Tires- Nitrogen Filling

[mindwerkz]

Thats a sweet imagination you have there mindwerkz, but remember that nitrogen makes up a pretty large portion of air so I doubt it would have such an "explosive" effect.

I bet N2O plasma does. 8) Research needs to be done. Someone go put some in their microwave and see.

[6G72gearhead]

You keep thinking that, in the mean time go watch how some guys drive, or ask them what thier tire temps are.

Thats fine I will. I know autocrossing doesn't generate the heat that F1 or Nascar does, so keep thinking as you will.

Not all cars will generate that kind of heat, but many of the prepared and mod cars do. Alignment set ups are more extreme as well as the simple fact that some of the courses are really tight and wont allow much tire cooling between corners. I know people that are running temps from the 170-220 range depending on tire composition. My tires will run up to 156 if I tune it right. Some people also use tire warming bags to preheat the tires close to their optimal range.

[mindwerkz]

Do those make much of a difference with auto-X?

[6G72gearhead]

Its all about running the tire in its optimum traction range, all tires have a temprature that they produce the best traction at. Even on F1 and Nascar tires, if they get them too hot they get greasy and dont give the traction nessicary to keep up, thats why you dont see them sliding through each turn, if they do that it overheats the tires and they wont grip as well through the next corner. When you get into the national level of autocross competition they get real serious with tire temps, and do all in thier power to keep it right. If its cold they heat the tires and if its too hot they spray them down with water between runs. On launch before you hit the lights a burnout can increase times through getting the tires up to optimum temprature by the first corner. You have to be careful though because if you overdo it all the heat you've gained will be offset by the vibration frequency in the rubber which at a point will cause the tire to get more brittle and get harder. Thats why when drag racing on street tires its not at all good practice to do a burnout, as most street tires dont like going above 110* and when you exceed that you have caused a vibration frequency that makes the rubber more brittle and produces less traction.