Steven Trovato wrote:
> Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here has been using nitrogen for
> either street or race applications.
Yeah, I bought a new Acura RSX-S in May; it came with crappy highway
tires so I ordered some hi-po rubber the first week I had it. The Acura
dealer ended up mounting them for free. They push the "nitro fill" to
all their customers, so I went for it.
It supposedly:
* Leaks down less
* Has less pressure change with temperature, since there's very low
moisture content
* Gets better mileage [I think this is B.S., see below]
* Longer tire life, without the reactive O2 [wouldn't know, always shred
mine way before that ;) ]
I will agree with nos. 1 and 2. However, 2 is actually a problem. The
pressures don't go up several PSI like they do with air. So you're
really driving around on lower pressure than you would be with plain
air. Lower pressure is generally detrimental to handling and mpg. I
think you need to get a feel for what's a good "hot pressure" on your
vehicle, and have the fill station put that much in them for a starting
pressure with nitrogen.
The average person is so oblivious to a few psi, they're not going to
notice any handling difference, maybe just a smoother ride (like if they
ran the tires low in the first place) and that's probably where much of
the consumer praise comes from. If they knew enough to calc their mpg,
I bet they would find it's lower!
Of course the average driver doesn't bother checking their tires at all,
so maybe starting low with nitro' and staying at that pressure is better
in the long run than air fill that eventually leaks even lower.
-Wayne
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