nitrogen

[Bob Pagano]

Simple, nitrogen makes your tires run cooler. You will have too heat them longer to hold the heat this will = faster tire ware costing you more than the worth of buying nitrogen.

[mopar jeff]

Originally Posted by Bob Pagano

Simple, nitrogen makes your tires run cooler. You will have too heat them longer to hold the heat this will = faster tire ware costing you more than the worth of buying nitrogen.

This is the kind of answer I was looking for. So far nobody has said anything good about it, to justify it, so I think I will skip it. Thanks for all the responses, and even the funny ones.

[Myron Piatek]

Now that I think about it, I couldn't help but wonder...... "How" does it make the tire run cooler? The same amount of burnout heat will not cause the nitrogen to expand as much as regular air. So one may need to start out with more nitrogen pressure in the slicks to provide the optimum established contact patch after the burnout.

The only way I can think of nitrogen helping a tire appear to run cooler is that if it does not absorb heat as much as regular air, so pressure doesn't go up. But the actual rubber temperature would still seem to remain the same.

After doing some research on the net, it seems nitrogen may be better in certain applications, but for different reasons. Might not be worth the trouble as long as you check your tire pressures anyway. Even if nitrogen doesn't seep as much as air, keeps pressures more consistent and may be less corrosive due to a lack of humidity and oxygen, one still needs to check tires for air seepage/loss due to punctures!

[njk53]

Originally Posted by Bob Pagano

Simple, nitrogen makes your tires run cooler. You will have too heat them longer to hold the heat this will = faster tire ware costing you more than the worth of buying nitrogen.

nitrogen has smaller molecules and will find small holes to seep out of. Helium is even worse. If tou have the tiniest of leaks you better take an air tank to the staging lanes with you.

[SSDiv6]

Originally Posted by njk53

nitrogen has smaller molecules and will find small holes to seep out of. Helium is even worse. If tou have the tiniest of leaks you better take an air tank to the staging lanes with you.

Nitrogen does not have smaller molecules and it does not have anything to do with it. It is the chemical composition that is different. Nitrogen does not make tires run cooler. Nitrogen is an inert gas and non-reactive; it is a byproduct of a reaction.

Nitrogen inerting is used in aircraft to reduce the probability of residual fuel gases igniting in empty fuel tanks.

[rayfin]

"If you used helium, would'nt you have to add weight back to car,LOL" I always wondered about this......

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/eng99/eng99085.htm

name Don
age 40s

Question - I am a Weight Reduction Engineer at Lockheed
Aircraft. One of my fellow worker suggested using helium in the tires as
a 3 lb savings. After I finished laughing I realized he was serious. I
have included his original E-mail to me. Questions Will the helium stay
in the tires and how much weight do you see this saving.

Don,

I was teasing you a little when I suggested using Helium in the tires.

A little closer but still dirty look seems to indicate that over three
pounds is possible per ship set. Dirty because I do not have all the
numbers exactly and made some guesses...

[mopar jeff]

One way to tell for sure is weigh a tire empty, then pump it up with air. See what the difference is. Probably not worth it, or everyone would already be on it. Since I had to add so much weight to my car, it definitely would never help.

[njk53]

Originally Posted by SSDiv6

Nitrogen does not have smaller molecules and it does not have anything to do with it. It is the chemical composition that is different. Nitrogen does not make tires run cooler. Nitrogen is an inert gas and non-reactive; it is a byproduct of a reaction.

Nitrogen inerting is used in aircraft to reduce the probability of residual fuel gases igniting in empty fuel tanks.

SSDiv6 I stand corrected. The molecules of nitrogen and compressed air are about the same. Actually the leak rate between nitrogen and compressed air @ 30PSI is very small.
I did some experimentation at work where I used Hydrogen that was mixed with a 5% solution of nitrogen that made it inflamable. That is how I got the two confused. The hydrogen solution would find a hole as small as 1 X 10 to the minus 6. My statement on Helium stands. It will get through a hole 1 x 10 to the minus 4.

[Keith 944]

nitrogen is clean ie. no water vaper, how much water passes from your air compressor into your tires? i personally do not know if this is a big issue or not, but i do know air compressors make a lot of water...