my tyres have a habbit of loosing pressure over time (fronts only) we have some very bad roads around here, and my garage tells me that low profile tyres (mine are 205/45/17's) can randomly loose pressure due to potholes.... now I had a pupil hit a pot hole, and when I got back in the car, it was pulling to the left, got out and checked the tyres, front nearside down to 1.5 bar (should be 2.5bar) so stopped at the nearest garage, and decided to blow them (fronts) up to 3 bar (0.5bar above recomendations, but still within safe limits of the tyre) and WOW what a world of difference it has made, besides curing the pulling to the left (of course) it has made the car much more responsive at the front, and noticably improved the conering grip (reduced understeer)

anyone else tried/found this? I know some of you blow them up more for track days ect...

And I do understand they will probably wear out faster (in the centre of the tyre) but I believe its worth it, as it really has made a difference.....

edit: they are XL tyres anyway, but the fronts are federal 595's, so stiff sidewalls being XL, just not as stiff sidewalls as the original bridgestone potenza's so feel sloppier...... feel better now though... and thanks for the replies

Having more air in them means the sidewall deforms less under cornering so the tyres tend to go where you point them. Works well, but my only complaint is that it can make the steering feel a bit light as a result so I just bought high-load tyres with nice stiff sidewalls

Chris

Yes, I always have my tyres a few psi higher than recomended.... the other reason as well is if I forget to check them for a few weeks and they lose a bit, no need to worry!

Mine have done this from day one baffled by it but now reading the threads maybe that is the logical reason, I run mine a 36 front 32 rear but as ScoobyChris says it makes the steering a bit light and you tend to feel evry bump, Stops the left hand drift though,

Funny this thread came up, mine fronts were 26/27 the other day.

So i decided to put them up 1psi from standard so 31psi on the fronts and 32psi on the back!

Funny this thread came up, mine fronts were 26/27 the other day.

So i decided to put them up 1psi from standard so 31psi on the fronts and 32psi on the back!

And............... or :thumbdwn:

i now always run my Fabia VRS at a couple of PSI above the manufacturers figures , it stops the front edges wearing out too quickly

Yep, I too have a couple of extra PSI in my tyres normally, just makes the front feel more responsive, and it helps with the fuel economy.

I keep my tyres above the recommended pressure (by 1-3psi) because my missus had an issue with one of my tyres running 2-3psi under the recommendation on my Cavalier;

I keep my tyres above the recommended pressure (by 1-3psi) because my missus had an issue with one of my tyres running 2-3psi under the recommendation on my Cavalier;

only 2-3 psi :eek:

More than a little scary those pictures!! What make were they?

Steve

And............... or :thumbdwn:

Can't say yet, only had a little play since (With a R32 GTR ). Seems a little more positive!

More than a little scary those pictures!! What make were they?

Steve

IIRC They were "Sunny" - just a budget set a got to get them through MOT - were only about 4 months old too, and as you can see, the sidewalls weremt reinforced ones, which didnt help. :thumbdwn:

Last 2 times I have had new tyres put on my car I had them filled with Nitrogen. Can't really say it it makes any difference but the garage claimed it reduces the need to fill with air and stops the tyre wear.

Last 2 times I have had new tyres put on my car I had them filled with Nitrogen. Can't really say it it makes any difference but the garage claimed it reduces the need to fill with air and stops the tyre wear.

I had mine filled with nitrogen a few changes back and couldn't tell any difference. They still lost pressure the same as an air filled tyre and my tyres still wore the same (presumably because they were at the same pressures) so I'm left feeling that it's just a marketing gimmick which becomes pointless if they don't set the tyre pressures correctly for the car and you need to top them up with air anyhow!

Chris

I have mine filled about 1/2psi at about 34psi over on the fronts and 32 on the back

Provided its not ovber inflated too much then its not really going to wear the tyres out that much.

Those tyres on that Cavalier look pretty destroyed! :eek: Maybe I'm drawing false conclusions here, but those alloys look like they've been dragged against kerbs quite a bit . . . if that happened while these tyres were on, could they have been significantly damaged (and as you say they're not reinforced sidewalls) which perhaps contributed or even caused the failure?

As for the nitrogen filling tyres . . . air is near enough 80% nitrogen anyway, so I'm not quite sure why replacing the oxygen and the other trace gases is really going to make any difference? :confused:

The whole Nitrogen filling thing is just a marketing gimmick IMHO.

Steve

The whole Nitrogen filling thing is just a marketing gimmick IMHO.

Steve

Thinking that too, sounds very much like an audiophile sort of thing such as Oxygen free cables and liquid Nitrogen cooled valves.

Thinking that too, sounds very much like an audiophile sort of thing such as Oxygen free cables and liquid Nitrogen cooled valves.

These are my valves and I like them hot.

although good OFC cables as opposed to the bell wire/cheap phono cables you get with things do actually make a hell of a difference.

Can't say the same of the premium digital interconnects mind

As for the nitrogen filling tyres . . . air is near enough 80% nitrogen anyway, so I'm not quite sure why replacing the oxygen and the other trace gases is really going to make any difference? :confused:

The argument that was used last time they decided to do it was that it was better because there was no moisture in it (which could lead to internal corrosion) and that the tyre remained correctly inflated because a) nitrogen is less likely to leak and nitrogen expands/contracts less than air so the tyre pressure remains more constant.

Some of that may be true, but from my chemistry days I seem to remember that nitrogen is smaller than oxygen which would suggest it would be more likely to leak? I'll have to take their word for the other two, but I've never seen any corrosion on my alloys when the tyres have come off and I would also think that the difference between nitrogen and air would be pretty marginal.

Who knows?

Chris

Only thing i'll say about running on high tyre pressure is that the ride becomes harder.

My last tyres felt terrible so i upped the pressure to eliminate the instability of the sidewall, but with lowered suspension and uprated bushes the ride was like rock.

The argument that was used last time they decided to do it was that it was better because there was no moisture in it (which could lead to internal corrosion) and that the tyre remained correctly inflated because a) nitrogen is less likely to leak and nitrogen expands/contracts less than air so the tyre pressure remains more constant.

It's true there's less moisture but the rest is what I believe is known technically as ********. Expansion and contraction is exactly the same in _any_ gas and nitrogen leaks at the same rate as air. If you fill you tyres with xenon, which is the heaviest non-radioactive gas I can think of offhand, or sulphur hexafluoride or something like that, you could expect leakage to be reduced: with nitrogen, no.

And the amount of moisture in a tyre-full of air won't lead to much corrosion. Most corrosion occurs around the edge due to water eating its way in by a combination of chemical and capillary action.

In fact in my experience the greatest contributing factor in most slow leaks is clip-on balance weights, which distort the tyre away from the rim slightly. Self-adhesive ones are far preferable.

clip-on balance weights, .

They should be banned, especially on alloys