Nitrogen filled tires?
08-23-2004, 10:19 AM
#1
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Posts: 56
Nitrogen filled tires?
I was at Costco yesterday and saw that they offer Nitrogen instead of plain air for their tires. What are the advantages of nitrogen instead of air? The only thing I can think of is that nitrogen won't expand when heated as much as air, reducing tire pressure variance?
08-23-2004, 10:24 AM
#2
Race cars use nitrogen as well. The main reason is that atmospheric air has many impurities in it, from water to soot. At very, very high speeds, these impurities can affect the balance of the wheel. Using pure nitorgen elminates these impurities.
I can't imagine why you would bother with this ona street car.
As them why they offer it....
I can't imagine why you would bother with this ona street car.
As them why they offer it....
08-26-2004, 05:30 AM
#4
Thanks for the post. That's really odd they'd offer N as an option. I've got a friend who tracks his G35 and filled with N. Keeps the tires from expanding that exctra 3-5lbs under severe heat. Mine fronts expand about 2-4lbs during autox.
08-27-2004, 09:43 AM
#5
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 51
In addition to not expanding, nitrogen does not have the impurities in it that attack alloy rims, and cause them to become pitted. There was just an articel by Jay Leno in Popular Mechanics about this. Ingersol Rand now makes a Nitrogen "Air Compressor", just for this purpose.
08-27-2004, 09:28 PM
#7
Umm, at these temps and pressures, air and nitrogen will both behave at near-ideal conditions. that means when you get to the track, your air pressure will rise almost exactly the same wether you're running air (72% nitrogen, 16% oxygen, remainder oddball stuff).
The key thing with this is that the tires have DRY air in them. standard air compressors cause a TON of moisture to condense in the lines, and even a huge dryer at the compressor will still not filter out all of the water. The combination of oxygen and moisture in the air is what causes the pitting and corrosion inside the wheel...
from what I have heard talking to race techs, the race tires are filled with nitrogen simply because it's safer- there's no oxygen under pressure inside the tire to fuel a fire in the case a car wrecks and catches fire- then the tire explodes. if it's full of nitrogen and blows, it doesn't fuel the fire.
The key thing with this is that the tires have DRY air in them. standard air compressors cause a TON of moisture to condense in the lines, and even a huge dryer at the compressor will still not filter out all of the water. The combination of oxygen and moisture in the air is what causes the pitting and corrosion inside the wheel...
from what I have heard talking to race techs, the race tires are filled with nitrogen simply because it's safer- there's no oxygen under pressure inside the tire to fuel a fire in the case a car wrecks and catches fire- then the tire explodes. if it's full of nitrogen and blows, it doesn't fuel the fire.
08-27-2004, 09:43 PM
#8
on the helium thing.. it will only make a few grams of difference....
a 235/45/17 tire only has (roughly) 11 liters of air volume in it... at 35psi that's *roughly* 1 mole of gas.
with air at ~30g/mol and helium gas at 4g/mol, you can in theory save about 26 grams per corner.. 26g is just a hair under 1oz... one ounce is nothing. the weight of a pencil. per corner on the car. it's just not worth the hassle. you can rotate the tire on the wheel and save 1oz in weights when you balance the tire.
a 235/45/17 tire only has (roughly) 11 liters of air volume in it... at 35psi that's *roughly* 1 mole of gas.
with air at ~30g/mol and helium gas at 4g/mol, you can in theory save about 26 grams per corner.. 26g is just a hair under 1oz... one ounce is nothing. the weight of a pencil. per corner on the car. it's just not worth the hassle. you can rotate the tire on the wheel and save 1oz in weights when you balance the tire.
08-30-2004, 06:11 PM
#11
Originally Posted by mzmtg
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