Tire pressure and cold weather

[STEVE07]

Nitrogen works in a racing application,when we switched to nitrogen in the race car our right front tire would only add about 10psi during the course of a race, with compressed air that was 20-25psi.For street use I have never seen the point in it.JMO

 

[wildspirit97]

I'll save the nitrogen for my potato chips

 

[larryjmiller]

Take a couple of chemistry and physics classes and you will be able to figure this out for yourself - don't copy your friend's homework, you won't learn anything. I'm an engineer and I just use the air from my compressor. I do use a special blend of ~80% nitrogen and ~20 % oxygen that I blend myself. I always use rarified ambient air if I can get it. If I'm talking, I usually get a blend of hot air and ambient air. Pure nitrogen is just one more thing to add to your already long list of stuff to worry about. Unless you buy a bottle of nitrogen gas and a regulator and strap it to your bike you will be worried that your pressure is low and have to drive to the tire shop to fill up and they might be closed or you might be on a ride on a sunday and on and on and on. Just use air and "be happy"... Oh, I forgot, you better use pure nitrogen in your air shocks because "regular" air (with ozone in it...OMG) will rot the seals on the schrader valves, your rear air shocks will go down and the sparks from your rear fender may start a forest fire further exacerbating Al Gore's global warming scenario. (Hey, he's an attorney, perhaps he should take a few chemistry and physics classes too!)

 

[KingHeritage]

I work on cars every day and check tire pressures all the time. The car maker has produced a bulliten stateing that (for every 10 deg. + or - your tire pressure will very 1-lb + or -) On a -10 deg. day I ran a car into the shop that was +65 deg. When I ran it in the check tires light was on and the the tire pressures were 24lbs. After a few hours of working on the car I check the tire pressures and they were at 32lbs. They even had nitrogen in them. When the temps change so does your tire pressure. I have found the 10 to 1 rule to be quite accurate.

Thanks jdaws,that seems like a good rule of thumb.I'll remember that formula.