All You Need To Know About Nitrogen Filled Tyres

You might have heard a few things about using nitrogen to fill your tyres and have some questions.

How beneficial is it really? Are there any risks? What’s the real difference here?

We hear these questions a lot, so we thought we’d lay the myths to bed and give you the full low-down on everything you need to know about nitrogen-filled tyres.

The truth is nitrogen is already a large portion of the air in your tyres.

Filling your types up at a service station means using a compressed version of the air we normally breathe. This air is already 78% nitrogen - with a further 21% being oxygen and the rest being made up of other nobel gases.

Nitrogen-filled tyres simply use a higher concentration of nitrogen in the air used to fill them. It’s usually referred to as pure nitrogen, but pure nitrogen just means a minimum of 90% nitrogen versus other gases.

It might be helpful to know that high-performance vehicles, including race cars and aircraft, have been using nitrogen-filled tyres for some time.

There is a number of reasons and benefits for this, including:

• Less Water: Normal compressed air contains more water, which in different climates can turn into vapour and cause tyres to expand and even explode.
• Less Leaks: Oxygen oxidises faster and can leak through tyres, causing them to deflate quicker. Nitrogen molecules are bigger than oxygen molecules, meaning they don’t pass through the rubber as quickly. Research has shown that nitrogen-filled tyres leak 3-4 times more slowly.

Definitely. A big benefit of nitrogen-filled tyres for non-high-performance cars is that pressure is maintained for longer.

Tyres that are poorly inflated can lead to a number of safety hazards, including reduced grip on road surfaces, which equates to low control of your vehicle.

Under-inflated or incorrectly inflated tyres also wear faster thanks to increased road friction. The result? You’ll need to replace them sooner which can end up costing you unnecessarily.

We’re not saying you’ll never have to worry about tyre pressure again with nitrogen-filled tyres, but they will stay inflated properly for a longer duration - very helpful for pretty much everyone, but especially those who live busy lifestyles with daily commutes, or work that requires regular driving.

At Advance Tyres, we offer professional tyre and wheel services including wheel alignment and balancing, tyre fitting and tyre repairs.

If you want to find out more about nitrogen-filled tyres - we can help. Contact us or visit one of our tyre shops in Maryborough or Gympie.