Filling a tyre with gas is easy when you know how and understanding how to do it properly will ensure that you make the most of your fuel and increase your safety on the roads. In this guide, we’ll teach you how to fill your tyre, and what you should be filling it with.
How to Fill a Tyre with Gas
To fill a tyre with gas, first, you will need to locate an air pump or a nitrogen gas bottle. Next, you will need to remove the cap from your tyre – usually found on the plating just inside the rubber of the wheel – and apply the hose to tyre.
You should be able to hear the gas passing through the hose into the tyre, but if you feel the air passing over your hands, then you have failed to make a secure connection. You will need to wiggle the hose around a little to get a better connection.
When Is My Tyre Ready?
You’ll need a pressure gauge to determine whether your tyres are ready for the road. A pressure gauge will show you the pressure of your tyre when you apply the gauge to the valve stem on your tyre. The air in the tyre will shoot into the gauge and push a small bar up that will tell you the pressure – the more of the bar you can see, the higher the pressure of your tyres.
You’ll need to check your vehicle’s specifications to know what kind of pressure is correct for you. You can often find this information in the manual, or on the inside of the door on the jamb.
What Can Happen if I Overinflate My Tyres?
If you overinflate your tyres, you will find that your tyres will wear out much faster – you could be cutting their life expectancy by as much as half. You will also be more susceptible to crashes too, as it can lead to a loss of traction. You will also find that cars with overinflated tyres feel harsher to drive.
This means that it is important to check your tyre pressure with a gauge so that you can be sure when you have the right amount – trying to guess it just by looking could be dangerous for you and your passengers.
What if My Tyres Are Underinflated?
Underinflation increases the risk of tyre failure. When the pressure is too low, more of the tyre touches the road as you drive which leads to more friction on the tyre as a whole. This increased friction leads to higher temperatures, and if a tyre gets too hot, it could blow out and cause an accident.
How Often Should I Check My Tyres?
You should check your tyres regularly, especially if you drive a lot. Checking them approximately once a month is good practice, or before an upcoming long drive. If you find that you aren’t regularly checking your tyre pressure, you might want to consider swapping from air-filled tyres to nitrogen tyres.
Why Is Nitrogen Better for My Tyres?
Nitrogen for motorsports can benefit the general public too. Michelin notes that 62% of cars on the road are running on incorrectly inflated tyres, and it is possible that using nitrogen-filled tyres can prevent you from joining this statistic.
When you pump normal air into your tyre, you are filling your tyre with nitrogen, oxygen, and approximately 1% of other compounds like CO2. Oxygen particles are smaller than nitrogen, and this means that they will slowly escape through the rubber of your tyre.
Nitrogen particles are bigger, which makes it harder for them to escape your tyre. This means that your tyres will deflate at a slower rate if you fill your tyre with nitrogen gas than they would have if you used regular air. In other words, your vehicle will stay safer for longer if you drive on wheels filled with nitrogen rather than air.
If you live in a cold country, nitrogen-based tyres may benefit you in more ways than you think. Air-based tyres often contain some moisture, and this moisture can freeze in cold temperatures and cause corrosion issues in the tyre. A nitrogen-based tyre shouldn’t have any moisture lurking on the inside, so you would also avoid this problem.
While most agree that the cost and upkeep of nitrogen-based tyres for everyday domestic use is too costly for the average person, you might choose to use nitrogen fuelling on a show car that you don’t use too regularly, but want to keep in peak condition for those special occasions.
If you fancy feeling like a Formula 1 driver by filling your tyres with pure nitrogen, contact us for more information about how we can help you with our gas.
