Nitrogen Tires

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Sandro, Nov 23, 2003.

  1. Sandro

    Sandro Guest

    hi, i heard that its possible to put nitrogen in the tires and its actually
    better than having air. is this true and would u recommend it?

    thnx
     
    Sandro, Nov 23, 2003
    #1
  2. You can, and it's not better than plain air unless you're drag racing.
     
    Elmo P. Shagnasty, Nov 23, 2003
    #2
  3. You can, and it's not better than plain air unless you're drag racing.


    Regular old air is 78% nitrogen - 21% oxygen - 1% other stuff.
     
    Harry Everhart, Nov 23, 2003
    #3
  4. Helium might work even better to make the car lighter.....
     
    Carl S. Moore, Nov 23, 2003
    #4
  5. Except helium atoms are much smaller - the tires will tend to go flat faster
    from helium leaching through the porous rubber. Ever seen a helium balloon
    after a week?
     
    Scott MacLean, Nov 23, 2003
    #5
  6. Sandro

    Tom Resi Guest

    Yeah. If you keep your tires inflated at recommended pressure, the car
    will actually float above ground!
     
    Tom Resi, Nov 23, 2003
    #6
  7. Sandro

    Jim92 Guest

    That's a new one on me. Nitrogen preserves stuff, but tires are pretty rugged and the outsides get all the grief. Nitrogen tanks are pressurized to thousands of pound (psi)so you need to find the proper regulator to step it down - filling will be REAL fast, and the popping even faster. I'd use Helium! With fat tires you could literally float above the ground but then I suppose traction could be problem. No, No, nitrous oxide is the thing - see FAST & Furious. Have Fun!
     
    Jim92, Nov 23, 2003
    #7
  8. I got a chuckle out of the first helium post but the fact remains that
    helium is used for leak detection in critical industrial/aerospace
    systems for the exact reason that you brought up...

    JT




    --
     
    Grumpy au Contraire, Nov 24, 2003
    #8
  9. Good point. Hadn't thought about that. I was going to
    use the helium after the hydrogen fills resulted in the loss
    of my first car........

    Carl
     
    Carl S. Moore, Nov 24, 2003
    #9
  10. Sandro

    Jim Yanik Guest

    I believe NASCAR uses nitrogen to inflate race tires. Might have something
    to do with heat conduction and the N2 is dry,contains no water vapor.
     
    Jim Yanik, Nov 24, 2003
    #10
  11. Unless you plan to race your vehicle--don't do it. I don't think that most
    race car drivers would use nitrogen in their tires.
     
    Bill B. Johnson, Nov 24, 2003
    #11
  12. Yeah, those hydrogen filled tires and aftermarket bumper-mounted rocket
    boosters really don't go together very well.
     
    Scott MacLean, Nov 24, 2003
    #12
  13. Some race teams use nitrogen because it expands less when heated. However
    more importantly it typically comes from a tank which is very dry, so there
    is very little moisture to condense or turn to steam inside the tire, or
    corrode the rim. Air tanks filled with compressed air from a nearby
    compressor have the moisture from the surrounding air within them.

     
    Scott MacLean, Nov 24, 2003
    #13
  14. Sandro

    Suman Menon Guest

    Hi there,

    I'm currently using Nitrogen air on my Prelude tyres. It's owkay to top-up
    the usual gas station's compressed air when low but ensure you do not fill
    in more than 10% of the total air (tyre). True it doesn't expand as much
    and would obviously seem more useful to a racing driver; however using
    Nitrogen also helps prevent steering vibrations at higher speeds. At the
    very least you wouldn't need to top-up air as regularly as the usual
    compressed air. All the above is subjected to normal and occasionally
    high-speed driving and not to be used under racing conditions.

    Hope this helps,

    Suman
     
    Suman Menon, Nov 25, 2003
    #14
  15. Sandro

    John Ours Guest

    Is this really true? The amount that a gas expands is independent of
    its composition. When heated to the same temperature, equal amounts
    of air and nitrogen will expand to the same pressure. (PV=NRT for
    ideal gases)

    -John
     
    John Ours, Nov 25, 2003
    #15
  16. Sandro

    mentorcn Guest

    wow...I use exclusively methane in mine.....it's just a tad hard to pump
    them up :p
     
    mentorcn, Nov 25, 2003
    #16
  17. I should clarify: Some race teams use nitrogen because they THINK it expands
    less when heated. :)
     
    Scott MacLean, Nov 25, 2003
    #17
  18. Sandro

    Jim Yanik Guest

    Race teams use nitrogen because:

    1.it comes in a nice pressurized tank,easy to move to the pit area,needs no
    external power source like a compressor.
    2.It's dry,contains no water.
    3.Possible thermal considerations.(Heat -conduction-,not expansion)
    4.cost is less than other gases??
     
    Jim Yanik, Nov 26, 2003
    #18
  19. Race teams use nitrogen because:
    The race team I crew on, we use a pressurized tank that is filled from the
    same compressor in the trailer that runs the air tools - for your reason #1,
    you can take it to the pits. Regular old air. Costs less than nitrogen,
    that's for sure. :) In fact, I don't see anyone using nitrogen, except for
    the Ferrari team.
     
    Scott MacLean, Nov 26, 2003
    #19
  20. Sandro

    Sandro Guest

    maybe thats why they r the best, u should put nitrogen then u will be the
    best
    ;)

    Sandro
     
    Sandro, Nov 27, 2003
    #20
Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments (here). After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.