When I purchased my rims, I got the guy to put Nitrogen instead of air in them. Now I can't be bothered refilling with Nitrogen and was wondering if I can top them up with normal air without anything going wrong...I don't care about the 'performance loss' BS.

i dno best bet is to ring ur tyre place and ask them, but when you do your tyre rotation and alighnment every 10,000 or what eva they fill them up then, thats what happens with me anyway.

or just pull up to the sevo and let the nitrogen out and refill with air:cool:

normal 'air' contains nitrogen...
the 'other' bits of air escape through a tyre sidewall, but the nitrogen remains (i think because nitrogen is larger than 'air') - so in theory, you eventually end up with a nitrogen filled tyre anyway!

normal air will be fine in your tyre.

I hope so, for your sake!!! Or i'm going to hunt you down.. :badgrin: Not really...Don't ban me..:cry:


And thank you all.

air is 78% nitrogen.

Id just add normal air.

No harm in just adding normal air...

Naws !!!!!!!

air is 78% nitrogen.

Id just add normal air.

the man is smarter than most!!!

just use normal air

also your tyres arent 100% inflated with nitrogen... for that to happen they would have to have inflated them in a vaccum!!

also... i read an article on nitrogen inflation and as stated air is 78% nitrogen anyway so usual % of nitrogen in a tyre when inflated with air is 78% yet only approx 85% notrogen when inflated with pure nitrogen

the article reccommends just inflating with normal air from a modern compressor that has a moisture filter :P

We inflat aircraft tyres with nitrogen because it is an inert gas and it doesn't contain moisture (so the wheel assembly doesn't corrode).
There shouldn't be any issues as far as mixing normal shop air with the nitrogen in your tyres, I also wouldn't bother having my tyres filled with nitrogen unless you're getting it for free.

Because aircraft wheel assembies are usually two pieces and the tyres are inflated to anything from 80psi to 150psi on a medium sized aircraft, corrosion of the assembly can be an issue and result in lose of pressure.
Aircraft wheels and tyres are also far more stressed, with rapid acceleration, extreme heat and cold conditions hence why nitrogen is used in aircraft as a good measure.

On an everyday passenger vehicle you wouldn't go higher then 35-40psi, its only a one piece wheel and it doesn't get worked as hard, hence why putting nitrogen in your cars tyre can seem like a pointless excercise.

My two cents.

Cheers

Attila

what do formula 1, v8, moto gp and the like use in their tyres. I bet its 78% nitrogen:D

We inflat aircraft tyres with nitrogen because it is an inert gas and it doesn't contain moisture (so the wheel assembly doesn't corrode).
There shouldn't be any issues as far as mixing normal shop air with the nitrogen in your tyres, I also wouldn't bother having my tyres filled with nitrogen unless you're getting it for free.

Because aircraft wheel assembies are usually two pieces and the tyres are inflated to anything from 80psi to 150psi on a medium sized aircraft, corrosion of the assembly can be an issue and result in lose of pressure.
Aircraft wheels and tyres are also far more stressed, with rapid acceleration, extreme heat and cold conditions hence why nitrogen is used in aircraft as a good measure.

On an everyday passenger vehicle you wouldn't go higher then 35-40psi, its only a one piece wheel and it doesn't get worked as hard, hence why putting nitrogen in your cars tyre can seem like a pointless excercise.

My two cents.

Cheers

Attila

Hey Attila... Where abouts you work??? I'm a qantas boy myself!!

The science goes like this... Nitrogen has a lower co-efficient of expansion that the atmosheric air we breath... Attila is right that they use nitrogen in aircraft tyres cos of two reasons..
1) The difference in ambient air temps that passenger jets experience is like from around -50 degrees celsius at 35,000ft and above to whatever the ground temp is... say a hot tarmac in the middle of summer could be 60+ degrees... Now if it were the normal air we breath at 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and the other gasses.. they would expand too much blowing the tyres....nitrogen being the gas that it is... is much more resistant to expansion.

A 747 main gear tyre runs 210-215 psi... we're not allowed to top up the tyres with anything but nitrogen unless it's an emergency...even then it's only like 5% of the total volume of the tyre. other than that, replace the wheel/tyre, if there's no nitrogen available.

So basically filling car tyres with nitrogen, means you don't have to adjust your pressures when city driving to freeway driving... (Like anyone does anyway...) it stays the same pressure whether it's cold or hot....

2) Nitrogen molecules are much larger than oxygen molecules so they don't "bleed" out through the tyre's rubber construction.... so again you don't have to check your pressures as often, if at all......

same thing with cars.... but I kinda doubt that places that fit tyres have a bottle or two of nitrogen there for filling their customers cars.... i just think it's a gimmick... Of all the places that I've had my tyres done... I've yet to see them fill two different tyres from two different fill stations... they always use the same hose to fill tyres no matter what. :confused:

A good way to explain the theory is.. helium balloons... the helium molecule is even smaller than oxygen, that's why after a couple of days the balloon goes limp.... the helium is escaping through the balloons walls!!

If you were to fill that same balloon with nitrogen however... it would stay inflated.

Hope that confused everyone...!! HA!

But really there is a very good reason for it..

And yes.. F1 uses nitrogen in their tyres too....

steve

I think it was bob jane or somewhere, I remember they used to advertise that they could fill tyres up with nitrogen for an extra price. And completely deflate and re inflate 3 times to get the majority of the air out.

Ollie

Hey Attila... Where abouts you work??? I'm a qantas boy myself!!

The science goes like this... Nitrogen has a lower co-efficient of expansion that the atmosheric air we breath... Attila is right that they use nitrogen in aircraft tyres cos of two reasons..
1) The difference in ambient air temps that passenger jets experience is like from around -50 degrees celsius at 35,000ft and above to whatever the ground temp is... say a hot tarmac in the middle of summer could be 60+ degrees... Now if it were the normal air we breath at 78% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and the other gasses.. they would expand too much blowing the tyres....nitrogen being the gas that it is... is much more resistant to expansion.

A 747 main gear tyre runs 210-215 psi... we're not allowed to top up the tyres with anything but nitrogen unless it's an emergency...even then it's only like 5% of the total volume of the tyre. other than that, replace the wheel/tyre, if there's no nitrogen available.

So basically filling car tyres with nitrogen, means you don't have to adjust your pressures when city driving to freeway driving... (Like anyone does anyway...) it stays the same pressure whether it's cold or hot....

2) Nitrogen molecules are much larger than oxygen molecules so they don't "bleed" out through the tyre's rubber construction.... so again you don't have to check your pressures as often, if at all......

same thing with cars.... but I kinda doubt that places that fit tyres have a bottle or two of nitrogen there for filling their customers cars.... i just think it's a gimmick... Of all the places that I've had my tyres done... I've yet to see them fill two different tyres from two different fill stations... they always use the same hose to fill tyres no matter what. :confused:

A good way to explain the theory is.. helium balloons... the helium molecule is even smaller than oxygen, that's why after a couple of days the balloon goes limp.... the helium is escaping through the balloons walls!!

If you were to fill that same balloon with nitrogen however... it would stay inflated.

Hope that confused everyone...!! HA!

But really there is a very good reason for it..

And yes.. F1 uses nitrogen in their tyres too....

steve


A much better explenation then my attempt :D
Yes I work for Qantas too (QDS Richmond) Structures.

Nitrogen in tyres is a waste of money in my eyes, why spend about 60$ on nitrogen when you can check and adjust tyre pressure for free any time ur at a servo, takes like 2mins.

But back on topic, puting air in would be fine.