... I understand there are various air/gas that can be used to inflate tyres.

Would there be any benefit of inflating tyres with helium

Some stupid thoughts:

would it help get out of mud

float over snow

or just sound really cool  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Joking aside, you can use nitrogen: http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php?title=Nitrogen_in_tyres

It is certainly used in aircraft tyres, plus for racing like F1 etc. 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

Most tyre places offer nitrogen fill either as standard or at a small charge.

It's supposed to have various benefits but there's a lot of argument about whether these are real or not. Brian

MY11 FL2 SD4 GS
Extras to same spec as XS apart from the Satnav, plus Xenons.
Ipenema Sand, Ebony.

Air as 78% nitrogen in it anyway, I guess when my tyres deflate it's the 22% of oxygen and other stuff that's escaping  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

It's a gimmick.

I was told, once, that nitrogen is used in F1 because 'Air' expands and contracts with temperature but nitrogen remains constant. 2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

In Romania is pretty common to get tires inflated with nitrogen for the reason described above (remains constant with temperature). To differentiate it, the tire valve cap is usually light green if it is inflated with nitrogen and white, silver or black if it is with air.

How do the get rid of the normal air in the tyre before inflating with nitrogen  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Mr MM's Aston and Nissan GTR have tyres filled with nitrogen... They even have special little covers that go over the valves with N on them...

Generally they connect all tires to the nitrogen machine then inflate and deflate a few times to purge all air. Then they inflate all tyres with the pure nitrogen. I had this done when replacing my tires but to be honest there was no real difference. And of course, if you check and inflate your tyres regular as I do, you just add air anyway unless you want to always go back for a top up!!!

npinks wrote:

How do the get rid of the normal air in the tyre before inflating with nitrogen

npinks wrote:

How do the get rid of the normal air in the tyre before inflating with nitrogen

The guy in the garage told me his nitrogen inflation machine firstly sucks out all of the air then inflates with the nitrogen.

My local A T S offered me their nitrogen inflation service with the offer of any reinflation within 12 months would be free. 2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Helium is gonna run out very soon because it's overused.

It's used because of molecule size and less prone to temperature/pressure fluctuations.

Helium being the smallest molecule will weave it's way through the tyre and wheel make up molecules quicker than a Hydrogen, Oxygen or Nitrogen one. You can try this with a balloon. Inflate with the same amount and pressure and they will deflate in the same sequence.

Using nitrogen is a spin off from the racing fraternity so it must be good!! Errrrrrrrrrr........... no. They only use it because the pressure changes less with temperature.

If you had a two exactly the same wheel and tyre assemblies and filled one with air and the other with nitrogen then the air filled one will naturally deflate quicker than the one with nitrogen.

Nitrogen is also used for people who cannot be bothered to check tyre pressures when they should.

I would like to hear how it is sold though. Sounds good for a laugh!

And ... if it's helium filled when you get a puncture you can hear a higher, squeakier hiss! (I'll get me coat .... ) Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black