Hi All
Got a question on maintaining tyre pressures.
A man from Renault called Flario told me a bloke from Mercedes called Mick said that a guy from Ferrari called Nige says if you use Nitrogen in your tyres you do not see any fluctuations in pressure regardless of how hot they get.
(Changed the names in case the FIA are watching
Demon Tweeks do a Nitrogen filling service for �3.50 per wheel.
Anybody tried this ?
I have no idea, funny post though mate…but a girl I know called Sammy told Mistress Yvonne about some goings on with Cindy, Randy, & Candy and a bloke named Max! Apparently he’s asked to be more involved in F1 trye selection next season…something to do with rubber and the way he likes it I guess maybe he’s the guy to ask oh and can you get me Candy’s number while your at it
I’ve not tried it, but my understanding is it’s basically a way of keeping water out of tyres. The water included in normal compressed air turns to gas as the tyre heats up, hence the increase in pressure (there is an effect from the air heating, but it only accounts for a very small pressure increase).
Nitrogen is just an inert dry gas that’s very plentyful so is cheap option to fill your tyres with. I believe it’s very commonly used in motorsport, and can only help.
Mine are full of nitrogen. I have ben using it for two years now. The only problem is when it comes to track days when i reduce the pressure for the track and then reinflate to get home. Its a mix of air and nitrogen so it defeats the object of having the gas in the first place Otherwise its a big thums up from me.
I thought that was why you used it so you did not have to reduce the pressure for track days !!!
Its true that Nitrogen penetrates less easy through a rubber tire. The Nitrogen molecules are bigger. Oxygen leaks out about 4 times faster and that is why a Nitrogen filled tyre keeps its pressure longer. However… normal air usually already contains 80% Nitrogen so the effect is less than the sales guy’s tells us. Secondly, you will never reach 100% Nitrogen in the tyre as some air is always left in there.
Nitrogen is more safe as it doesn’t burn. That is why its used in e.g. airplanes. When a car or plane is caught on fire you will not have small explosions when the tyre burst as they don’t ad oxygen to the fire.
The high temperature part is vague. Dral is right here. Because Nitrogen is filled from the bottle it has little water in it. But the temperature range is the same. Air from a good maintained compressor has the same temperature effect.
There is also a rumor that Nitrogen should slow down the aging of the tyre but this to me is BS.
Finally some sales guy told me you will save fuel with Nitrogen… this is about the point I left the store laughing…
BTW. I did a test a couple of years back where we compared tyre noise with air and with Nitrogen and it was louder driving with Nitrogen over impacts… never really explained this phenomenon though.
My advise, just check your air pressure regularly and fill from a good maintained compressor.