Nitrogen for tire inflation

My local Costco is advertising their use of nitrogen for automobile tire
inflation. They say nitrogen is a dry, inert gas used to inflate airplane
tires, off-road truck tires, military vehicle tires and race car tires for
improved performance.

Apparently, the oxygen in compressed air is bad for tires, and I assume,
tubes.

So, does topeak or zefal make a reasonably priced, frame-mounted nitrogen
generator?

Another reason nitrogen is used in some aircraft tires (jets) is that it will
not sustain combustion. There is a very significant amount of oxygen in a
large air-filled tire at ~200 psi.


Mike Yankee

(Address is munged to thwart spammers.
To reply, delete everything after "com".)

Another reason nitrogen is used in some aircraft tires (jets) is that it will
not sustain combustion. There is a very significant amount of oxygen in a
large air-filled tire at ~200 psi.


Mike Yankee

(Address is munged to thwart spammers.
To reply, delete everything after "com".)

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 10:18:53 -0700, Erik Freitag
wrote:

My local Costco is advertising their use of nitrogen for automobile tire
inflation. They say nitrogen is a dry, inert gas used to inflate airplane
tires, off-road truck tires, military vehicle tires and race car tires for
improved performance.

Apparently, the oxygen in compressed air is bad for tires, and I assume,
tubes.

So, does topeak or zefal make a reasonably priced, frame-mounted nitrogen
generator?

Dear Erik,

Probably not, but years ago bottles of compressed nitrogen
were carried by Tour riders:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...uper news.com

or

http://tinyurl.com/66hj2

If you browse the thread, you'll see suggestions that the
nitrogen oozes out (sorry, the right word escapes me)
through the rubber of the inner tube more slowly than CO2.

Carl Fogel

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 10:18:53 -0700, Erik Freitag
wrote:

My local Costco is advertising their use of nitrogen for automobile tire
inflation. They say nitrogen is a dry, inert gas used to inflate airplane
tires, off-road truck tires, military vehicle tires and race car tires for
improved performance.

Apparently, the oxygen in compressed air is bad for tires, and I assume,
tubes.

So, does topeak or zefal make a reasonably priced, frame-mounted nitrogen
generator?

Dear Erik,

Probably not, but years ago bottles of compressed nitrogen
were carried by Tour riders:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...uper news.com

or

http://tinyurl.com/66hj2

If you browse the thread, you'll see suggestions that the
nitrogen oozes out (sorry, the right word escapes me)
through the rubber of the inner tube more slowly than CO2.

Carl Fogel

Amount? BS I'll bet you can't tell us how many moles. In any case there
is still more N2 (80%) than O2 (20%) in any volume of 'air' at any pressure.


"MikeYankee" wrote in message
...
Another reason nitrogen is used in some aircraft tires (jets) is that it
will
not sustain combustion. There is a very significant amount of oxygen in
a
large air-filled tire at ~200 psi.


Mike Yankee

(Address is munged to thwart spammers.
To reply, delete everything after "com".)

Amount? BS I'll bet you can't tell us how many moles. In any case there
is still more N2 (80%) than O2 (20%) in any volume of 'air' at any pressure.


"MikeYankee" wrote in message
...
Another reason nitrogen is used in some aircraft tires (jets) is that it
will
not sustain combustion. There is a very significant amount of oxygen in
a
large air-filled tire at ~200 psi.


Mike Yankee

(Address is munged to thwart spammers.
To reply, delete everything after "com".)

I am convinced it is a gimmick. I picked up the brochure at the Costco tire
shop, and studied it. The main "advantage" of nitrogen is that the molecule
is slightly heavier than oxygen, so it seeps out of the tire more slowly.
This, supposedly, results in less tendency toward underinflation. And, of
course, we all know that underinflated tires don't wear properly, and cause
loss of gas mileage. If you watch your tire pressures, then there is no
advantage. If you start out with a nitrogen-filled tire, and watch your
tire pressures, you will eventually replace most of the nitrogen with air.

However, if you start out with air in your tires, and the oxygen leaks
faster than the nitrogen, as you keep topping up, you will gradually
increase the concentration of nitrogen in your tires.

IMO, Costco is spending money on nitrogen in order to improve tire sales.

I am convinced it is a gimmick. I picked up the brochure at the Costco tire
shop, and studied it. The main "advantage" of nitrogen is that the molecule
is slightly heavier than oxygen, so it seeps out of the tire more slowly.
This, supposedly, results in less tendency toward underinflation. And, of
course, we all know that underinflated tires don't wear properly, and cause
loss of gas mileage. If you watch your tire pressures, then there is no
advantage. If you start out with a nitrogen-filled tire, and watch your
tire pressures, you will eventually replace most of the nitrogen with air.

However, if you start out with air in your tires, and the oxygen leaks
faster than the nitrogen, as you keep topping up, you will gradually
increase the concentration of nitrogen in your tires.

IMO, Costco is spending money on nitrogen in order to improve tire sales.

Nitrogen certainly seeps out more slowly than CO2. Fill your tire with
CO2 and it's flat within a day or two.

Nitrogen is nice and inert, and it's also like 73% of the content of
normal air. I think Oxygen is around 16%. Someone else can check my
figures ;-)

On 2004-10-15 12:45:07 -0700, said:

On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 10:18:53 -0700, Erik Freitag
wrote:

My local Costco is advertising their use of nitrogen for automobile tire
inflation. They say nitrogen is a dry, inert gas used to inflate airplane
tires, off-road truck tires, military vehicle tires and race car tires for
improved performance.

Apparently, the oxygen in compressed air is bad for tires, and I assume,
tubes.

So, does topeak or zefal make a reasonably priced, frame-mounted nitrogen
generator?

Dear Erik,

Probably not, but years ago bottles of compressed nitrogen
were carried by Tour riders:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...uper news.com

or

http://tinyurl.com/66hj2

If


or

http://tinyurl.com/66hj2

If you browse the thread, you'll see suggestions that the
nitrogen oozes out (sorry, the right word escapes me)
through the rubber of the inner tube more slowly than CO2.

Carl Fogel