so underflated (32lbs) and towed terribly that we had to stop and put air in them. We carry an air compressor for 4wding so that will suffice for us.

 

[Mintox]

Thanks for the feedback. I figured it was a gimmick. Not sure why Jayco or the dealer bothered doing it in the first place. I carry a compressor so wasnt at all worried about refilling the tyres with air, it just seemed a silly thing to do in the first place.

 

[cruza driver]

I just wished they had put the white letters on the tyres on the outside and not the inside!!!!!! But as for nitrogen in the tyres, when we took our Starcraft 19.6 OB van out for the very first time, we found the tyres were so underflated (32lbs) and towed terribly that we had to stop and put air in them. We carry an air compressor for 4wding so that will suffice for us.

Thats why I flipped mine on the rims

 

[Joanne]

Yes I did read that @cruza driver but hubby won't get it done but I did notice on another post in the last couple of days there are pics of vans at the Jayco factory tour and they are all faced the right way with the letters on the outside!!! Darn!!

 

[DaveS]

Hi
I've been using nitrogen in cars for over 15 years and swear by it, the ex always used to have a slow leak, but after pumping in the nitro it stopped, i had better than average tyre wear on all cars we had, so i reckon it's not a gimmick.
the boss put a nitro generator in when he built the place, so we fill all vans (and our cars) with it.

but i don't use it in the hilux, as i air down when i go 4wding and it's pointless to bother filling back up with it. it changes air more times than i change my jocks

 

[relgate]

Hi
I've been using nitrogen in cars for over 15 years and swear by it, the ex always used to have a slow leak, but after pumping in the nitro it stopped, i had better than average tyre wear on all cars we had, so i reckon it's not a gimmick.
the boss put a nitro generator in when he built the place, so we fill all vans (and our cars) with it.

but i don't use it in the hilux, as i air down when i go 4wding and it's pointless to bother filling back up with it. it changes air more times than i change my jocks

More than once per week?

 

[Gibbo]

I was also wondering how they create a vacuum in the Tyre before filling it up with nitrogen, because if you cannot do this the Tyre will not be filled with 100% nitrogen. And as the atmosphere is 78% nitrogen if you cannot create a vacuum it will still less than 100% nitrogen. Does this really matter ? I don't really know !

 

[DaveS]

I was also wondering how they create a vacuum in the Tyre before filling it up with nitrogen, because if you cannot do this the Tyre will not be filled with 100% nitrogen. And as the atmosphere is 78% nitrogen if you cannot create a vacuum it will still less than 100% nitrogen. Does this really matter ? I don't really know !

our nitro machine inflates/deflates (or is it the other way round) 3 times to cycle the air out .... i guess some boffin figured this to be the best option without shipping them out on the space shuttle

 

[Meanderthals]

In 40+ years of driving and car ownership I've never had a tyre leak (tubed or tubeless) that couldn't be explained by punctures, pinched tubes, faulty valves or stems, delamination, blowout's from bulges, hitting kerbs or rocks or just plain dodgy tyres. Haven't even experienced porous steel or alloy rims either, so far. Never had a tyre unnaturally Nitrogen filled until this van. Personal opinion is that it's a marketing (delete "scam", insert "ploy") for normal use that only financially benefits the Nitrogen suppliers and those doing the filling.
Saw a similar debate recently in some Forum and the slightly tongue-in-cheek comment that if the Oxygen leaks out faster then by constantly refilling with standard air mix then you would be gradually increasing the Nitrogen percentage anyway.

 

[BUSH PALACE]

Hi
I've been using nitrogen in cars for over 15 years and swear by it, the ex always used to have a slow leak, but after pumping in the nitro it stopped, i had better than average tyre wear on all cars we had, so i reckon it's not a gimmick.
the boss put a nitro generator in when he built the place, so we fill all vans (and our cars) with it.

but i don't use it in the hilux, as i air down when i go 4wding and it's pointless to bother filling back up with it. it changes air more times than i change my jocks

Are you being paid off by CIG ????

 

[DaveS]

Are you being paid off by CIG ????

nah .... no-one pays me much at all

 

[Stan53]

I got green caps too. Thought they were just for show.

 

[blacky]

I know the feeling @DaveS! I use nitrogen, only because I have it at my disposal... had to 'charge an accumulator' on the weekend .. we mainly use nitrogen in fire suppression systems (because it is inert and is highly pressurised) accumulators (need to be nitrogen charged to achieve pressures, and underground drill tyres which are pumped to 140psi (good luck doing that with a compressor!)

 

[achjimmy]

I know the feeling @DaveS! I use nitrogen, only because I have it at my disposal... had to 'charge an accumulator' on the weekend .. we mainly use nitrogen in fire suppression systems (because it is inert and is highly pressurised) accumulators (need to be nitrogen charged to achieve pressures, and underground drill tyres which are pumped to 140psi (good luck doing that with a compressor!)

Reminds me Pete. Mates dad used to service and sell compressors. He had a batch of 25 or 30 cfm compressors that were ex wartime in real good Nic. The receivers (pressure tanks) were rated to 250 psi with the blow offs set at 200 iirc. Haven't seen a receiver that high since

 

[denise]

So can I just pump my tyres up with a compressor as I've noticed our tyres on our expanda need more air ?