Thursday, 24 April 2014

Car Tire inflation

Inflation or air pressure in tires is akin to having blood in a living body. It’s a tire’s lifeline. Besides keeping other performance measures in mind, keeping constant pressure and avoiding leakages is also a manufacturer’s focal point. Tires have mostly been filled with plain air. Some people do make use of nitrogen as tire inflator to enhance its performance. Such drivers mostly are from racing arena.
Proponents of nitrogen in tires go for fuel efficiency and light weight. Critics are concerned about increased danger owing to nitrogen’s high inflammation nature. Costs also build up for having pure compressed nitrogen which is also not easily accessible.

Compressed air is mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and other gases. When filled in tire, presence of hydrogen and oxygen can form tiny water droplets and dampen the tire rubber from inside. It can lead to internal corrosion and slight leakages over time. Compressed air is prone to seep through rubber compound. On the other hand nitrogen is seen to have maintained good pressure and stability for longer time. Plus being more light weight, nitrogen particles tend to move upwards which results in total tread in contact with road much less. This feature reduces resistance and ultimately has impact on fuel consumption.

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