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Nitrogen gas for inflating tires

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  • Nitrogen gas for inflating tires

    Daily Planet on Discovery Channel just showed a short report on Costco tire center filling up tires with pure nitrogen.

    While there's the stated benefit of no corrision from oxygen and water molecules, less leakage (supposedly both nitrogen and oxygen molecules leak through rubber but nitrogen at much less rate, even though this is so small I doubt it's even worth mentioning ), I also seem to recall nitrogen molecules expands and contracts less from temperature change which is a huge benefit for race car application.

    I am curious though if Costco is actually first purging the volume of "regular" air that is already in the tire/rim cavity when the tire is mounted on the rim before they fill it with nitrogen

    This seems to be more gimmick than anything in a consumber application.
    Last edited by aviography; 03-03-2005, 08:31 PM.
    Racing images:

  • #2
    isn't the air we breathe 70% nitrogen?
    2005 F-Super Stock National Champion
    2005 F-Super Stock Regional Champion

    We Don't inherit the world from our Parents, We borrow it from our Children

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    • #3
      but pure nitrogen has predictable expansion properties, etc. If there is no moisture in the gas that fills the tire, then you can remove water moisture from the equation too. Ya, there are certainly benefits for racing.
      Racing is the process of turning money into noise.

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      • #4
        I have done it for a couple of regional races. Just set it and forget it. When the proper presure is found, there is no need for adjustment through the day. The presure stays consistant at all four corners even thou driving style changes (more/less agressive), improved tire life (don't ask me how, thats just what I saw). All in all, it's worth the extra effort.
        However, the target presures are different, this takes some time to figuire out.
        Now this is were the extra effort comes in. The air in the tire must be completely removed for best results. This is done with a vacuum pump and a special home made hose to attach to the tire. The tire become severly distorted because it gets sucked against the inside of the rim. this is probobly not a good idea with steel belted tires, but that is the only way to remove all air and moisture. This takes along time (at least 30min per tire to remove moisture). If you dont do that, the tire still has about 30% air in it, so you dont have the maximum effect of the nitrogen. The carcass of the tire can become damaged durring vacuum because of the distortion. This can lead to failure down the road. So ask around before you try this at home.
        J.X.
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