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nitrogen in tires explained
Posted by Sam Stoney (more from Sam Stoney) on Wed, 4 Dec 2002 19:51:50
In Reply to: decision made on dunlops winter sport, aero rules, Wed, 4 Dec 2002 03:57:45
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There's a real simple reason that nitrogen works better than standard compressed air - water. Standard compressed air can have any amount of moisture in it. Figure on a typical day at a nice humid racetrack the air going into the compressor can have a dewpoint of over 60degF - this will literally be spitting water withthe compressed air comming out the air chuck. The air you get at your local gas station is probaly worse.
As your tire warms up guess what happens to that water in your tire? It turns to vapor, and water vapor is no ideal gas. it expands tremendously as temperatures rise making it very difficult to maintin consistant tire pressure at the track.
Bottled Nitrogen is cheap, and usually instrument quality - that means it will have a dew point in the -40 degree range. It is pretty much the cheapest commercial gas, so it is why it is used. Personally I used to scuba dive so I use my old scuba tanks filled at the local dive shop with plain old air -but air that has been filtered and dried to a similarly low moisture content. It seems to work the same.
Before you goes off to get a tank of nitrogen - you're not going to see a performance benefit, as passenger tires on the street just don't heat up like race tires. But on the other hand, a big nitrogen tank will power an air wrench long enough to rebuild a V8. At about 5 bucks a fill, it has a lot of advantages over a compressor.
Sam Stoney - Saab wagon owner and motorcycle sidecar racer
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