Tyre Inflation

[T-tech]

I'm not a supporter of doing this.

By not getting down and checking you tires nearly as often, you take away a chance to spot something that may be a problem in the making like brake pads that are almost down to the metal, a leak at a caliper, a piece of metal in the tire that hasn't worked it's way in far enough to cause the tire to go down yet.

I have customers ask about this all the time. I just don't understand what is so hard about checking your tires..........

 

[T-tech]

I'm not looking to get into a pissin match here. I know lots of people who do it. I just don't agree with it on motor vehicles that are used daily. People generally want to use it so they don't have to worry about checking their tire presure. I get the question of it's use a few times a week at this point.

Easily, 75% of the bikes I service weekely have low tire presures, and almost all wheel are filthy, so all that cleaning and checking you speak of hasn't been done when they get to my shop.

We were having our tires on our fire trucks filled with nitrogen back in the mid 70's. It was used in the fire trucks because you needed max performance from the tires in a matter of seconds leaving no time for tires to heat naturally and raise the presure.

I'm well aware for the reasons behind the use of it for many decades in commercial aircraft. To provide the safest landing, proper tire presure is needed. The sudden drop in altitude causes a sudden raise in ambiant temp. Nitrogen provides a stable presure in the resting tire throught the point of contact when heat is generated rapidly.

Now, if you have your tires filled with nitrogen on your bike, and you do check them once a week, each time you put the guage to the stem, you lose aprox (I use a high quality digital) .25 PSI if your really careful, and most often about .5 PSI being you can't get on the stem perfectly, so within a few weeks, you'll be down to the recomended presure if set 4PSI higher originally, and the nitrogen will not allow the normal friction to raise the presure. Your now riding on under inflated tires.

As for nitrogen preserving the tire, unless you don't put many miles on your bike/ vehicle, and expect to have the same tires for over 4 or 5 years, it's a useless point, but a good one to sell nitrogen to people who take it at face value. Fire trucks often have the same tires for many years do limited usage.

I'll say no more on the subject.

Cheers

Cheers

 

[GPMAZ]

We use nitrogen in our race car. Being able to predict the increase of tire pressures when leaving the pits on cold tires in 40 degree temperatures, and hitting speeds in excess of 170 mph within 10-15 minutes is marginally better using pure nitrogen. Truth be told though, the main reason we use it is that we need to have it on hand for our on-board jacking system.

In my opinion, using nitrogen in a street vehicle is a waste of money. Recommended tire pressures are based on the use of plain old air, which by the way contains 78% nitrogen. If you follow the manufacturer's recommendations and check your pressure regularly you will gain nothing by using pure nitrogen.

Then again, that's just my opinion.

 

[CADFather]

I am basically doing a pre-flight to my bike everyday before I go out to ride, I check tires, oil, lights, brakes, cables for sticky spots that could cause them to bind and body panels for loose fasteners among other things. It takes literally less than three minutes to do and that 180 seconds can save you weeks if not months of pain and physical therapy. My tires get inflated via good old fashioned air and checked with a digital gauge. I'm this way with every vehicle I own from my Corvette to the wife's F-350 to my old beat up Dodge D-100, which hasn't been washed but once in 10 years but its maintenance is done everyday before it is driven.