ATS Euromaster says it is trying nitrogen filled tyres at 25 of its UK outlets through three companies, Pneu-Air, Parkers and Tyresafety. The big selling point that the gas does not leak through tyres as oxygen does, in theory meaning nitrogen-filled tyres can hold pressure indefinitely. So far the trial has been confined to retail customers, but ATS is keen to try this idea with major leasing companies.
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Im not sure whether this will work on trucks or not.
In motorcycle racing, they have used Nitrogen. They run cooler, although most teams are trying to get more heat into their tyres for the start.
I just wonder whether the costs will be prohibitive in transport. Joe Bloggs Haulage will still want to keep a store of tyres in the shed to change on a night. How much will a nitrogen plant cost in the fitters van
Maybe they could use Helium, so they could carry more weight
Nitrogen is also more stable as it heats up which is why racers use it when it’s hot. So for truck tyres it might mean less blow out and better tyre wear. Maybe this might offset the cost of nitrogen, but it does seem a bit excesive
Carrying high pressure bottled nitrogen on a roadside response vehicle is going to have several consequences that I think would preclude it from being the norm.
It would obviously present health and safety issues and since most of these tyre monkeys can’t understand how to torque up a nut or seem to know the consequences of not doing it right I don’t see it being too long before one of them kills himself or some other poor sod.
The logistics could prove a problem as well, having had experience of inflating high pressure systems in aircraft you, the pressure drops off fairly rapidly and you really need 2 or more cylinders in order to inflate in stages. The companies wont want to throw away any more nitrogen than absolutely necessary.
The cost of buying it is prohibitive especially since you can compress air for a fraction of the cost and the atmosphere is always there so you don’t have to carry it around with you just the compressor needs to be carried.
The other reason Nitrogen is used is because air contains moisture, this moisture boils and becomes steam in tyres running hot, the steam expands very fast and you can get blow outs at worst but uneaven tyre presures at the very least. Hence the use of nitrogen.
