Nitrogen Use and Tire Aging

What about the O2 on the outside of the tire? They tend to break down on the outside not the inside from what I have seen.

 

Sunlight is hard on rubber!

 

Most people wear out the tires before dry rot becomes a dangerous problem. Assuming that dry rot manifests itself at about 10 years and if there is plenty of tread left on the tire at that mark, then the miles driven per year is likely low (2,000 to 4,000 miles per year). An incremental 2,000 to 4,000 miles at the end of the tire life is probably not worth it to most people. An extra year before mandatory tire replacement becomes necessary probably depends on the extra cost of the N2 over 10 years versus ordinary air.

What is the charge for N2 and how readily available is it?

 

There's no reason to pay any upcharge for filling tires on a street-driven car.

 

Search is your friend.

Anyone run nitrogen in there tires

 

I would use helium or hydrogen, since these gases would also reduce the unsprung mass.

 

Hydrogen, no. As one of the simplest elements, it requires very robust containers and lines to prevent it seeping thru the container walls. This is a major fuel tank problem on hydrogen powered vehicles.

 

Not to mention the isty bitsy problem that hydrogen is highly flammable...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

When McLaren stole the plans from The Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari had been using nitrogen to air up the F1 tires and McLaren argued they didn't see much reason to do it.

 

Re use of hydrogen, see this pic.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

Molecular hydrogen is touchy stuff. From what I've read, hydrogen powered cars will need H2 to be sequestered, physically or chemically.

T

 

Both hydrogen and helium are tiny molecules, as someone mentioned, and tires filled with them would leak like a sieve.

We used nitrogen for tires in the USAF, but those tires see huge changes in temperature and outside pressure on every flight and go from 0-140 knots near instantaneously and from no load to carrying huge weight loads. Not quite the same environment as a car.

 

I have a nitrogen bottle in my shop for filling shocks and still don't bother putting it in my tires.

 

Small correction (apologies, one time chemistry major! ), helium is an atom. Hydrogen is found in molecular form, H2.
But, as Taz says, they're very small, I'd guess the smallest among elements in their standard states. Hydrogen diffuses through solids quite easily, assuming it doesn't react first...T

 

Tom- Affirmative, and I have a chemistry degree. As you said, helium is pretty much inert, which is why it works well in balloons, dirigibles, etc. Just a bit hard to find.

 

Cool. Didn't know you were a fellow Chem major!
There used to be a large helium "mine" up near Amarillo. Pass more than a few Helium Roads in towns of the Panhandle. Not sure how active those reserves are anymore...T

 

Nitrogen in a street car is snake oil. But believe whatever you like.

 

When Ferrari race team member Nigel Stepney stole the plans from Ferrari and gave them to McLaren (McLaren didn't steal anything, although they were in possession of stolen data - a pretty important difference), the FIA itself revealed through extremely sloppy redaction of the hearing transcripts that Ferrari had been using CO2 in their F1 tires, not nitrogen.

At that time, nitrogen was already pretty commonly used by race teams worldwide for it's dry nature when used, allowing more precise control of hot pressures. The absence of moisture is the only single benefit to nitrogen vs. regular compressed air which contains moisture.

 

Isn't the earth almost out of helium?

 

My understanding from people who are more involved in that area, yes, there is a shortage. Whether it's a domestic or world wide supply issue, I am not knowledgeable enough to say...T

 

I believe it is pretty much self-sustaining from radioactive decay underground. If it were that scarce, I would expect that it would be too expensive to use in party balloons.

It can also be extracted from other substances, but I would image that is super expensive depending on economies of scale.

During my days in the oil & gas industry, I recall that the Federal Government would require helium associated with drilling and petroleum reserves be required to be reported annually which was a PIA.

 

Gordon doesn't CO2 destroy most rubber? When we use seals in Oil and Gas we use different seals, viton, buna, Kalrez etc. depending on the CO2 content since it usually swells the seals

 

Discount Tire offered Nitrogen for years but has since discontinued it; here is why:
https://www.discounttiredirect.com/learn/air-vs-nitrogen

 

In the broadcast business where high power transmitters are routinely used, the transmission lines, typically 6" in diameter or bigger waveguide, nitrogen is used to pressure the lines because it is dry. The risk of flash over from the center conductor to the outside conductor is unacceptable using any gas other than nitrogen because of moisture. A flash over can cause a fire inside the transmission line and the effects are truly bad.

 

I don't think anyone is suggesting that nitrogen has no useful purpose...