[thegr81]

So I was talking with my friend about his Regal and he tells me how everytime he goes for a check up for his Regal (not at BUICK), he asks them to fill his tires with nitrogen. Um..isn't nitrogen explosive?

 

[syd]

Ehhhh... no, nitrogen is not explosive. You might be thinking of hydrogen or helium.

 

[ArizonaClipper]

Hydrogen seems to be...

 

[Barbosa]

I think its all just snake oil. I had a hard enough time finding deisel when I had my VW golf. Imagine having to find nitrogen at a gas station?

 

[JRastafari]

You don't HAVE to use nitrogen once you started with it and there are many benefits to using nitrogen in your tires. I use it in all my cars. It doesn't become volatile at high or low temps so tire pressures stay consistent, it doesn't leak out as easily as regular air (nitrogen has bigger molecules), and besides, you get cool green valve caps!

 

[car_crazy]

So I was talking with my friend about his Regal and he tells me how everytime he goes for a check up for his Regal (not at BUICK), he asks them to fill his tires with nitrogen. Um..isn't nitrogen explosive?

you're probably thinking of nitroglycerin. now that one is very explosive. definitely dont put that in your tires. hahaha.

 

[Regal-guy]

Heres a pretty handy article regarding the truth and myths about filling your tires with nitrogen. Before you think about putting them on definitely read through this.

The Truth About Filling Your Tires with Nitrogen | The Truth About Cars

 

[Inline4_driver]

Thanks for the article. I was really debating doing this to my car but you just help me save $20. Its not a lot but still thats $20 I can put towards something else. I'd just rather regularly check my tires pressure and refill it for free.

 

[regalman]

Nitrogen is not worth putting in your tires. Just another gimmick cooked up by the car guys.

 

[gorphil]

Nitrogen is not worth putting in your tires. Just another gimmick cooked up by the car guys.

I recently purchased a 2011 Regal and opted to have nitrogen installed in the tires. It seem to me the car rides harder now and there is more road noise tranmitted to the cabin than when I test drove the car with normal air in the tires. Does anyone know if nitrogen has this effect or is it just my imagination.

 

[Inline4_driver]

I recently purchased a 2011 Regal and opted to have nitrogen installed in the tires. It seem to me the car rides harder now and there is more road noise tranmitted to the cabin than when I test drove the car with normal air in the tires. Does anyone know if nitrogen has this effect or is it just my imagination.

In terms of ride quality there is no difference. They probably over inflated it compared to the tires you had when you test drove the car. Check the tire pressure. Should be somewhere between 34-38 on all four tires. If the pressure is too high try lowering it a bit and see if it improves.

 

[RoadMaster]

The real issue that brought all this to the surface in the first place is... moisture. Race teams would buy tanks of "dry nitrogen" to inflate tires because it was cheap and portable. The tanks were easier to move around, load and unload from a transport than an air compressor.

Before this, there were many scientific uses for nitrogen that required it be dry. So, production volumes were high and the cost of nitrogen was cheap.

In a race car, the tires can easily exceed 212*F, so any moisture or water that is inside is going to boil which affects the tire pressure. Moisture in compressed air comes from the atmosphere, as well as from improperly maintained equipment (there are water traps and filters that need to be changed once in a while).

If you used properly dried compressed air, most of the benefits of dry nitrogen would be just as evident. Face it, compressed air is already 78% nitrogen. Any internal degradation from the 20% oxygen would be minimal in the life of the tire.

 

[gorphil]

Thanks for the info. My 2011 Regal is my 26th new car and I have never had a problem with tire degradation in the past. When the matter concerning replacing the air in the tires with nitrogen, my intitial reaction was that it was a pile of bunk. However, I agreed to the procedure at a cost of $259.00 Canadian plus tax. It appears my initial assessment was correct.

With regards to the harder ride and excesssive road noise, I think one has to admit the Opel Insignia is no Buick, even with the modifications GM made for the North American market. The Regal is not as quiet as my 2008 Allure/LaCrosse was and this purchase is definitely a downgrade.

 

[gorphil]

I forgot to mention that the hands free calling feature (satellite phone) does not work when driving due to the excessive road noise. The automated service cannot decipher basic instructions. I find it hard to believe that GM engineers did not determine this problem during testing procedures. It is obvious, the microphone for this service, mounted on the windshield, leaves a lot to be desired.

There are a lot of issues to be addressed when this vehicle is manufactured in Oshawa and I hope GM is paying attention. Otherwise this venture will be a failure. These comments are coming from a GM supporter for over 50 years.

 

[Regal-guy]

Is the calling feature a part of the Onstar package or is it a separate feature unique to the Regal?

 

[gorphil]

The calling feature is part of the Onstar package. There may have been a problem with the system as the calling feature has been working much better over the past few days.

 

[Jackson]

I sure hope so, and this talk about road noise is very disconcerning. I will have to take one for a test drive soon to see if I can tolerate it. I have owned Regals before and one of the great things about them was the comfort and quiet ride.

 

[royal_regal]

Not much of a hype just thing that people do< as for road noise it should be quiet low as many new cars now have very low road noise and the cabins as usuall quite quiet!