Just last week, my dearest mother was convinced by the people at the Ace Honda service station to replace the existing air in tires of my Honda City CVT with Nitrogen. I got a curious call from her asking whether she should do so, and for the sake of the Honda service manager who was over-selling it to her, I told her to go ahead with it.
For my own clarity later, I did a bit of finding out whether it works or not. Read on to find out.
There are a number of reasons why Nitrogen might be a suitable alternative to regular air. The main reason is the fact that Nitrogen is less likely to escape the tyre's rubber as compared to Oxygen, which implies that your tyre pressure will remain the same for longer. This characteristic is a boon as you do not have keep checking the pressure to often, and can enjoy a hassle free drive. Another thing, Nitrogen filled tires are free of moisture, which in the long run means no rusting for the rims.
Tyre bursts occur mainly due to the tyre running at lower pressure than recommended, at high speeds. Moreover, it helps the tyre run cooler, which means that high speed runs cause less stress on a tyre filled with nitrogen as compared to one filled with regular air.
Should you get your tyres filled with Nitrogen?
After reading some of the facts above, it may feel like its necessarily, but not really. Read on.
Nitrogen is generally used to fill tyres of race cars and airplanes. That is because the tyres of both race cars and airplanes need to function at very high temperatures and perform high-friction tasks. A race car driving at exceptionally high speeds will produces a lot of heat at the tyre and regular air wouldn’t work well at those temperatures. Similarly airplane tyres need to have the perfect air pressure and handle similar levels of heat.
However, when it comes to our daily used cars, the tires are not exposed to much of these extreme factors and on the contrary are used in Stop/Go conditions. This basically means that filling Nitrogen is not that important. And if it makes things better, the air that we get filled constitutes of about 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and other irrelevant gases.
Also, if you keep your tyres pressure under check and fill air in it regularly then you will get the same benefits of better fuel efficiency and handling. It is more about the tire's air pressure than the gas that you use to inflate the tyre.
But if you one of those who drives frequently on the highway, or at high speeds during the daytime, filling nitrogen in your car’s tyres could prove to be beneficial as it helps the tyre stay cooler, and prevents tyres from losing pressure frequently. Another major factor to consider while making this decision it the monetary aspect of filling Nitrogen. It costs about Rs. 250-400 initially (depending on where you get it filled from) and then every subsequent check is Rs.10 per tire, while normal air is more or less FREE!
To sum it all up, I think that as my car went to the service station for the first service, and there was no bill, the service manager wanted to raise one anyway and hence convinced the mother about getting Nitrogen filled for Rs. 300. It does not make sense for her, but it may be beneficial for you if your driving style is what we call 'enthusiastic'.
For my own clarity later, I did a bit of finding out whether it works or not. Read on to find out.
There are a number of reasons why Nitrogen might be a suitable alternative to regular air. The main reason is the fact that Nitrogen is less likely to escape the tyre's rubber as compared to Oxygen, which implies that your tyre pressure will remain the same for longer. This characteristic is a boon as you do not have keep checking the pressure to often, and can enjoy a hassle free drive. Another thing, Nitrogen filled tires are free of moisture, which in the long run means no rusting for the rims.
Tyre bursts occur mainly due to the tyre running at lower pressure than recommended, at high speeds. Moreover, it helps the tyre run cooler, which means that high speed runs cause less stress on a tyre filled with nitrogen as compared to one filled with regular air.
Should you get your tyres filled with Nitrogen?
After reading some of the facts above, it may feel like its necessarily, but not really. Read on.
Nitrogen is generally used to fill tyres of race cars and airplanes. That is because the tyres of both race cars and airplanes need to function at very high temperatures and perform high-friction tasks. A race car driving at exceptionally high speeds will produces a lot of heat at the tyre and regular air wouldn’t work well at those temperatures. Similarly airplane tyres need to have the perfect air pressure and handle similar levels of heat.
However, when it comes to our daily used cars, the tires are not exposed to much of these extreme factors and on the contrary are used in Stop/Go conditions. This basically means that filling Nitrogen is not that important. And if it makes things better, the air that we get filled constitutes of about 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and other irrelevant gases.
Also, if you keep your tyres pressure under check and fill air in it regularly then you will get the same benefits of better fuel efficiency and handling. It is more about the tire's air pressure than the gas that you use to inflate the tyre.
But if you one of those who drives frequently on the highway, or at high speeds during the daytime, filling nitrogen in your car’s tyres could prove to be beneficial as it helps the tyre stay cooler, and prevents tyres from losing pressure frequently. Another major factor to consider while making this decision it the monetary aspect of filling Nitrogen. It costs about Rs. 250-400 initially (depending on where you get it filled from) and then every subsequent check is Rs.10 per tire, while normal air is more or less FREE!
To sum it all up, I think that as my car went to the service station for the first service, and there was no bill, the service manager wanted to raise one anyway and hence convinced the mother about getting Nitrogen filled for Rs. 300. It does not make sense for her, but it may be beneficial for you if your driving style is what we call 'enthusiastic'.
Comment