Each time you go to a tyre shop or a gas station to top up the tyre pressure in your vehicle’s tyres, what the attendant fills into the tyre is normal compressed air. But what exactly does compressed air contain? Compressed air is made up of 78% nitrogen, about 20-21% oxygen, and the balance one percent consists of CO2, and tiny concentrations of gases such as neon, argon and water vapour.

 When you specifically fill nitrogen gas into the vehicle's tyres, then you should have 100% dry nitrogen in your tyre. Dry nitrogen denotes that no        moisture content or any other gases are present in the tyre.

 Jay Chakraborty, who recently bought a second hand car, says, “After I bought my car, I changed the tyres and I’ve heard so many people talk about  how good nitrogen has been for them that I decided to get my new tyres filled with nitrogen air. The car feels a lot better on bumpy roads, and I don’t  have to worry about checking tyre pressure every week.”

Benefits of nitrogen Vs compressed air

Nitrogen as a gas is made up of big molecules, whereas oxygen molecules are much smaller in size compared to nitrogen molecules. When compressed air is put into a vehicle’s tyres, the moisture in the tyre seeps through the rubber over time and evaporates quicker as its molecules are smaller in size. But as nitrogen molecules are bigger in size, they do not permeate the tyres rubber so easily and hence will stay in the tyre for a longer duration. This means that your vehicle’s tyres will lose less pressure over time compared to regular compressed air filled tyres.

For example: An inactive vehicle, whose tyres are filled with normal compressed air will lose tyre pressure every week. But a 100% nitrogen-filled tyre will lose tyre pressure a lot slower and won’t need to be topped up as frequently. 

Titus Remedios, “I filled nitrogen in the new tyres that  I purchased for my Maruti Ecco in June 2019. That time the tyre pressure filled with nitrogen was 35Psi. I use the car once a week and after the lockdown, the car hadn’t been used in months. I recently went back in October 2020 to the place where I had filled the nitrogen in the car tyres and the tyre pressure after 14 months had only dropped to 22Psi. .

Another point to note, nitrogen filled tyres get a green or blue colour valve cap. This is a universal symbol that your vehicle's tyres are filled with nitrogen and not compressed air.

Is Nitrogen right for you?

Over-inflation and under inflation of tyres make a major difference on the race track. But on your normal city road does it make a huge difference? Under-inflated tyres normally lead to less mileage, uneven wear on the tyre treads and more tyre wear and tear overall. Over inflated tyres run the risk of burning out the contact patch on the tyre too quickly, while adding more bounce vs grip to a vehicle's stability. In hot climate conditions, your vehicle's tyre pressure can jump up tremendously. Highway running speeds coupled with a harsh sun beating down, can lead to a  tear in the tyre or in extreme conditions, a tyre bursting. This is where nitrogen-filled tyres shine the most. Due to their molecular build, nitrogen molecules stay at a constant temperature in a tyre. So even if the temperature outside decreases or increases, the nirotgen in the tyre will remain the same. That is why race cars and racing motorcycles only use 100% nitrogen in their tyres all the time.

Now we are all not professional racers, but we do commute on a daily basis and even go for the occasional weekend drive out of the city for some sightseeing and relaxation. Will filling nitrogen in your vehicle's tyre help you? There are many who swear by nitrogen-filled tyres and an equal amount who feel that regular compressed air works just fine.

Personal tyre maintenance

If you are someone who keeps a check on the vehicles tyre pressure weekly and tops up the air when needed, you won’t need nitrogen filled into your vehicles tyre. However, if you are someone who tops air pressure once a month or once in two months, then filling nitrogen in your vehicle's tyres will help you reap the benefits of it. If you constantly make long highway trips and most of your time is spent behind the wheel, then filling nitrogen in your vehicle's tyres will be a boon.

Yash Ramrakhyani from Palghar runs a big tyre shop which sells Apollo, Bridgestone, Continental, Michelin and Yokohama tyres for every vehicle from a scooter to a heavy duty tempo. He says, “I get an average of 300 customers a year who want nitrogen filled in their vehicle’s tyres. There was a big local demand in the area for nitrogen-filled tyres, hence my father and me invested in the nitrogen unit. Tyres don't get hot, and nitrogen level doesn't go down so fast is what I have heard from customers as feedback, but the fact that people think nitrogen levels in the tyre doesn't go down is false. Even nitrogen-filled tyres have to be checked for tyre pressure once a month.

Nitrogen myths busted

Myth 1: Your vehicle's mileage will increase.

Truth: Your vehicle’s mileage depends on a lot of factors, tyres being just one small part of that equation. Having nitrogen filled tyres only gives you the benefit of having a most constant tyre pressure. However compressed air and nitrogen filled tyres both will loose pressure after a certain amount of time.

Myth 2: Your vehicle's comfort will be better, it will be soft on bumps.

Truth: Compressed air or nitrogen filled tyres will react the same way when on bumpy roads. It is the rubber compound and the type of tyres that you have that will make a difference in the ride or drive quality. As long as you maintain the right air pressure in your vehicle's tyres, you’ll be good.

Myth 3: You won’t have to fill up the tyre pressure as frequently.

Truth: Well this is true. Nitrogen-filled tyres will retain the pressure in your vehicle's tyre for a longer time duration compared to tyres filled with compressed air. However, even nitrogen-filled tyres loose pressure over time and you have to get the pressure checked and topped up from time to time.

Myth 4: Your vehicle's tyre will last longer

Truth: The tyre on your vehicle rely on you to make sure you maintain the recommended air pressure inorder for it to do its job properly. Under inflated and over inflated tyres will wear out faster when compared to tyres that have been properly maintained.

Myth 5: The rims on your vehicle won't rust

Truth: There is some amount of truth in this. As nitrogen-filled tyres contain less or no water vapour, the moisture content in the tyre is less. Less moisture equals to less rust on the inside of the wheel. But that doesn’t stop the rest of the wheel from rusting due to everyday washing and climate conditions.

Myth 6: There are few tyre shops / fuel pumps that offer nitrogen.

Truth: Compressed air is mostly nitrogen gas. So even if you have nitrogen-filled tyres, but you’re running low on tyre pressure and there’s no nitrogen filling station around, you can still fill normal compressed air. It will not have any major impact on your vehicle's tyres. Maintaining the right tyre pressure is key.

The catch

The nitrogen that you get filled in your vehicle's tyres is not a 100% or even 99% pure nitrogen. A brand new or even an old tyre once deflated has some amount of air inside it. It is the atmospheric air that's already there all around us. So unless you drain all the air in the tyre out and refill it nitrogen and drain the tyre again 2-3 times, you’ll still be running your vehicle's tyres with 90% nitrogen and not 100% nitrogen. But even then you’re not guaranteed that your vehicle's tyres will be filled with 100% pure nitrogen. There is no way to measure how much nitrogen is there in your vehicle’s tyre. Nitrogen will cost you, whereas compressed air is free at most petrol pumps or Rs.1-2 at a tyre shop. Nitrogen costs on the other hand vary from place to place and the kind of machine they have. The machines that are at the tyre shops or petrol pumps that offer nitrogen, do not deliver pure 100% nitrogen! Some machines will have a percentage rating of how much nitrogen it provides to the tyre and some have no percentage levels at all. Filling nitrogen in your vehicle's tyres can cost you anywhere from Rs.150 for four tyres to Rs.50 per tyre and can go all the way up to Rs.1,500 for a set of four tyres.

Conclusion

Have you ever noticed that vehicle manufactureres never recommend nitrogen in their manuals or at their service centers. The reason behind this is your vehicle's tyres are manufactured to run on normal compressed air. As long as you maintain the right tyre pressure in your vehicle’s tyre, you’ll be fine.

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Linglong Tire, the Chinese manufacturer, is to invest an estimated USD 270 million in a new tyre factory in Egypt, as part of a strategy to expand its footprint across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The company has established Linglong Tire Egypt Co, Ltd to run the Shandong Linglong Tyre Co Overseas (Egypt) Investment and Construction Project. The registered name remains subject to confirmation by local authorities, which are reviewing a missing company registration certificate.

The factory will be built in Borg El Arab, 45 km south of Alexandria, on a site covering approximately 251,460 square metres. Construction is expected to take two years and will include the plant itself, along with civil buildings, infrastructure, landscaping and other support works.

Once operational, the site is expected to produce about 6m car tyres a year, generating annual sales of approximately USD 175  million and a net profit of around USD 35 million.

Linglong said the investment was designed to serve both the Egyptian market and its core markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where the automotive sector has grown steadily in recent years. Egypt's location, at the intersection of Asia, Africa and Europe and close to the Suez Canal, was cited as a factor in the decision, alongside access to local ports and logistics networks that could help lower supply-chain costs.

The Egyptian plant would complement Linglong's existing production sites in China, Thailand and Europe, adding capacity to a global network that already includes five factories in China and one each in Thailand and Serbia. The company said the project supported a wider strategy involving automation, research and development, and more sustainable production methods.

The investment still requires approval from the relevant authorities in China and Egypt. Linglong said the project could be modified, delayed or discontinued if the necessary permits were not obtained.

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Liberty Tire Recycling facilities throughout North America took part in the Recycled Materials Association's (ReMA) annual Safety Stand Down Week, underscoring the company's sustained dedication to worker safety and well-being. Teams set aside regular duties to engage in training sessions, hazard awareness conversations and reviews of established best practices aimed at reinforcing a safety-first culture.

The week's programming spanned the company's entire network and featured toolbox talks, site-specific safety discussions, CEO-sponsored facility inspections with managers and employees and examinations of safe operating procedures. These activities gave workers room to spot potential hazards, offer observations, raise questions and strengthen the systems underpinning a safer workplace.

Beyond this annual event, Liberty maintains year-round safety measures that include regular stand downs, five-minute safety talks, near-miss reporting, safety work orders, Liberty Learning LMS training, engineering upgrades, standard operating procedures and employee development programmes. Joining industry peers in the ReMA initiative let the company reaffirm continuous improvement across every facility.

Safety is treated as a shared responsibility and an ongoing journey. Liberty Tire Recycling, a leader in tyre recycling and circular economy solutions, expressed appreciation to all participating team members for keeping safety central to daily operations while supporting ReMA's broader push for industry-wide safety excellence.

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DT Swiss has refreshed its mountain bike (MTB) wheel range with redesigned asymmetric alloy rims, following more than 10 years of leadership in the alloy MTB segment. The EX 511, XM 481 and XR 391 have each received updates featuring premium aluminium alloy, welded rim joints, wider horns to limit tyre damage and a humped tyre contact surface for better support, yielding stronger and more durable rims.

Across the range, every new rim now uses an asymmetrical profile that balances spoke tension more evenly and extends wheel life. Distinct construction traits are tailored to cross-country, all-mountain and enduro use, so riders can select a rim suited to their preferred discipline.

The EX 441 is built for unplanned lines, combining its asymmetric shape with wider horns and an optimised structure for stability and impact resistance. It comes in multiple sizes with either 28 or 32 spoke holes.

For mountain exploration, the XM 431 pairs a strong aluminium build with a refined profile and wider horns for greater impact resistance, plus a redesigned contact patch for improved lateral tyre support; it is offered in 27.5 or 29 inches. The XR 421, meanwhile, uses a lightweight asymmetric, flatter construction with a 28 mm inner width optimised for tyres up to 2.7 inches, giving cross-country riders confidence and speed lap after lap.

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Bridgestone Americas has entered a three-year partnership with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), becoming the organisation’s Official Tyre and the exclusive tyre supplier for the SCCA Club Spec programme. The agreement deepens Bridgestone’s presence in grassroots motorsports, spanning autocross, track days and time trials while reinforcing its commitment to accessible competition.

Under the arrangement, Bridgestone will equip vehicle platforms intended to reduce the technical and financial obstacles facing newcomers to motorsports. The company’s championship-winning Potenza RE-71RZ tyre will support established categories such as Solo Spec Coupe, Club Spec MX-5 and Club Spec Mustang. It will also serve as the spec tyre for the Club Spec Cayman class, scheduled to debut in 2027.

The Potenza RE-71RZ, an extreme 200TW summer performance tyre, was engineered specifically for grassroots racing, delivering rapid lap times and responsive control. Bridgestone performance tyres, including the new model and its predecessor, the Potenza RE-71RS, posted strong 2026 results. They captured 75 percent of class wins, more than 350, and 70 percent of class podiums across 21 of 24 national SCCA Solo events, while accounting for 70 percent of eligible entries, surpassing 3,300 competitors. At the SCCA Solo National Championships, the tyres represented 55 percent of total event entries and 80 percent of eligible street tyre classes. They won 36 of 41 classes, earned 103 trophies and set the event’s fastest overall index time by 0.7 seconds. In SCCA time trials, they claimed 97 percent of podium finishes and set 19 class lap records.

Looking forward, the two organisations plan to collaborate on educational programmes, trackside support and member experiences. The partnership will back initiatives including Track Night in America and SCCA Women on Track, underscoring Bridgestone’s aim to combine innovative tyre technology with broader access to high-performance driving.

David Colletti, President of Consumer Original Equipment Tires, North America, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, said, “Bridgestone and the SCCA share a core commitment to making motorsports accessible, educational and fun. Partnering as the Official Tire of the SCCA and SCCA Club Spec furthers our investment in the heart of the racing community while enabling us to deliver peak Potenza performance every single weekend.”

Heyward Wagner, Vice President of Rally, Solo and Experiential Programs, said, “SCCA is honoured to partner with Bridgestone and welcome the brand back into our community. Bridgestone was a tremendous supporter of SCCA Solo competitors 20 years ago, and many of our members still remember the impact the brand made. That history has paved the way for genuine excitement across SCCA to reunite with Bridgestone, celebrate that shared history and build on it through programmes that support accessible, competitive and fun motorsports experiences for drivers at every level.”

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