jgrts20

does it really make a difference in handling and wear?
is it really worth all that money extra?

Tofuball

All it does is make the tire not expand with the heat of racing. For a street car? Useless I'd say.

Black91n/a

Ummm, you know air is mostly nitrogen don't you? Or are you the type who would use "racing air", cross drilled brake lines, left handed screw drivers and metric hammers?

Tofuball

He's talking about a more pure mix of nitrogen.

Wankel7

Maybe if you have a problem with corrosion on your rims. Since nitrogen is dry that would not be a problem.

And also Nitrogen won't leak out of the tire like air will.

Roy James

Hmm... I can honestly say I've never heard of such. Neat.

Silkworm

No reason for it on a street car.

You use nitrogen on a race car cause it's dry. No water, therefore tire pressures remain more consistent and don't rise nearly as fast.

It makes zero difference on a street car if your tires raise 3 PSI handling wise. It can be a huge difference on a race car.

The only real benefit is, as Wankel said, tires won't lose pressure as fast with nitrogen.. Checking tire pressures often eliminates that problem.

HTH

PaulC

tie pilot

I remember a NASCAR race where Dale Jr. pulled into the pits, and requested they relieve a quarter pound of air pressure from one tire. mind-boggling.

trainwreck517

iTrader: (1)

This is a good example, when you don't know what one is talking about, shut up and don't try to make him sound stuiped, since it is you who sounds stuiped.


Nitrogen has been used in tired in just about every major race cars, Nascar, LaMans, Indy.. etc

Nitrogen doesn't expand like atomisphere air since it is dry, there for tire presure doesn't change and handling isn't effected.


On street use this is pointless, for AutoX it is still point less..

Scott 89t2

I use heluim to reduce my unsprung and rolling weight

Rattaan

OMG!! you're a genius, I can't believe I didn't think of that.

drago86

lol, i wonder if that would actually shave off 1/16th of a pound or so,...

garnersplc_2001

Heluim leaks out of your tires faster too (smaller molecule). You could always just inhale it and sound like mickey mouse.

scheistermeister

just think if you put hydrogen in your tires! then did a burn out and BOOM!

pip

Before I take a run down the drag strip I take a big rip off of a helium ballon and hold it in so I weigh less

zjbarra

iTrader: (2)

His point is actually correct. The earth's atmosphere is about 78% Nitrogen. I would also suggest learning to spell stupid before you attempt to call someone it.

That being said, this is a bunch of science mumbo jumbo so if you're like most people (can't really blame you) who doesn't give a damn, it's just a bunch of chemistry stuff:

I suppose moisture would expand more so than if you had only a single gas within the wheel but at the same time, I don't think there is any reason why Nitrogen would be such a fantastic idea in comparison to any other purified gas. Moisture will expand and is probably only going to be noticeable in extreme cases and it's more than likely that in our cars, it's such a minimal effect that it's not even worth considering if you could even notice it.

Every gas when heated expands. Smaller molecules like Helium (I know the guys talking about it aren't serious but as an example) will expand more so than larger molecules (oxygen for example) because the energy put into the gas through heat will move the molecules faster and increase the volume or pressure. In this case, volume is fixed so pressure increases. If you want to get technical, perfectly dried air would actually be better for this purpose because it contains Oxygen which is heavier. My guess is because Nitrogen is readily available compared to many gases and Oxygen + fuel in crashes would be insanely dangerous, they just picked Nitrogen. It also gives them the ability to not have to worry about weather conditions when filling tires. If you fill a tired on a day when there is rain on the way or passing by, the humidity goes up and then you have a decent amount of moisture in the air that an F1 driver might notice.

Ultimately, this is just something so small and insignificant, that I wouldn't even worry about it. I think for street driving, it’s more of a way to just say “I run pure nitrogen in my tires.” Otherwise, you can get probably 99% of the way there by just filling up your tires on a day with low humidity if you’re hell bent on the idea.

Roy James

Dont Judge People By Their Litteracy. Just because someone can't spell very well, is no indication what-so-ever as to there intellegence level. I honestly thought he was being sarcastic, but reguardless....

I'll also coment that reguardless of whether or not Black91N/A's is correct, it was still rude and contained no useful information.

By the way there is a HUGE difference in ~78% pure and 100% pure.

Black91n/a

First off, I apologize for being rude earlier. I was trying to point out that just because something sounds good, it doesn't mean that it is good, or worth spending money on. While there may be a tiny advantage to running nitrogen, or doing some other racer trick that'll help you get half a percent more performance, I'd be willing to bet that none of us are good enough driver to notice any difference from it at all (you'd probably see a bigger difference just by changing tire pressures 1 psi).

Anyone who knows much about chemistry will know that a mixture of gasses will behave as a single type of gas. Air is made up of mostly (about 99%) nitrogen and oxygen. Oxygen's weight is very close to that of nitrogen and the sizes aren't that dissimilar. In everything but extreme cases (extreme temps, very high pressure), all gasses will approximately follow the ideal gas law (PV=nRT, or Pressure x Volume = Number of molecules x a constant x Temperature). This means that they will expand at roughly the same rate for a given temperature change as volume and the amount of gas is constant, so the pressure is directly proportional to the temperature. If you're worried about moisture, just wait for a day with very low humidity (remember, there's a fair bit more moisture in the air at 85% humidity at 85 degrees, than 85% at 70 degrees).

In the end everyone does what they want, so if you think that nitrogen in your tires will help you out, go ahead, just don't be surprised when you don't notice a difference.

zjbarra

iTrader: (2)

I would love to know where my suggesting he learn to spell it before he calls someone it judges him. I didn't say "your opinion is invalid because you didn't spell stupid correctly" or anything of the sort. I just think that if you're going to call someone stupid, spelling it correctly would be a good start. As far as purity goes, read my post again or what Black said as well, basically the same thing. The gas composition barely enters into it as far as expansion goes. It's moisture that is the problem.

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

Aircraft use nitrogen all the time...FYI

zjbarra

iTrader: (2)

Right but in comparison to what we're doing they probably generate a lot of extra heat in the tires.

J-Rat

iTrader: (2)

True

Wankel7

Yeah, they do generate tremendous amounts of heat. In the airplane I fly there are plugs that would blow if the rim temps get over 155C. After a landing where you get on the brakes you can hear them ticking and creaking after we get out of the airplane.

I would guess the reason that the tires are filled with nitrogen would be because of the high altitudes some planes can fly. The moisture would be bad at high alt.

I need to find out

James

Wankel7

.

Wankel7

Yeah, they do generate tremendous amounts of heat. In the airplane I fly there are plugs that would blow if the rim temps get over 155C. After a landing where you get on the brakes you can hear them ticking and creaking after we get out of the airplane.

I would guess the reason that the tires are filled with nitrogen would be because of the high altitudes some planes can fly. The moisture would be bad at high alt.

I need to find out

James