Nitro Inflate anyone?

ani_26

Is nitrogen a breath of fresh air for car tyres?


I just read this very recent article regarding nitro inflate. I'm quite shocked it seems to be a new ' innovation ' as i've been using nitro inflate for many years, now. The downside, is true, i'm selective where i check my tyre pressure, amazingly, after all this time.






We’ve all become used to the idea that we put air in our car tyres so why should we want to change? Well it’s a fact that the motor racing fraternity has been experimenting with exotic gases for some years now and, since they say that ‘racing improves the breed’ we may be using it in our own car tyres any day now. In fact, lots of good things like disc brakes for example were introduced as a result of motor racing and this improvement for car tyres is simply the latest example of this trend.

Of course Nitrogen isn’t really an exotic gas as it forms a large part of the air we breathe so it’s perfectly natural to use it in our car tyres. In addition, because of its particular characteristics and performance under pressure, using Nitrogen to inflate car tyres gives important and valuable improvements in the way the vehicle performs under normal motoring conditions on the road. But how long will it be until there is a network of nitrogen filling facilities for our car tyres?

In fact there appears to be a new wave of nitrogen inflation equipment for car tyres coming on to the market and many of these compact and efficient systems have been supplied to garages and fast fit centres around the UK. Today, many commercial vehicles are already using Nitrogen inflation and it is predicted that Nitrogen inflation of car tyres is likely to increase in the short to medium term as more and more vehicle manufacturers are considering this worthwhile option.

Amongst the many benefits of using Nitrogen inflation for car tyres is that it improves the overall safety and road handling performance of the vehicle on which it is used. In addition, Nitrogen inflation of car tyres is also said to increase the life of your tyres. So is Nitrogen inflation going to be appearing at a garage near you any time soon? In fact many systems are already in use across the UK and even more are likely to be installed as increasing numbers of car tyres are inflated this way.



Nohope

mikey72

I usually live with 78% nitrogen in mine, costco put 100% in.
Didn't make any great difference. I certainly wasn't any safer.

vikingaero

Standard air is already 78% nitrogen.

There are benefits in nitro inflation on race cars where pressures are critical, but a bit gimmicky on road cars, especially if you check your tyre pressures regularly.

Gloomendoom

vikingaero wrote: »

Standard air is already 78% nitrogen.

There are benefits in nitro inflation on race cars where pressures are critical, but a bit gimmicky on road cars, especially if you check your tyre pressures regularly.

It makes even less of a difference if you check your tyre pressures infrequently.

It is a load of bollox!

Save your money and stick to air.

ani_26

So is it all hype then? Nitro inflate never seems to generate positive feedback, but has anyone ever used it? I find it all very interesting.

maninthestreet

The benefit of using 100% nitrogen in car tyres is that loss of tyre pressure over time is greatly reduced - nitrogen 'leaks' out of the tyre far slowly than oxygen, as a nitrogen molecule is far bigger than an oxygen molecule.

mikey72

maninthestreet wrote: »

The benefit of using 100% nitrogen in car tyres is that loss of tyre pressure over time is greatly reduced - nitrogen 'leaks' out of the tyre far slowly than oxygen, as a nitrogen molecule is far bigger than an oxygen molecule.

Mine had no difference, they get pumped up occasionally, but probably more due to the difference in petrol station gauges.
Anyway, by the theory it leaks out, once I lose the first 22%, when I blow them up again I'm only 4% oxygen overall.

alleycat`

mikey72 wrote: »

Mine had no difference, they get pumped up occasionally, but probably more due to the difference in petrol station gauges.
Anyway, by the theory it leaks out, once I lose the first 22%, when I blow them up again I'm only 4% oxygen overall.

Hope it isn't 4% otherwise James Bond would have been shafted in that movie when he had to breath the air in the rolls royce tyre.

Movies are always 100% factual right? :rotfl:

hubert_cumberdale

i used to use nitrogen in my kart tyres when i used to race and this was back in 1998

i would vary the amount of nitrogen and normal air depending on the tempereature of the day if it was a hot day i would sometimes use full nitrogen to prevent the tires getting to hot and expanding resulting in loss of grip. on a cold winters day i would use no nitrogen or the tires would never reach the sticky temperature

the main reason for this is the nitrogen contains less or no moisture meaning it cant heat up as much and expand as it gets hotter. this could be usefull on car wheels to stop inside corrosion from moisture

cardinalbiggles

The bit I find funny, apart from gullible consumers being taken in by garages selling them nitrogen is that they say that normal air "attacks" the rubber in a tyre.... ok then so tell me what happens to the outside... ah ok...

The leaking out slower thing is also a crock of nonsense. Its difficult to determine moleclar size but a nitrogen molecule is about 2.8% smaller than an oxygen one. If you can notice any difference in a normal road tyre your delusional!

hubert_cumberdale

i cant see the use for it on the road but it definatly made a difference to my slicks temperature but in a road car its just nonsense

i have a massive bottle of it in the garage charged with 3000psi of the stuff i must get rid of that i keep forgetting