Potpourri starting May 17, 2010

[heathicus]

I had never heard of putting nitrogen in tires, so I had to do some research. I read both sides of the arguments and from what I can tell, it's a bunch of hogwash. The benefits are minuscule for the average vehicle.

According to a test Consumer Reports did:

The tires were filled and deflated three times with nitrogen to purge the air out of the tire cavity. We also used an oxygen analyzer to be sure we had 95-percent nitrogen purity in the tire--the claimed purity limit of our nitrogen system, which generates nitrogen gas from ambient air.

The test started on September 20, 2006 and the final measurements were taken on September 20, 2007. The results show nitrogen does reduce pressure loss over time, but the reduction is only a 1.3 psi difference from air-filled tires. The average loss of air-filled tires was just 3.5 psi from the initial 30 pressure setting. Nitrogen-filled tires lost an average of 2.2 psi from the initial 30 psi setting. More important, all tires lost air pressure regardless of the inflation medium, so consumers should check their tires' air pressure routinely. No evaluation was done to assess the aging claim.

I thought "Straight Dope" had a good response to the issue. I won't quote the whole article, but the link is here:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... ead-of-air

[JPG]

Maybe they should just fill them with an inert gas like helium(it would make them lighter!:D

[brick1]

hey there, Francis Robinson. i read your post with much admiration for your business style. capitalism requires a mix of "customer satisfaction, and that is number ONE!", bookkeeping, planning, and marketing. sounds like you have done very well for your business and family. congratulations!

i have a sister-in-law in Greensburg. are you near there??

take care, bill

[mickyd]

Back here, you asked:

You keep ROCKS in your house?:D

.....I don't. I borrowed them from 'Herb' who as you recall, lives in my backyard.
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[robinson46176]

Clarification. You can not say that a nitrogen filled tire is 50% air. It would only be about 50% air if air was compressed and nitrogen was compressed and put in the tire together. To fill a tire they let all of the "compressed air" out and all that is left is residual air that is now under no more pressure than the air outside of the tire. As the "compressed" nitrogen is pushed into the tire that basically zero pressure air inside of the tire is also compressed as much as the final pressure of the tire and then amounts to a very tiny part of the compressed contents of the tire.
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Saying it is 50% air reminds me of the old Benny Hill skit where Benny was a restaurant owner and someone was accusing him of putting horse meat in his rabbit stew. When pressed Benny confessed that his stew did indeed contain a "little bit" of horse meat. When press for how much he said 50% - 50%... One horse and one rabbit...
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To eliminate air loss from a tire that leaks very slowly (like 5 or 6 pounds a month) some folks like to put a few of ounces of ethylene glycol antifreeze in their tires. Many farmers now use an ethylene glycol antifreeze mix in tractor tires for ballast instead of using a calcium chloride solution because the calcium is so corrosive to the rims. The ethylene glycol mix is not as heavy per gallon as the calcium but is far less trouble in the long run.
I have never tried it on a car tire but on farm implements if you have a leaking tire (not a big puncture or break) you can put about 6 ounces of ethylene glycol antifreeze in it along with about four rumpled up pages of newsprint and the paper will break down to where it is a slurry of fibers which will seal a fair sized leak. The most common use being the tires on rotary mowers (Bush-Hog) that are used a lot where there are a lot of thorns.
Obviously you have to put the paper inside of the tire when the bead is broken down. It would be really tough to poke it all in the valve stem.
These days I use a lot of "Green Slime" and it works very well. I have several hundred tires on the ground or did until this year when I started selling stuff off.
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I don't really buy the whole huge savings bit from the nitrogen and have never used it but I do see an awful lot of cars these days running one or more tires half flat and that scares me. Those folks head out to the interstate and crank it up to 70 or 75 MPH with no idea of the hazard they have become to themselves and others.

[robinson46176]

I can navigate the forum fine but no new postings for Friday May 17, 2010 as of about 9:20 AM...
Has everyone jumped ship or is everybody else in the shop?

[JPG]

I can navigate the forum fine but no new postings for Friday May 17, 2010 as of about 9:20 AM...
Has everyone jumped ship or is everybody else in the shop?

You must be in a time warp.

Today is Friday 5/21/2010 and the forum software says it is 9:50!:D

[wlhayesmfs]

I don't know if this is the group for me or not. LOL After reading that part on the CNC router and watching it work and everyone talking about building this and everything else. Everyone passed me up. I stay with Farmer on hammers, hatchets, etc I am pretty good on my old ER's but they don't have circuit boards and run though the computer. Now I would love to know how to do that but I am still trying to learn Sketch UP basics. I almost have the 3-d box built.

[robinson46176]

You must be in a time warp.

Today is Friday 5/21/2010 and the forum software says it is 9:50!:D

The calender elves tripped me...

[JPG]

The calender elves tripped me...

They must be related to the shop GREMLINS!?:D