tires with Nitrogen

[Alphacowboy]

WHO CARES? If you don't like the idea don't put it in your tires, it's as simple as that.

hahaha, that was an intelligent post... . :-laf I was just stating a point.

 

[dtygart]

I usually put water in my tires, runs much cooler, large molecules don't leak out, and I can fill them anywhere for free.



david

 

[Bernie]

Haven't seen the advantages on the track

I haven't seen the advantage of nitrogen in the race cars I've seen it run in. Racing is all about tire management, so if you can keep your tire temps and pressures better regulated you can set the car up better.



At least that is how it works on paper. In reality, the guys running nitrogen have very similar or the same temperature and pressure variance as those of us who use free air. Remember, the stuff we are breathing is about 77% nitrogen.



Also, unless you have VERY expensive rims with two valve stems (to let out the air as nitrogen is put in) you won't get all the air out and you are back to having an Oxygen/Nitrogen/Misc. other gasses combination.

 

[JHardwick]

Back when I raced sprint cars, we used bleeders to bleed off any rise in air pressure when the tires heated up. If I left the pits with 12# in the RR and 8# in the LR, ideally I would come back to the pits after a 30 lap feature with the same air pressues.



Somew guys switched to bottled nitrogen to achieve the same results. I was never convinced it worked. If you could compress plain old air with 0% humidity it would have the same effect ... ... ... ... but what about the humud air in the tire already as you bead it up?

 

[skipro3]

I work on some long lived electronic radio equipment. The radios are contained inside a clylindrical can, like a pressure cooker, where the lid is clamped down in place. These radio cans, about 3 feet tall and 2 feet in diameter, are pressurized with nitrogen to 5-7psi. First they are purged of the air by opening a spigot and flushing the air out with the nitrogen. Some of these radios haven't been opened in 25 years when I get to them. Upon relieving the pressure and opening them up, the radio looks, feels and smells like it was just built and assembled yesterday. No aging on any of the components. Even the paper documentation inside is like it was just printed yesterday. Now, that would be a good thing for tires and rims, I would think.

 

[klenger]

I used to work in an avionics shop that had an instrument shop. They overhauled gyros for Learjets. The gyro is mounted in a split case that is soldered together, the air purged out, and then pressurized with N2. This prevented condensation and freezing as the aircraft would ascend and descend from sea level to 50,000 feet. Not exactly the same environment as our truck tires operate in.

 

[tom sweeney]

just had new tires put on at Costco..... they fill all tires with nitrogen for a number of reasons... . i top off as needed with any available compressor with no worries. . if you have a Costco close by,that would be a good source... . 211k on my '01 at this point... . running strong... ... good luck!!!... ... ... ... tom

 

[BTowler]

I've had nitrogen in my first set of Dueller Revo's, got about 60k. New ones came from Firestone instead of Costco, so no nitrogen. I'll let everyone know the difference in about 52k. See ya then. :-laf

 

[Bernie]

What's the high altitude recepie?

The same, just at a lower pressure.

 

[rbattelle]

T_N2 = 1. 03*T_air

I just realized that this is irrelevant. It's true, but completely irrelevant to the discussion on whether N2 runs cooler than air.



What is relevant, is the specific heat at constant volume:



Air: 717. 4 [J/(kg*K)]

N2: 742 [J/(kg*K)]



Which means, theoretically, that N2 has roughly 3% more heat capacity than air.



This might explain N2 tires running cooler, on average. But the effect should be very small.



I apologize for not being more careful. I stand by my opinion that use of nitrogen instead of air is pointless except where inertness is required.



Ryan