As If Nitrogen Filling Is Special?

[GatorJ]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Anyway, I've got an even more speculative fix for the external degradation. I treat them with sunflower oil.

That may work, but I've never tried.

I've taken off plenty of tires off of agricultural equipment. The insides don't tend to suffer a lot, even though they're old tires, spending a lot of time sitting in the sun, gather few real miles. Often, a taxi tire would get a second life as a tire on a discer or a seed drill, which is the best apples to apples comparison, because you could retrofit such a thing with those tubeless tires.


This would be far more effective. I've been using it for two years now and am extremely pleased.

Tuf Shine


By the way, before I purchased lifetime nitrogen fills for all of my vehicles, I used SCUBA tank air...as dry and clean a supply of air as you will find.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: GatorJ
Originally Posted By: troberts
That was my conclusion after evaluating the cost of equipment to produce it in a shop and the pricing for customers. Yes, pure (hard to produce)nitrogen creeps through tire bladders at a slower rate than plain old air, it is dry and potentially reduces corrosion inside alloy wheels, and doesn't expand and contract as much with temperature changes. Thus, its use on airliners and race cars. Bleh... Dealers didn't like my conclusion since they're constantly trying to get the last dollar out of a car deal or maximize the intake from each service visit. I'm glad to be out of that war.....


Which is exactly why I pay for it for all of my vehicles. Some people might not think it's worth it and that that's fine. There is no question, however, that it has all of the advantages you mentioned. That, combined with lifetime (of ownership of the vehicles) refills for new tires, flat repairs and top offs makes it well worth it for me.

I bought my tires at Costco. I can have them fill up with their generated nitrogen at any time (if there's not a long line) gratis, but I'll choose not to for reasons of convenience. It's just not worth the time.

As for aircraft and race car tires, they have very specific reasons why nitrogen is used. Commercial aircraft are subjected to extremely cold temperatures where water vapor will freeze to ice. They're also pressurized to some ridiculous pressure on the ground, and canisters can supply that pressure. And the primary reason is because of a risk of fire when the tires suddenly heat up on landing or from overheating. They wouldn't even think of using the nitrogen output of a tire-shop style membrane generator. These use high quality canisters like used for welding or other critical industrial applications.

I found one instance where the use of regular air contributed to an aircraft accident. Mexicana 940 from Mexico City to Los Angeles. The maintenance crew filled a landing gear tire with regular air instead of the canned nitrogen they were supposed to use. It overheated because of a stuck brake, and because there was oxygen in the tire, it caught on fire and eventually exploded. The explosion then ruptured a fuel line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexicana_Flight_940