Nitrogen in Tires

Pressure is pressure. So perhaps all you have done is restored the correct levels. I use N for my race car to limit the temp expansion caused by the mositure resident in air. With air I get 6 lbs in crease at 85 deg ambient and 90 degrees track temp. I only get 3 or 4 degrees with N. I get 1000 miles per tire set with air and nearly 2000 with N.

 

All I can say is you must be one hell of a driver to be able to tell pure nitrogen from air which is what...80% nitrogen? You must be over 100 MPH all the time to even begin to be able to tell the difference in expansion rates.

You guys crack me up. Nitrogen!!! LOL

Ken

 

I fill my tyres with nitrogen but for ecconomic reasons I also add about 21% oxygen.

 

i use helium, it makes the car lighter, so i use less gas, although ive been thinking of running off of helium too, it would be like gliding across the road surface.

 

Where do you get your tires filled with Nitrogen?

 

Also try Hydrogen. More bang for your buck.

 

why not use nitrous, if you have a long drive to do and a car full of buddies you can always pull over and suck on the valve stems and do wippets, you can get a quick headrush and you and your buds will be laughing your asses off for the next mile or so. its a great rejuvinator...

 

Costco Canada started first in 2004, they now seem to be rolling out in the USA. They claim that nitrogen is "drier" so helps prolong tire life, and more consistent pressure, since it is supposedly less effected by temperature...the only problem I see is you have to return to Costco for fill ups....or you could use the local gas station, but you end up diluting it, and losing some of the benifits...

I imagine that nitrogen will become common place eventually. Someone was saying that the nitrogen machines are already down to $5k or so..so most larger tire stores can absorb the cost. I would think they will continue to drop in cost as production of the machines and demand ramp up.

 

aircraft have been using nitrogen for a long time. its very stable and you CAN tell the difference. it should be spec'd as pure nitrogen, there is a FAA reg but its too early to think that hard...........

 

You can't use helium nuclei in Ferrari tires: ...

... they're Alfa particles.

Why yes, I am a nerd. Why do you ask?

 

The big deal with N2 in tires is that it's very dry. If there is no drier on the compressor you get the air from, liquid can condense inside the tire when it's cool outside, lowing the pressure....so you add air, then when it warms up and the water vaporizes again the tire pressure will be way too high.

I've actually been working with rubber on a project for about a year now. N2 leaks through rubber about 1/10th as fast as O2, so pressure over time is more stable, so you don't need to check your tires as often.

 

You should get in the habit of checking your tired before EVERY high speed run. Period.

 

What you mean I have to stop after every motorway toll booth or fuel stop and check the pressures ? That would mean I check the pressure 8 times per day . This mean I have to drive EVEN FASTER to make up the lost time !!!

 

How do they get all the air out so that there is only nitrogen in the tyres?

 

A little off the subject, but when my oldest son worked for the local tire shop, he filled up one of his co-workers jeep tires with water. Needless to say, the guy was a little disturbed when he got in to drive home.

 

I'm normally tired AFTER my high speed runs!

 

This N2 craze is another marketing gimmick and hype. Compressed air is grossly N2 (>70%) but people are too lazy to check their pressures regularly, so, the tire shops/co found a new gimmick to sell the public. Even if you switch to N2, you will not reap the full, thermal, benefits and properties of your fill up unless you purge and re-fill the tires a dozen (or more) times and even then, I doubt it'll be completely dry as some of the moisture has most certainly cavitated in your wheels.
In a racing venue, as has been stated, the pressure delta is unremarkable, but for people chasing 10ths and 100ths of a second it's a valuable tool in limiting an unwanted variable.
Check your pressures twice a week and you'll be fine.

 

Hubert,
That is the rub, most Americans cannot even check their air pressures once per month...how are they ever going to get off their ass to check them twice a week. I am about as "anal" as they get, and even I only check my pressures about every three weeks, between two cars and a motorcyle.

I might be more "religious" if I had a compressor at home; which I am planning to purchase this spring.

Dave

 

I try to check tire pressure at least twice during my ownership of a car and change the oil every 20k miles whether is needs it or not

 

How does this work?

To get the air out (from the one valve) you'd need to generate a partial vacuum within the tyre. By definition, less air = a partial vacuum. There's no way I can imagine that a tubeless tyre can sustain a vacuum inside it, prior to refilling it with another gas. Surely the bead seal would open & air would come back in.

Now if there were 2 valves per tyre then you could bleed air from one while supplying N into the other, but with 1 valve? I think it's suspect. My guess is that the tyre just gets deflated enough to let some N in, and repeated, possibly automatically. You end up with LESS air, but not none.