flyboy1963

flyboy1963

Well Known Member
I've had pretty good luck maintaining tire pressure with the stock 'Van's' tire/tube setup....adding air a couple times a year, when winter comes etc.
Now I see one main is not holding as well. Is it worth using Nitrogen? ( hard to get at the airport!!!)
.......or is this just a tire shop marketing ploy?...I mean, heck, the atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen anyway, how big a diff could it make replacing the other 22%?
I'm already offended having to put 50 cents in the pump at the gas station for dirty damp compressed air for my car!....now they want $2 for Nitrogen!

would like to hear who is using Nitrogen, in cold climates, if there is any difference? Why not Helium? :)

thanks all!
 
Get the Michelin Airstop tubes...

...and dont look back. Believe it or not, they where furnished standard in my RV6 kit years ago and in my RV3 kit I purchased more recently. It seems some times Van's supplies them in the kits and sometimes they dont. Not sure why.
 
Passive Nitrogen Generator

If it were only the oxygen leaking out with the nitrogen remaining behind in the tire, wouldn't you end up with almost all nitrogen after a few fillups? IMHO, it's a scam for automobiles and other low performance uses. Definitely worthwhile for very high performance applications, though.
 
Its a scam. My son manages a Discount Tire store and they only offered it for a very short period of time because of the competition when it first hit the tire market. They discontinued it after about a month.
 
larrynew said:
If it were only the oxygen leaking out with the nitrogen remaining behind in the tire, wouldn't you end up with almost all nitrogen after a few fillups? IMHO, it's a scam for automobiles and other low performance uses. Definitely worthwhile for very high performance applications, though.
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The use of pure Nitrogen is dictated by two things:
a) lack of oxygen in the tube, which tends to... oxygenate tubes so they degrade faster
b) higher stability in pressure and temperature changes - that's why it's used in airliners.

It has nothing to do with it leaking or not.

Is it worth $2 per car/wheel? Definitely no. You won't see any difference/cost savings in your typical use.
 
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Tomasz said:
b) higher stability in pressure and temperature changes - that's why it's used in airliners.
Click to expand...

I'd be very surprised if at typical tire pressures and temperatures you see a significant deviation from an ideal gas for oxygen or nitrogen, let alone a difference between the two. Both are 2-atom molecules, so from a thermodynamic point of view they are pretty much the same.

The only difference I see is that nitrogen will come from liquid nitrogen at some point in the supply chain, thus being very dry, while regular air is humid and the water might condensate and at high altitudes freeze inside the tube.

Hendrik
 
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it works

I haven't used it on my airplane yet, but I've been using it on my bicycles for I think 1yr+ now

I can fill a tire to 130 psi and a week later it will still be over 115
my mountain bike tires which I fill into the 30-40 range will only loose a pound or two over 2 weeks.

In my view its worth it, but I just haven't gotten around to getting a nitrogen bottle for the hanger.

However, I have taken to filling my airplane tires to 70 psi when ever I fill them. I do it a few times a year and it seems to be enough.
 
Definitely use Michelin Air Stop Tubes

I just finished my annual. My wheel pants never came off for an entire year because I never had to add air. After a year, pressure measured 25psi. Last year, before I had an accurate gauge, I re-filled to 25-30psi. I just bought a nice gauge that indicated 25psi. I added 3psi for fun... Prior to Air Stop tubes, I added air every month or two.

Good luck,
 
Oxidizes quicker?

Never heard anyone say this but I suspect the reason air is not used in high pressure tires or oleo struts is the higher the pressure, the quicker the oxidation rate. My chemist buddy agreed. Anyone else?
 
More on Tubes?

Dean Pichon said:
My wheel pants never came off for an entire year because I never had to add air. <SNIP> Prior to Air Stop tubes, I added air every month or two. Good luck,
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I see two good reviews for the Michelin Air Stop tubes,

Any other tube-votes out there?? I want to make this A model gear as bullet proof as I can :cool:
 
Do a search on "Michelin", and you'll find more endorsements of the Air Stops than you can count!
 
I think that a couple reasons why Nitrogen is used on airliners is the pressure required and the dry nature of the gas.

Typical pressure in airliner tires is something like 300 psi, I think, which is simply not available except in bottle form. The Nitrogen is dry, so that minimizes freezing problems. And, since there is no Oxygen, flammability is probably decreased with high pressures.

Same thing with oleo struts - dry gas and pressure requirements higher than your typical compressor can put out.
 
Pressure Variation with Temp?

Above, it is alleged that pure Nitrogen will change pressure less than air, given the same temp change for the same original volume and temp.

I admit that I am a little unclear about pure gasses vs. mixed ones, but when did they repeal Boye's law?
 
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Boyle's law does not apply to marketing departments.

However, for the physical world, mixing gases has no effect on PV = nRT.

Pat
 
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AZtailwind said:
Any other tube-votes out there?? I want to make this A model gear as bullet proof as I can :cool:
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I installed a new set of Aero Classic "LeakGuard" tubes (similar synthetic butyl rubber compound as the Michelin Air Stops) on the mains of my Cherokee in July of 2008 when I changed the tires. I have not had to add any air to them since then. None. Zilch. Nada.
 
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