nitrogen

[gazaR1]

was talking to a guy at kwickfit preston today,he was trying to talk me into the new pirelli corsa bsb's,he said he would do a deal,and also fill them with nitrogen.
He said that when tyres expand due to heat it is the water contained in the air that is expanding ,and because there isn't any in nitrogen it doesn't expand,so you don't need to adjust pressure,and they don't go of as quick,also said because its lighter,it makes handling,braking and acceleration much better.
Is he bullsh.ting me,or have i just missed some great new idea,as i can't recall reading about it anywhere.

if it is that good i could let my tyres down then have them filled with nitro.

p.s. the bsb's looked just the same as the super corsas.

[DaytonaNick]

I hadn't heard of it anywhere either until about a week ago when i got a new supercorsa pro. I didnt bother but i was interested in having it done just to see if there is a difference - will do on the next set. The guy basically said the same things as the kwikfit chap you dealt with but he was pretty excited about it all.

anyone on here had it done?

[deej]

not heard about it on bikes as yet but its definetly been fitted to cars,the new skyline is one that has nitrogen as standard to help with the cornering ability it has. i have a flyer from a tyre bay specialist to the trade at home for a nitrogen machine so its not bullshite mate,probably a bit of overkill for the road

i also know of a guy who is trying to import canisters of nitrogen aimed at racers and trackdayers who want a constant pressure, trouble is its going to be about £12-£15 a aerosol can

[Rsv4Col]

I have heard about this being used in motogp but not on the road

[deej]

Yeah all the new top sportscars are using them, skyline,audi r8 etc. Anything with a high speed cornering ability. The machine I've seen advertised was about £3500

[Banditmax]

I'd be worried hwo theyre going to completely get all the air out of your tyre before fiting nitrogen in. But it has been about for 5 years at least. Most probably won't be noticable to many people in general everyday use.

[Johnnyb]

I had heard about it on cars but never bothered swapping to it even though it was offered last time i got a set of tyres as you can't just top it up at a garage if you lose some pressure through a tyre bead not quite seating right or catching it on a kerb or something and say you get a puncture while out riding and you use one of those get you home repair kits, is the nitrogen compatible with the little cylinders you use to blow up your tyre after the repair. Just a thought

[Funky]

seen it about, not going to bother as when you check your tyres etc you'll probably put a bit of air in them anyway thus negating the effect and creating an unnaturally uneven balance of gases. Also I imagine factory guidelines for inflation are based on air going in not nitrogen, so you'll be in un-tested no-mans land.

what he said about the water is bullshit too as it's not water, all gases 'expand' as they heat, it's the activation potential that varies the degree to which they expand. When 'expanding' is referred to it's actually more matter going from a solid to a liquid to a gas and atomic bonds breaking.

In largely boils down to only using one gas and nitrogen being what is called an inert gas so more able to resist reactions.

[Ricky_t]

I am sure it was used for racing events because there is no air in a tyre to fuel a fire in a potential crash. I have had it before in a car but believe it is a waste of money. Air is 80% nitrogen anyways and it doesn't take that much effort every other week to check the tyre pressures!

[gazaR1]

seen it about, not going to bother as when you check your tyres etc you'll probably put a bit of air in them anyway thus negating the effect and creating an unnaturally uneven balance of gases. Also I imagine factory guidelines for inflation are based on air going in not nitrogen, so you'll be in un-tested no-mans land.

what he said about the water is bullshit too as it's not water, all gases 'expand' as they heat, it's the activation potential that varies the degree to which they expand. When 'expanding' is referred to it's actually more matter going from a solid to a liquid to a gas and atomic bonds breaking.

In largely boils down to only using one gas and nitrogen being what is called an inert gas so more able to resist reactions.

glad you cleared that one up proffesor

[jam]

Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air we breathe, it's molecule size is larger than oxygen. Tyres are porous and over time oxegen can permeate through the cracass resulting in a drop in tyre pressure. Nitrogen on the other hand is unable to permeate through the tyre wall thus remain at correct pressure for longer. By removing the oxygen within the tyre the pressure can be maintained for longer also any water vapour is also removed reducing the corrosion within the tyre which can result in the bead not sealing and further pressure loss. Fuel economy is increased due to correct pressures being maintained for longer, tyre life increases as does grip. More places are installing the machines which remove oxygen from the atmosphere and inflate the tyre with the remaining nitrogen, and typically machines are capable of around 10 bike tyres per hour.

[Funky]

Ummm, Nitrogen is 7 on the periodic table and oxygen is 8 unless I'm mistaken... so contains one more electron than Nitrogen, so theoretically they are the same size. You could argue that oxygen is larger...

I'm not too sure about the molecule size comment, but I imagine that would be because the nitrogen atoms are binding together more frequently than their oxygen equivelents who are remaining atoms. However this would only be in the case of single gasses where normal air is a relativiely large mocule comprising of many atoms, so I believe the assumption of nitrogen molecules staying in the tyre because of their size is kinda null and void...

[deej]

Funky do you think manufacturers would spend money developing this if it wasn't beneficial to tyres and their performance levels. If I have the tyrebay flyer at home still I'll scan it in and post up. It backs up everything jam says and after reading both sides of the arguement it makes logical sense to me that nitrogen is better than air. As I posted earlier I know of a very well respected award winning enviromental scientist who's a trackday addict who was looking into the possibilitys of nitrogen cannisters aimed at racers and trackdayers

Whether I would notice it myself is a different thing but its got to be worth a try surely.....

[Funky]

no, all i'm saying is that on the road I believe its a waste of time because of how life is, but on the track it would work as it's an inert gas and so brings with it all the gerneralised properties of an inert gas and you only have one type of gas in your tyre so it can be more controlled.

I know I'm not a chemistry genius and just spouting what I know, which i relaise isn't the be all and end all of knowledge, but also I'm a cynic when it comes to PR bunkem and always look for proper evidence of claims.

[r1Nos]

being in the tyre trade,waste of money if you ask me..............used normal air out of a compressor for 30 years and will do for the rest of my biking life,just make sure theres a decent water trap on it,heres a link for ya to read..........

http://www.tyresave.co.uk/nitrogen.html