CO2 and car tires

[Jaan]

They have quick inflators for bicycles that use CO2. I would think that any problems with CO2 being "unstable" would show up on bicycle road racing tires as well ... those go up to 120 psi and those bikes can easily reach 40mph downhill. At any rate, it seems that at the pressures we're talking about CO2 wouldn't be as unstable as it is in a standard paintball tank.

I know a couple of hard core off roaders who just use an A/C compressor and a storage tank.

[gc82000]

All the really hard core off roaders here use Scuba tanks. I dont know about bike tires I dont think they travel at 40 mph for over an hour or so. plus the fact that the tires use so little air anyways I dont think they will be that much of a factor.

[RazorMonkey]

Smaller volume would mean potentially larger fluctuations, buddy Bike tires handle CO2 fine... Car tires do as well... You guys don't understand that at such low pressures, CO2 is incredibly stable... It's not the cold liquid anymore. Breath in and out from a balloon... Do it for a while... Until you're just about to pass out... A very good percentage of the air in that balloon is CO2... Likely over 25%... And with a balloon, as the pressure increases, the size is noticeably changed... With CO2 in that balloon, is the balloon convulsing in an ever-growing/shrinking fit? No... It stays the same size until the air leaks out the microscopic holes in the rubber. Which would happen, regardless of the gas used... Given, the pressure in a balloon isn't more than a few PSI, but the point is that CO2 is VERY stable at low pressures, especially down in the sub-50 psi range... CO2 is perfectly safe in car tires, and that's a proven fact... There's a difference between a static gas and the same one on the verge of changing state... CO2 in a tire isn't suddenly released, changing state, 800 psi, moving through chambers of different volume, on a mad rush out to the atmosphere... It's, for the most part, going to act the same as normal air... It pretty much IS normal air... lol I think you guys are imagining the freezing liquid CO2 going into the tire and crap... No... The CO2 in the tire is going to be the same temperature as compressed air would be in the tire... I'm repeating myself a lot, but I'm tired an not sure what I've said and what I haven't... CO2 is fine in car tires, end of story...

[billybob_81067]

Smaller volume would mean potentially larger fluctuations, buddy Bike tires handle CO2 fine... Car tires do as well... You guys don't understand that at such low pressures, CO2 is incredibly stable... It's not the cold liquid anymore. Breath in and out from a balloon... Do it for a while... Until you're just about to pass out... A very good percentage of the air in that balloon is CO2... Likely over 25%... And with a balloon, as the pressure increases, the size is noticeably changed... With CO2 in that balloon, is the balloon convulsing in an ever-growing/shrinking fit? No... It stays the same size until the air leaks out the microscopic holes in the rubber. Which would happen, regardless of the gas used... Given, the pressure in a balloon isn't more than a few PSI, but the point is that CO2 is VERY stable at low pressures, especially down in the sub-50 psi range... CO2 is perfectly safe in car tires, and that's a proven fact... There's a difference between a static gas and the same one on the verge of changing state... CO2 in a tire isn't suddenly released, changing state, 800 psi, moving through chambers of different volume, on a mad rush out to the atmosphere... It's, for the most part, going to act the same as normal air... It pretty much IS normal air... lol I think you guys are imagining the freezing liquid CO2 going into the tire and crap... No... The CO2 in the tire is going to be the same temperature as compressed air would be in the tire... I'm repeating myself a lot, but I'm tired an not sure what I've said and what I haven't... CO2 is fine in car tires, end of story...

Agreed... I built a little air tank out of a 20 ouncer and a remote hooked up to a tire chuck... I use it to fill tires when I'm not around any air sources and it works extremely well. Also I don't remember who said that a tank wouldn't have enough volume to fill a tire, but you're wrong... it will fill a couple tires from completely flat or quite a few from half flat. That's just my experience with it...

[Miscue]

The pressure instability is due to evaporation and condensation of CO2 - the number of gaseous molecules changes, thus the pressure changes. CO2 tanks in paintball are compressed high enough to make the CO2 condense into liquid.

At lower pressures, this is not an issue and the pressure should be stable.

[SlartyBartFast]

THey're pricey, but they'll do the job.

Will even run air tools.

Just have to find the North American equivalent.

http://www.roverworld.com/extreme_aire_english.htm

[nerobro]

Yeah, co2 in tires is a bad idea. Tires go from ambiant to 150deg+ on the road. :-/ The general rule for inflation pressure is if the tire gains more than 3psi due to driving the tire is under inflated. CO2 will throw that completely out the window.

Imagine if you ended up with co2 snow in the tire Or you threw liquid in there.... in 20 minutes you'd have a very, very big bang.

A scuba tank is a good idea. Especially one filled with n2..

[hitech]

Tom believed there was a problem with using CO2 for tires:

Personally I think its a bad idea because CO2 will penetrate the buna rubber inner tube and leak out. Thats why we use urethane orings instead of the cheaper black ones.

Taken from:

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1806676#post1806676

[Deck365]

Smaller volume would mean potentially larger fluctuations, buddy Bike tires handle CO2 fine... Car tires do as well... You guys don't understand that at such low pressures, CO2 is incredibly stable... It's not the cold liquid anymore. Breath in and out from a balloon... Do it for a while... Until you're just about to pass out... A very good percentage of the air in that balloon is CO2... Likely over 25%... And with a balloon, as the pressure increases, the size is noticeably changed... With CO2 in that balloon, is the balloon convulsing in an ever-growing/shrinking fit? No... It stays the same size until the air leaks out the microscopic holes in the rubber. Which would happen, regardless of the gas used... Given, the pressure in a balloon isn't more than a few PSI, but the point is that CO2 is VERY stable at low pressures, especially down in the sub-50 psi range... CO2 is perfectly safe in car tires, and that's a proven fact... There's a difference between a static gas and the same one on the verge of changing state... CO2 in a tire isn't suddenly released, changing state, 800 psi, moving through chambers of different volume, on a mad rush out to the atmosphere... It's, for the most part, going to act the same as normal air... It pretty much IS normal air... lol I think you guys are imagining the freezing liquid CO2 going into the tire and crap... No... The CO2 in the tire is going to be the same temperature as compressed air would be in the tire... I'm repeating myself a lot, but I'm tired an not sure what I've said and what I haven't... CO2 is fine in car tires, end of story...

I bet monkey does not even own a car. If you do put co2 in the tires and write back
with 4 flat tires and a recked car. stay in school.

[RobAGD]

Well Q is right, at lower pressure CO2 stays a Gas. So inless you filling your tire with liquid you should be fine in this instance.

The smart thing to do would be after your back, empty and refil the tires with Nitrogen, Army has it right on that account, its over all a lot better to fill your tires with that than compressed air. Its such a great idea that the Costco here fills your tires with it when you buy new tires.

-Robert