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MG MGA - more anti roll bar

Can't believe the difference the front sway bar has made. Coupled with nitrogen in the tires [30psi front and 26 psi in rear] and shims under the inner A frame brackets [ to reduce camber ]the car has lost all its' under steer. Turns in without a fight !!
Sway bars are available in Sydney from K-Mac. A$ 225.
Thanks to all for advice Sean
S Sherry

Sean,
Can you enclose a couple of photos. What does the nitrogen do (stop the rubber from ageing)?
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Nitrogen is reported to be less affected by temperature change as well as to leak out at a slower rate. The advantages on a street car are next to nothing since the air we breath is mostly nitrogen anyway. If you happen to have nitrogen ready to go when your tires need filling then there's no reason not to use it. In my opinion it isn't worth a special trip though. The only time I use it is in pressurized shock absorbers to reduce moisture, or in high-pressure bicycle tires (120-160PSI) where there is little volume and a slight loss will result in a significant pressure drop.
Steve Simmons

Two cents: Using nitrogen to fill tires is a lot like drinking bottled water. It may make you feel better to spend the money, but its effects are negligible. Air is 80% nitrogen and about 20% oxygen. Both have similar densities (1.25 g/l for N2 and 1.429 g/l for O2), covalent radii (0.75 Angstrom for N2 and 0.73 A for O2) and heat capacities (1.042 Jg degree Kelvin and 0.92 Jg deg K, respectively). In other words, they both leak pretty much at the same rate through a given orifice and are about equal when it comes to holding and dissipating heat. The one and only difference that makes any case for using nitrogen in lieu of air is moisture. When a compressor is used to fill a tire, it is rare that the delivery line has a drying trap, so depending on how long has elapsed since the tank was drained and the humidity of the ambient air, the compressed air can contain a significant amount of moisture. Combined with oxygen, this moisture can theoreticlly accelerate the corrosion of a rim and have a pH effect that can help attack certain polymers that are used in modern tires. In practice, the negative impact of using ambient air has no material effect on either the performance or lifetime of tires or rims. Steve is right to use nitrogen in shocks where there is a dynamic seal between an o-ring and sliding sealing surface that produces heat and helps localize and accelerate corrision in a critical gas sealing area.

Disclaimer: [Of course the benefits of drinking bottled water in areas that have poor municiple water treatment can be argued, but since many of the companies that sell bottled water in the US use US municiple water supplies as their source, the case for use is problematic, at best - not to mention the low molecular weight organics (monomers and plasticizers) that leach out of the plastic bottles into the water.]

Steve
Steve Brandt

Usefull comments on nitrogen. My main reason is the slower loss of pressure in a car that sits around most of the time and hopefully slow the rusting progress of the spoked rims Sean
S Sherry

We use nitrogen to service the tires of jet aircraft to eliminate oxygen that could cause an explosion, but speaking as one who operated an automotive tire shop for a number of years, I can't see any benefit in use at MGA speeds. If you have a car that sits around most of the time, you should plan on checking and (if necessary) servicing the tires before you use it anyway.
Del Rawlins

This thread was discussed between 10/01/2008 and 12/01/2008

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