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Nitrogen In tyres

Driver

By Driver,
in General Automotive Discussion

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meshmesh Mentor

meshmesh

Posted
Posted
The main points of nitrogen is that it doesn't leak unless you have a puncture or faulty valve, and the pressure doesn't go up as much with heat.

If I can find a place to do it for $5 a wheel when I buy my new tyres, I will definitely be getting it. Mainly for the convenience of never having to top up my tyres.

JimX,

I think if the tyre shop wants your business, considering your buying new tyres.. ask them will they throw in the nitrogen at no cost. Otherwise, I'm sure someplace else will.

PS: there a lot more profit in tyres than the "I'm only making $10 a tyre a that price"

justinfox Mentor

justinfox

Posted
Posted

I got it done on my little Alfa 147.

I used to scrape the driveway badly some days, and not at all on other days.

With nitro in the tyres I never scrape every single day now (it's been 5months on nitro, never needed a top up). So there's proof of consistency as on hot days my tyres would inflate, and thus get into the driveway without scraping, on cold days I would scrape like mad.

Also noticed a gummier feeling all round.

franks Veteran

franks

Posted
Posted

i had a friend fill his tyres with nitrogen on his s2000 before coming to trackday. wether it was done correctly or not i dont know, but he was saying his tyre pressures did fluctuate quite alot with heat. it goes against theory but i had to mention it nonetheless. perhaps the tyres werent fully deflated when refilling with nitrogen? who knows...

on another note, arent plane wheels filled with nitrogen because its non flammable?

meshmesh Mentor

meshmesh

Posted
Posted
i had a friend fill his tyres with nitrogen on his s2000 before coming to trackday. wether it was done correctly or not i dont know, but he was saying his tyre pressures did fluctuate quite alot with heat. it goes against theory but i had to mention it nonetheless. perhaps the tyres werent fully deflated when refilling with nitrogen? who knows...

on another note, arent plane wheels filled with nitrogen because its non flammable?

franks,

Sort of "Off the topic", but I thought honda had a semi recall on the S2000, because the cars wouldn't handl correctly. If I recall correctly, Apparantley the only tyre that correctly fits the S2000 is a particular Bridgstone S02??

franks Veteran

franks

Posted
Posted
franks,

Sort of "Off the topic", but I thought honda had a semi recall on the S2000, because the cars wouldn't handl correctly. If I recall correctly, Apparantley the only tyre that correctly fits the S2000 is a particular Bridgstone S02??

would be quite an agreement between honda and bridgestone if that was the case wouldnt it be??? :) i heard something similar to that but i can't qualify it ;)

jimx, ...... daymn!

Kinks Grand Master

Kinks

Posted
Posted

After a couple of track days you would know what to set your cold/hot pressure to for best grip/handling. Nitrogen tyres still change pressure just claim not as much. You will still find that tyre temperature and track temperature and track surface quality will make differences to how your car goes around the circuit anyway.

The main benefits would be if nitrogen is more consistent, and keeps your tyres cooler. Some people say this is noticeable, others say it's not. Might be worth experimenting in if you're really keen on getting that last bit out of your car but I'm sure other upgrades make a bigger difference to confidence and lap times.

R33man Enthusiast

R33man

Posted
Posted
I believe they use nitrogen in aircraft tires. Prolly because they dont expand like air and the pressure in the tires stays constant.

MoonButt

Just on a side note. All high altitude planes use nitrogen. The reason is that pure nitrogen has no water. If normal air is used, once the aircraft gets up to altitude where the temp is well below freezing the water vapor could condense and freeze inside the tyre. This is not a problem until the plane lands and the out of balance wheel can cause lots of trouble.

90% of light aircraft use normal air.

As far as nitrogen not leaking. I find this hard to believe. If it were true then you could put normal air in your tyre and all the other gasses will leak out leaving the nitrogen behind :)

I work on several aircraft that use nitrogen in their tyres and they still need topping up on occasion.

On the other hand using nitrogen does have its advantages (all being mentioned previously).

If a place offered to put nitrogen in for free they yes go ahead, if you had to pay. I personally would not bother.

JimX Grand Master

JimX

Posted
Posted
As far as nitrogen not leaking.  I find this hard to believe.  If it were true then you could put normal air in your tyre and all the other gasses will leak out leaving the nitrogen behind  :)  

I work on several aircraft that use nitrogen in their tyres and they still need topping up on occasion.

When they put nitrogen in, they take all the air and water vapour out. The reason why normal tyres leak a bit of air is they cause tiny spots of rust around the valve which causes it to leak. Once you put the nitrogen in there is no water vapour to cause the valves to rust so the valve holds better.

Sure it's not 100% airtight but it's a vast improvement.

LastTemptation Rising Star

LastTemptation

Posted
Posted

air is 78% nitrogen , 21% Oxygen and 1% other stuff.

Per mole, Nitrogen weighs 28grams, Air weighs about 29Grams per mole.

One mole of gas at SLC is 24.5Litres.

Short answer, it dont make much difference. just wasting 5 dollars on each tire "making u think its better" :)

JimX Grand Master

JimX

Posted
Posted
bro, phisics and chemistry suggests that there is no reason for there to be a vast improvement in the handling on your car, due to the fact you inflated your  tyres with nitrogen gas.

Air is 80% nitrogen...

I don't ever recall being told that it would vastly improve the handling in my car. It wasn't mentioned by anyone in this thread and I've never heard anyone else say it.

The main points of it were to slow or stop leakage from the tyres, and to improve consistency of tyre pressure over a wider temperature range. Personally I'd do it primarily for the former reason because I'm a lazy bastard. $20 to not have to bother checking my tyre pressures every week, sign me up.

The water vapour in normal air is also not good for the lining of your tyres (something else fixed by nitrogen), but we usually go through a set before this matters anyway.

666DAN Grand Master

666DAN

Posted
Posted
I am no scientist but I am sure air is something like 60-70% nitrogen, 20-25% oxygen, plus other crap.

I actually am a scientist! haha I hate that description, it's a tossy term but true :)

As far as I'm aware it's not the fact that it's Nitrogen..it's the fact it's DRY nitrogen....compressed air is always heavily loaded with moisture. When your tyres heat up the water vapour expands much more greatly than the air inside.

Guy with compressors, just check your water trap whenever you use it, tons of the stuff!

This is what causes the fluctuations...for a race track DRY Nitrogen is way worth it as your tyres will heat up a fair bit...but for your everyday jaunt to Coles, the tyre companies are just ripping-off Joe Blo.

The reason they choose Nitrogen and not Helium or Argon, Neon etc...is the plain fact it's cheap and doesn't bleed out of the tyre as easily as other inert gasses.

Oxygen is also cheap, but let's face it who wants a hot tyre full of Oxygen near all those rubber fumes...whoompa a bright white flash as your tyres spontaneously combust!

Anyway that was my 2 cents ;)

Dan

Kinks Grand Master

Kinks

Posted
Posted

oxygen is a hazardous chemical just like hydrogen. 100% oxygen will make things that don't burn easily, burn easily.

I was under the impression that compressed air wouldn't have as much water content as normal, but maybe not. I would say the benefit of having dry air would outweigh pure nitrogen. Sucking normal air through a dessicant prior to compressing would probably do the same thing.

IanH Collaborator

IanH

Posted
Posted
on another note, arent plane wheels filled with nitrogen because its non flammable?

It's used because it doesn't expand much when heated. A normal aircraft will land at around 150-200mph and then brake quite hard which causes a hell of a lot of heat near the tyres which won't expand if filled with nitrogen.

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