Saturday, November 17, 2018

Wheels/Tires - Nitrogen Usage Recommendations


Wheels/Tires - Nitrogen Usage Recommendations



SI M 36 01 06



Wheels and Tires



April 2006



Technical Service



MODEL



All



SUBJECT



Nitrogen Inflated Tires



SITUATION



Many customers have inquired about the use of Nitrogen, instead of air, to inflate tires on their MINI vehicles. Please review the information below



to help answer some of the customer's inquiries.



INFORMATION



^ Nitrogen, an inert gas, is nothing more than dry air with the Oxygen removed. The majority of "air" already consists of Nitrogen (78% by



volume). The other elements of air by volume are 21% Oxygen and 1% other gases.



^ All MINI approved tires have been designed and tested to deliver their expected performance when inflated with "air" and the correct tire



inflation pressure is maintained on a regular basis.



^ The use of Nitrogen to inflate tires is not recommended for normal use of MINI vehicles; however, the use of Nitrogen is also not prohibited.



^ There are certain applications where Nitrogen inflation is advisable, i.e. in abnormal environment where wheel and tire overheating may occur



such as in aircrafts, space shuttles, military vehicles, off-road trucks, and race cars. In these applications, the non-flammable Nitrogen can reduce



the risk of fire, because Nitrogen does not support combustion and does not add fuel to the fire.



^ The physical properties of Nitrogen may reduce the inflation pressure loss only from the tire material natural permeability (diffusion through



rubber). However, similar to air, Nitrogen can still escape from other sources of inflation pressure loss such as from wheel, wheel/tire interface,



valve, and valve/wheel interface.



^ The most important thing for the customers is to maintain the correct tire inflation pressure on a regular basis as recommended in the Owner's



Manual. Under inflated tires can reduce road holding, increase hydroplaning risk, increase road hazards sensitivity, reduce tire life, increase fuel



consumption, etc.



^ If equipped on the vehicle, always reinitialize the Flat Tire Monitor (FTM) after the tire inflation pressure has been corrected.

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