nitrogen as apposed to air
nitrogen as apposed to air
Author
Discussion

SXi Lad

Original Poster:

2,964 posts

212 months

Monday 23rd August 2010
quotequote all
Anyone here using nitrogen instead of air for their tyres? Can you tell much difference in handling. Just out of curiosity.

a11y_m

1,861 posts

245 months

Monday 23rd August 2010
quotequote all
Do you lower your back seat too Brad?

wink

Sorry, just being silly - there's that whole p*sstaking thing about cars being "quicker" on the 1/4 mile if you lower the back seat.

I've got nitrogen in my tyres, purely because that's what my tyre fitter guy uses (a bloke called Gary - Nitro Tyres based in Cowie). Absolutely no difference IME, although technically it should mean more stable tyre pressures as you don't get the same fluctuation in temperature from hard use (pure nitrogen is less affected by temperature variation than air - I think...).

S2red

2,548 posts

214 months

slipstream 1985

13,509 posts

202 months

Monday 23rd August 2010
quotequote all
i use helium in my track car, makes the car 20kg lighter.

SXi Lad

Original Poster:

2,964 posts

212 months

Monday 23rd August 2010
quotequote all
a11y_m said:
Do you lower your back seat too Brad?

wink

Sorry, just being silly - there's that whole p*sstaking thing about cars being "quicker" on the 1/4 mile if you lower the back seat.

I've got nitrogen in my tyres, purely because that's what my tyre fitter guy uses (a bloke called Gary - Nitro Tyres based in Cowie). Absolutely no difference IME, although technically it should mean more stable tyre pressures as you don't get the same fluctuation in temperature from hard use (pure nitrogen is less affected by temperature variation than air - I think...).
hehe i was in the middle of removing the back seats on Si's last run...until I asked myself what the fk I was doing.

Lowering the back seats though, never thought of doing that though hehe


anonymous-user

77 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
air is nearly 80% nitrogen anyway, I doubt you'd notice any difference whatsoever.

a11y_m

1,861 posts

245 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Exactly. This almost-exact arguement was discussed on another forum I use recently - to get the full (but still small) benefit from pure nitrogen in tyres, we'd have to start with the tyres as a vaccuum to remove all traces of "air".

Massive placebo effect for some though I reckon biggrin

Chuck328

1,629 posts

190 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
yellowbentines said:
air is nearly 80% nitrogen anyway, I doubt you'd notice any difference whatsoever.
Agreed, I have nitrogen in the evo, wouldn't bother again. I suppose for track days it might be worth it as one poster already said better thermal properties perhaps? For day to day use, well, useless frown

RDMcG

20,484 posts

230 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
Chuck328 said:
yellowbentines said:
air is nearly 80% nitrogen anyway, I doubt you'd notice any difference whatsoever.
Agreed, I have nitrogen in the evo, wouldn't bother again. I suppose for track days it might be worth it as one poster already said better thermal properties perhaps? For day to day use, well, useless frown
+1. I have it one one car and not on a similar car; I simply cant see the difference except for a very marginal difference on a track day, (and thats measuring tire preessures than any subjective feel on the track. Admittedly I am just hacking round on track days rather than racing competitively.

FamilyDub

3,587 posts

188 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
'A fool and his money are easily parted'

On a high-powered car/track car, fine, I can see the point. A 'standard' road car, nope.

IMO, spend the extra few quid on better tyres.

alfa pint

3,856 posts

234 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
FamilyDub said:
'A fool and his money are easily parted'

On a high-powered car/track car, fine, I can see the point. A 'standard' road car, nope.

IMO, spend the extra few quid on better tyres.
Especially since air is 80% nitrogen....

SXi Lad

Original Poster:

2,964 posts

212 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
alfa pint said:
FamilyDub said:
'A fool and his money are easily parted'

On a high-powered car/track car, fine, I can see the point. A 'standard' road car, nope.

IMO, spend the extra few quid on better tyres.
Especially since air is 80% nitrogen....
Good point...

RichB

55,306 posts

307 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
It's nonsense (or King's new clothes) both air and nitrogen will conform to Boyle's law, even those who paid no attention in physics will have heard of PV/T is a constant. So air (which as has been said is 4/5 nitrogen) and nitrogen will expand and contract exactly the same amounts according to the temperature of the tyre. The only reason this has caught on is because the F1 chaps use it (read the link which has been posted) no other reason...

bigblock

782 posts

221 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
The F1 guys use it because of fire regs prohibiting the use of compressed air cylinders in the pit lane to power their hand tools.
They use high pressure nitrogen cylinders for this which also come in handy for inflating the tyres.

By the way a leak of nitrogen in an enclosed space will displace oxygen and cause you to die very quickly. Not the sort of gas you really want to play around with.

poprock

1,987 posts

224 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
A bunch of us Porsche guys asked a man from Michelin about this when he came to give us a talk on tyres.

The man from Michelin, he say “hogwash”. It’s of no appreciable benefit.

Technically, pure nitrogen will leach out through the tyre rubber a tiny bit slower than regular air. That said, it would take years for even regular air to leach out enough to make any measurable difference to your tyre pressure.

So there you go. Some of the regular trackgoers amongst our group remained unconvinced and continue to put nitrogen in their tyres. Take the advice or leave it, up to you.

anonymous-user

77 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
SXi Lad said:
alfa pint said:
Especially since air is 80% nitrogen....
Good point...
Better than when I made it 4 hrs earlier further up the thread wink

lozriva

780 posts

206 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
slipstream 1985 said:
i use helium in my track car, makes the car 20kg lighter.
20kg? really? i never knew it would make that much difference...

lozriva

780 posts

206 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
a11y_m said:
Exactly. This almost-exact arguement was discussed on another forum I use recently - to get the full (but still small) benefit from pure nitrogen in tyres, we'd have to start with the tyres as a vaccuum to remove all traces of "air".

Massive placebo effect for some though I reckon biggrin
but what about those awesome green dust caps you get? they must be worth a second or 2! smile

Lefty 200 Drams

19,683 posts

225 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
lozriva said:
slipstream 1985 said:
i use helium in my track car, makes the car 20kg lighter.
20kg? really? i never knew it would make that much difference...
Can't work out if you need a woosh or not... wink

slipstream 1985

13,509 posts

202 months

Tuesday 24th August 2010
quotequote all
lozriva said:
slipstream 1985 said:
i use helium in my track car, makes the car 20kg lighter.
20kg? really? i never knew it would make that much difference...