Nitrogen In Tyres
Discussion
I had my race tyres filled up with N2 for free the other day by quick fit when I went to have the balance checked on my race wheels. Not tried them, but I'm told they make the car feel more planted on the road and they've had some excellent feedback from customers. Doing it at quick fit costs £1 per tyre so won't break the bank. The benefits on track are that the nitrogen doesn't expand like air, so you can manage tyre pressures on track far more easily.
Race cars . . fine, fully understand the ability to measure/manage/fiddle with tyres pressures and these remaining consistent - still some debate for me about how good a driver/racer etc you'll need to be to fully appreciate the difference (I can tell the difference in tyre pressures on my car on track, but actually being able to tell the difference over a distance that is seperate from tyre wear, tyre temp, tyre degradation between tyres filled with good old 'air' and tyres filled with nitrogen' is another level completely and I suggest the majority of us couldn't).
On the road where tyre pressures are not something I change except to put them up when I check them, it is utterly pointless. Without a supply of nitrogen at home to top them up with, as soon as you use 'air' then you've wasted your £1 as you're introducing a gas that is compressable at a different rate, not the greatest outlay I'd agree, but utterly pointless for the vast majority of road cars I'd suggest.
In fact, if it's so good, wy would you be able to have one tyre topped up with normal air and the others still with nitrogen only, wouldn't this be noticeable as you would have changed the characteristics of the tyres/cars behaviour etc etc . . .
I call gimmick on this for road cars . ..
On the road where tyre pressures are not something I change except to put them up when I check them, it is utterly pointless. Without a supply of nitrogen at home to top them up with, as soon as you use 'air' then you've wasted your £1 as you're introducing a gas that is compressable at a different rate, not the greatest outlay I'd agree, but utterly pointless for the vast majority of road cars I'd suggest.
In fact, if it's so good, wy would you be able to have one tyre topped up with normal air and the others still with nitrogen only, wouldn't this be noticeable as you would have changed the characteristics of the tyres/cars behaviour etc etc . . .
I call gimmick on this for road cars . ..
Is it Nitrogen they use in Kwik Fit? It's some sort of gas anyway. They insist on putting it in my company car tyres and duly charge the lease company for it.
Load of old kack if you ask me, once you've checked your tyre pressures with a standard airline you've goosed the 'benefit' of the gas.
People do still check tyre pressures don't they?
Load of old kack if you ask me, once you've checked your tyre pressures with a standard airline you've goosed the 'benefit' of the gas.
People do still check tyre pressures don't they?
.Mark said:
Is it Nitrogen they use in Kwik Fit? It's some sort of gas anyway. They insist on putting it in my company car tyres and duly charge the lease company for it.
Load of old kack if you ask me, once you've checked your tyre pressures with a standard airline you've goosed the 'benefit' of the gas.
People do still check tyre pressures don't they?
Yep Nitrogen, and yes i agree, pointless unless your some sort of driving god.Load of old kack if you ask me, once you've checked your tyre pressures with a standard airline you've goosed the 'benefit' of the gas.
People do still check tyre pressures don't they?
I've no way of telling what it actually feels like, but the fitter who balanced my wheels seemed to know quite a bit about what he was talking about and seemed a genuine petrolhead. In fact the manager of this particular garage is good friends with Lee Caroline (of the Tuscan Challenge) so knew quite a bit about TC cars. Anyway he said he'd put nitrogen in a few customer cars as well as several of his friends who drove various fast road type cars. He said there was a general theme of the following in their reviews:
- It makes the car feel more planted, can't really describe how but it feels nicer to drive
- Bumps don't seem so sharp so it feels smoother over rough roads
- Road noise seems to be slightly less
Of course I can't quantify any of these opinions, but he wasn't trying to sell it to me, just gave me 4 free charges of n2 and said try it and see what you think. Worth a try IMHO. In fact he said if you paid your £4 for the charging of the tyres, they wouldn't charge for a pressure check and top up if necessary (within reason). So you could stop by whenever and they would keep the pressures correct and topped up FOC.
Of course I'm speaking for my local kwik fit, I can't vouch for any others...
- It makes the car feel more planted, can't really describe how but it feels nicer to drive
- Bumps don't seem so sharp so it feels smoother over rough roads
- Road noise seems to be slightly less
Of course I can't quantify any of these opinions, but he wasn't trying to sell it to me, just gave me 4 free charges of n2 and said try it and see what you think. Worth a try IMHO. In fact he said if you paid your £4 for the charging of the tyres, they wouldn't charge for a pressure check and top up if necessary (within reason). So you could stop by whenever and they would keep the pressures correct and topped up FOC.
Of course I'm speaking for my local kwik fit, I can't vouch for any others...
450Nick said:
- It makes the car feel more planted, can't really describe how but it feels nicer to drive
- Bumps don't seem so sharp so it feels smoother over rough roads
- Road noise seems to be slightly less
A more cynical assessment of his summary of opinions would be that some customers changed their tyres at his KF and afterwards their cars were more planted, bumps felt better and road noise was reduced . .. all these attributes are exactly the same as I would expect from newer tyres.- Bumps don't seem so sharp so it feels smoother over rough roads
- Road noise seems to be slightly less
So some customers left on new rubber at the correct pressures (maybe they came in with the wrong pressure and worn tyres) and felt that it was better . . . no s
t sherlock ! 
No, I did think to ask that, and no the tyres weren't changed, and the pressures weren't all over the place before. Anyway that's all I've heard on them. I would only be interested really at looking at the difference on track. Between hot and cold the tyre pressures can go up 10psi, ending up with tyres on completely different pressures by the end of a few laps. I'd be interested to see if nitrogen filled tyres can eliminate this as I've seen on my Chim on track that tyre pressures can play a huge part in the feel of the car.
450Nick said:
...I would only be interested really at looking at the difference on track. Between hot and cold the tyre pressures can go up 10psi, ending up with tyres on completely different pressures by the end of a few laps. I'd be interested to see if nitrogen filled tyres can eliminate this...
No it won't - read up on Boyle's Law it will explain all gases expand when temperature increases (you must have done this in science). With air being 80% nitrogen it will have very similar behaviour to nitrogen.Gassing Station | General TVR Stuff & Gossip | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff