Why should you use nitrogen in your exotic car tires?
Tires the world over are filled with air, but is there a better alternative? Believe it or not, there is, and it’s nitrogen. Nitrogen is specifically great for exotics and performance vehicles. Why should you use nitrogen in your exotic car tires? We’ll tell you!
Isn’t nitrogen already in air?
Unless you are dealing with some bizarre application, then your air-filled tires do have nitrogen in them. In fact, the air that we breathe every day, and that compressors are always filling our tires with is comprised of approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and the remaining 1% is argon, carbon dioxide, and other gases. You already have 78% nitrogen, so what’s the big deal? We will tell you.
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Why is oxygen bad in tires?
Oxygen isn’t bad for your tires, but it isn’t as a good as nitrogen. This is chiefly because oxygen is quicker to permeate through the rubber of your tire. In other words, oxygen will slowly leak out of even the most well-maintained wheel and tire, and though nitrogen will do the same, it will do it more slowly thus leading to more consistent tire pressures, which is important if you are going to take your exotic out on the track or store it for prolonged periods.
Interestingly, oxygen is also highly corrosive. If you don’t believe us, then just think about rust for a moment. Rust is just simple iron-oxide. In other words, it’s iron plus oxygen. Iron isn’t the only thing that rusts either. Aluminum rusts too. Aluminum just doesn’t rust or oxidize as badly, but it can still lead to a rough unpleasant texture that also makes your tires less apt to seal on your rims.
How to prevent moisture in your tires
The big killer here is actually moisture. Regular air-filled tires tend to have small amounts of water in them. This water is just in the atmosphere, and though high-grade compressors filter out some moisture, there will still be moisture present.
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This is bad because moisture will make the pressure of your tires vary significantly when undergoing heating and cooling, especially under the intense use that the tires on exotic and performance cars see. Nitrogen tire fill is a dry fill process, and you can usually rest assured that little to no moisture will be in your tires when nitrogen is used.
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