Listers,
The use of nitrogen to inflate car tires may be something "new", but its use
to inflate aircraft tires is not. Nitrogen has 2 main benefits over
compressed air: 1) it is dry and 2) it contains no oxygen. The lack of
moisture and oxygen eliminates environmentally produced corrosion in the
wheel (i.e. not to be confused with stress corrosion, etc.). Air is
composed of about 78% nitrogen anyway, so the compressive behavior of the
tire does not change much. The tire's inflation pressure WILL increase as
the ambient temperature increases, provided that the tire's volume does not
change. In aircraft use, we also get the added benefit of nitrogen's fire
suppression capabilities - if a brake fire or overheated brake causes the
eutectic fuse plugs to melt, the escaping nitrogen displaces air to snuff
out the fire.
In short (I know - too late) the use of nitrogen in tires is a good thing,
but not necessarily for the reasons that the COSCO salesman was giving you.
Also, DO NOT check your tire pressures any less frequently if you switch to
nitrogen. Maintaining proper inflation pressure is still the easiest and
best way to keep your tires in good shape.
Michael Altomare
Lockheed Martin C-5 Engineering Sr. Mgr.
'77 Spitfire
'74 TR6
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of LaJoMor@aol.com
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 9:16 PM
To: 6pack@autox.team.net; triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: Something new about tires....???
Hello all...
Thought this might be an interesting and DIFFERENT topic for the lists...
While waiting for SWMBO to finish some shopping at my local COSTCO this
morning, I wandered into the tire shop. I saw a large green sign that read
something to the effect...We are now using NITROGEN in all of our tires
installed
here.....
I asked the salesman about it. He said it was the latest and greatest.
Something to the effect of the larger nitrogen molecules not leaking through
the
rubber and rim (?). The tires hold the nitrogen longer and only need
checking
only a couple of times a year. Also something about nitrogen not holding
water as
'regular' air does. And something about nitrogen not expanding when heated
by
friction etc. as 'regular' air does therefore tire pressure remains
constant....And so on and so forth...
He said COSTCO was the first to offer this on a mass marketing effort...
FWIW....
Larry M
CD5182L with regular ole' air....sort of....
Check out the new British Cars Forum:
http://www.team.net/the-local/tiki-view_forum.php?forumId=8
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