I was flipping through the channels this morning and happen to run across an
episode of Trucks or one of them shows on Spike and they were talking about
Nitrogen Gas. Specifically they were talking about using it in tire, as the
molecules are bigger the O2 and a few other reasons that I forgot.
Has anyone used this vice air/O2?
Costco uses nitrogen as does many tire shops here. I believe pure
nitrogen does not expand and contract as much as air resulting in more
stable tire pressure with temperature changes. Many people fail to
check their tires as seasons change resulting in poor tire wear.
The "funny" part of this is that "air" is about 78% nitrogen. Nitrogen
is a bit more stable than air with tempature increase but the biggest
plus of nitrogen is that it cannot hold humidity. ALso on the leak
theory, only the oxygen molecules would leak out if you went with that
and that would still leave 80% of the "air" volume. When I was around
F4 many years ago they used to use nitrogen in their main tires foe to
reasons, one was it was a little more stable and the other is that it
did not support combustion because when they got hot brake on F4 they
would tow they over pucture strips to "blow" the tire before heat did
and the was no burst of oxygen when it burst to fan a fire if one
starts. In a car it is like more than a novelty
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TheSnoMan.com
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It's been around for several years now..AZ.
Haven't used it myself, have worked on vehicles with it
in the tires.
My personal thunk's on the matter..??
A fine idea. Does what it says.
but......
If folks would ck their tire pressures regularly.....
this would be one LESS gimmick to charge them for.
mmmmm.....kinda akin to tranny flush'n in my book.
~~
00
L
O
m/o
~:~
marsh
~sips his crownroyal......hooks up the flusher~
~:~
==================
It's been around for several years now..AZ.
Haven't used it myself, have worked on vehicles with it
in the tires.
My personal thunk's on the matter..??
A fine idea. Does what it says.
but......
If folks would ck their tire pressures regularly.....
this would be one LESS gimmick to charge them for.
mmmmm.....kinda akin to tranny flush'n in my book.
~~
00
L
O
I would think that in AZ with as hot as it gets that it would be of a
benefit, even when one does check air pressure regularly.
Probably so. I have a tire PSI monitor system on my Caliber. I notice
it will read 32PSI in the morning when cold and 40PSI after driving an
hour on hot roads.
However, it could be that the sensors themselves are subject to error
caused by temperature shifts. Will have to get my old fashioned gage
out to check.
If you remember Boyle's Law from physics class, the pressure increases as a
function of temperature so the increase in tire pressure while driving is
normal. A good rule of thumb is about 1 psi per 8-10 degrees F.
Mike
Well, the ones on the Charger aren't. I've set the pressure a few times with
the same guage and can't get all 4 to read the same after moving the car.
I've kept it out of the sun, driven it in a straight line, let it sit all
day and tried it at night, Backed out of the garage and right back in and
there is always one that is off a pound or two. It varies as to which one it
will be.
Roy
I assume tire PSI sensors are nothing more than miniature force
transducers. They use strain gages to measure deflection from force or
pressure. If temperature changes then the transducers flexure expands
or contracts. The gages don't know the difference and show an error.
I'd be interested in seeing just how well they are temperature
compensated. If the error is repeatable between different sensors then
the error curve could be programmed into the computer.
Ex - A&P mech here (Boeings and Lears) -
Nitrogen is used to fill transport category aircraft tires (727, 757,
etc), but I was told this is for several reasons - it dissipates heat
better (imagine if the reversers are out, and 600,000 pounds is on the
wheelbrakes), and in the event of a tire fire or wheel well fire,
there's no extra oxygen to feed the fire when the thermal fuse plugs
pop out. Also, there's no water condensation at altitude when the
wheel cold soaks at 35k feet.
Not sure what the advantages would be in an automotive application,
and it seems like a pain in the ass to have to hunt for a nitrogen
tank when your tires are low.
Advantage; cheap.
Disadvantage; being plain old air, it doesn't have that feel of
exclusivity to it.
Filling passenger car/truck tires with pure nitrogen is nothing
more than a profit add on for those selling the service and a new
market for the equipment companies pushing the machinery.
In the case where a tire store may do it as a no charge, it
merely becomes a sales tactic for why the customer should choose
to buy their tires instead of going to the competition.
Yeah, there is a bit of science to support using nitrogen in
tires but not enough to make it worth the cost or hassle for us
mere mortals.
I disagree. The average person going into a tire center here would have
gone anyways regardless of nitrogen or not. They're looking for the
best prices on a given tire.
My guess is there are other reasons that are money motivated. Such as
law suits from tire blow outs even though the owner failed to maintain
proper PSI. Or perhaps tire manufactures can claim higher mileage and
fewer warranty claims as a result of PSI that is more stable.
The "average" person doesn't know what they want.
Yes, they will eventually go to a tire vendor, but they tend to
be a bit clueless when it comes to making an intelligent choice.
True enough, and when the price is the same between store X and
store Y, they'll look for something to finalize the decision.
Nixon lost to Kennedy because he 'looked' unshaven in a televised
debate.
Neither of which nitrogen will prevent or avoid.
Nitrogen still diffuses thru the rubber, it just does it at a
slower rate than compressed air.
I know of no passenger car/light truck tire manufacturer that
mandates using nitrogen to fill, in fact, a few have debunked the
supposed benefits.
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