Nitrogen in tyres???

[GregSale]

He guys
just had a new set of PZero's fitted to my Spider (after only 37K and was told there is only 3 brands that fit and PZ's last the longest ) and got home to notice little red caps and a Nitrogen sticker on the wheels
I did what all good motoring enthusiasts do....GOOGLE it but there seems no clear cut answer to whether it's really good or just a way to get you back to the retailer on a regular basis
I must admit that in my 40 30 odd years of motoring I have..in general... found air quite good at inflating tires (I'm sure most of you have found it far superior to solid rubber found on small children's toys)
So whats to consensus ??

[SimonR]

I think the Nitrogen is meant to help lower the heat temp in the tyre.

Its probably not important in a road car but I have heard people with trackday/race cars will fill them with Nitrogen to help lower the temp to try to stop the tyres from overheating!

I was told by a guy at Easterncreek this can lower hot tyre temperature by approx 3 Celcius or so and I think he said it costs $6 per tyre, but I havent tried it and probably not likey to bother either.

[Steve S]

Compressed air contains water which is not good. As for other benefits of Nitrogen, I'm not convinced.

[Jekyll and Hyde]

Compressed air contains water which is not good. As for other benefits of Nitrogen, I'm not convinced.

For steel wheels, I can see this potentially being a problem.  On alloys, why would it make any difference?

[GregSale]

Mr Google says it does not "get out thorough the rubber so quickly" so is better for the tire....but I check them weekly so not sure
And runs cooler (I can see that may help)
Hope someone may have done a long term road evaluation

[Stuart Thomson]

For road applications this is totally bogus.

Air is about 80% nitrogen anyway, most of the rest is Oxygen and water vapour.

The only reason to do it for race tyres is to stop the water getting in.  Once the tyre heats up the water will evaporate.  The tyre pressure will rise a little more unpredictably than dry nitrogen filled tyres.  Hence they fill race tyres with nitrogen, but any dry gas will do, dry air would work just as well.

Road tyres just don't get hot enough to make a difference.

Much like cross drilling and slotting brake rotors, there is no need for this on road cars, it's just a race technology transfer to the road which is pointless.  Also it's a way to make money from people.  Ultra High Purity compressed nitrogen (99.99999%) nitrogen is about $100/G size cylinder, which would fill at least 100 tyres (probably more like 1000), so it's a rip off.  Of course they don't use the UHP stuff, they'll use instrument grade dry nitrogen, which is less than $50 a bottle.

Cheers
Stuart

[GregSale]

Thanks Stuart...thats probably what I got from what I read on the topic so far
I assume Bob Jane use the low price stuff as its free upgrade on premium tires and free to fill for the lofe of the tires
And I still guess its just a way to get me back to the tire place on a regular basis
If anyone knows anything "positive" in its use in road cars, I guess I've got 2 or 3 weeks before I put evil "air" in the tires

What a wealth of knowledge the forum is

For road applications this is totally bogus.

Air is about 80% nitrogen anyway, most of the rest is Oxygen and water vapour.

The only reason to do it for race tyres is to stop the water getting in.  Once the tyre heats up the water will evaporate.  The tyre pressure will rise a little more unpredictably than dry nitrogen filled tyres.  Hence they fill race tyres with nitrogen, but any dry gas will do, dry air would work just as well.

Road tyres just don't get hot enough to make a difference.

Much like cross drilling and slotting brake rotors, there is no need for this on road cars, it's just a race technology transfer to the road which is pointless.  Also it's a way to make money from people.  Ultra High Purity compressed nitrogen (99.99999%) nitrogen is about $100/G size cylinder, which would fill at least 100 tyres (probably more like 1000), so it's a rip off.  Of course they don't use the UHP stuff, they'll use instrument grade dry nitrogen, which is less than $50 a bottle.

Cheers
Stuart