Cal Club Autocross Forums

Anyone have suggestions for a good quality one that will last ? Next on the list of "pit stuff" I need... I found a little Goodyear 140 PSI 12 volt one that looks pretty decent.

Or how do you guys feel about just using a air tank instead ? If so, what size would you recommend ?

Thanks,

B

Air tank

Quick tire pressure adjustment, good for grid
Heavy/bulky

Compressor

Too slow for grid (if it's moving fast)
Great for pit, lasts longer than tank
Can blow fuse on some cars, if plugged into ciggy lighter

Power Station (& other names)

Compressor & jump start & light

Heavy/ a little bulky
No need to plug into car batt.

I use both the tank 7.5 gal and the power station

I was a boy scout, be prepared.

Hope that helps.

Aluminum air tank: light and quick. It lightens your wallet a bit too...

http://www.upr.com/Longacre-Aluminum-Air-Tank-p436.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the "tank only" option and use a separate tire gauge.

Mike

Edited to add: I'm looking into compressed nitrogen tanks right now. If you're interested Brett, let me know and I'll post what I find out. Apparently when your tires are filled with nitrogen the pressure remains much more constant throughout your runs.

Mike Simanyi wrote:Aluminum air tank: light and quick. It lightens your wallet a bit too...

http://www.upr.com/Longacre-Aluminum-Air-Tank-p436.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the "tank only" option and use a separate tire gauge.

Mike

Ooohhhhh... I like shiny things !!!!

Mike Simanyi wrote:Aluminum air tank: light and quick. It lightens your wallet a bit too..

I've been thinking about a tank too. How do you fill them? Gas station?

http://www.soloperformance.com/SPS-5-Ga ... _1269.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

$27

mikey,

I have a buddy here at work that was on a Porsche team and he said that the only way to truly do that properly ( nitrogen ) is to have a way to purge the air out of your tires ( $1500 item ) also you need to have the shop put on your tires dry without any liquid. Otherwise when you get them all set up, here's still humidity ( air ) in them.... :/

Anyone else around here know more about this subject ????

Anyone.... anyone... Bueller ????

Mike Simanyi wrote:Aluminum air tank: light and quick. It lightens your wallet a bit too...

http://www.upr.com/Longacre-Aluminum-Air-Tank-p436.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the "tank only" option and use a separate tire gauge.

Mike

Edited to add: I'm looking into compressed nitrogen tanks right now. If you're interested Brett, let me know and I'll post what I find out. Apparently when your tires are filled with nitrogen the pressure remains much more constant throughout your runs.

Mike Simanyi wrote:Aluminum air tank: light and quick. It lightens your wallet a bit too...

http://www.upr.com/Longacre-Aluminum-Air-Tank-p436.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the "tank only" option and use a separate tire gauge.

Mike

Edited to add: I'm looking into compressed nitrogen tanks right now. If you're interested Brett, let me know and I'll post what I find out. Apparently when your tires are filled with nitrogen the pressure remains much more constant throughout your runs.

Alternatives, and you don't have to pay shipping if you get it at a store.
Basic: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=41712" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Aluminum: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=94801" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nitrogen: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=97063" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Yeah, I know, it's Harbor Freight, but come on, it's an air tank, not a precision tool

Brett King wrote:mikey,

I have a buddy here at work that was on a Porsche team and he said that the only way to truly do that properly ( nitrogen ) is to have a way to purge the air out of your tires ( $1500 item ) also you need to have the shop put on your tires dry without any liquid. Otherwise when you get them all set up, here's still humidity ( air ) in them.... :/

Anyone else around here know more about this subject ????

Anyone.... anyone... Bueller ????

I would have thought that $15 minutes of a serious vacuum would be sufficient to boil out all the moisture in the tire. I'm not sure how you transition from the vacuum pump to the nitrogen fill though.

I'm not an expert on this, only seeing various comments on it in articles and such. Most focus on the moisture in the ambient air as the culprit. If that is the case, I'm not sure why an air compressor with a good dryer wouldn't also work. Something there I'm missing.

I've always been curious how they do it at CostCo. Do they have a special machine that evacuates the air, fills with nitrogen and places that pretty green cap on? Or do they just mount it and fill with nitrogen afterwards?

I'll have to go out to the garage latter to check what it's called, but we like(d) Karen's combo air pump, flash lite and jump starter because you would set the desired pressure and walk away from it. It turns itself off by itself. But now that feature stopped working. If you've ever walked away from the typically slow filling consumer compressor type and been distracted and come back to find your tire at 60 psi ... you'll like that auto cut-off feature!

We also have a small nitrogen tank that we could fill from, but we reserve it for topping up our Penske shock remote reservoirs. If we had a major refill, we would use it instead of the compressor.

Mike Simanyi wrote:Aluminum air tank: light and quick. It lightens your wallet a bit too...

http://www.upr.com/Longacre-Aluminum-Air-Tank-p436.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the "tank only" option and use a separate tire gauge.

Mike

Edited to add: I'm looking into compressed nitrogen tanks right now. If you're interested Brett, let me know and I'll post what I find out. Apparently when your tires are filled with nitrogen the pressure remains much more constant throughout your runs.

Mike's air tank is WAY LIGHT, i picked it up this weekend.

Hey Mike, just head over to the nearest welding supply house, put the deposit down and they'll give you a full nitrogen tank and be happy to sell you a regulator too. Then just bring it back and swap it out when it goes empty and they'll trade you for a full one. I usually use Advanced Gas in HB for that kinda stuff, but there are a million of them. Get some fittings from mcmaster carr so that you can hook standard air chucks to the regulator, then you can use air tools in an emergancy too, like this: http://share.3wheel.net/incoming/aaron_ ... 110011.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i like yer style Brown ;)

Rick Brown wrote:

Mike Simanyi wrote:Aluminum air tank: light and quick. It lightens your wallet a bit too...

http://www.upr.com/Longacre-Aluminum-Air-Tank-p436.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have the "tank only" option and use a separate tire gauge.

Mike

Edited to add: I'm looking into compressed nitrogen tanks right now. If you're interested Brett, let me know and I'll post what I find out. Apparently when your tires are filled with nitrogen the pressure remains much more constant throughout your runs.

Alternatives, and you don't have to pay shipping if you get it at a store.
Basic: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=41712" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Aluminum: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=94801" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nitrogen: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=97063" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Yeah, I know, it's Harbor Freight, but come on, it's an air tank, not a precision tool

Rick Brown wrote: Alternatives, and you don't have to pay shipping if you get it at a store.
Basic: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=41712" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Aluminum: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=94801" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nitrogen: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=97063" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Yeah, I know, it's Harbor Freight, but come on, it's an air tank, not a precision tool

The Longacre tank includes some special hardware that lets you fill the tank quickly, attaching an air hose to it. The aluminum tank from Harbor doesn't have that feature so it has to be filled from a normal air chuck. Not sure how long that takes, but I like the Longacre feature.

And I'm *definitely* not messing with a Harbor Freight tank for holding 3,000 psi gas!

Mike

KJ Christopher wrote: I'm not an expert on this, only seeing various comments on it in articles and such. Most focus on the moisture in the ambient air as the culprit. If that is the case, I'm not sure why an air compressor with a good dryer wouldn't also work. Something there I'm missing.

For the silkscreening operation at Redsand, we used a heavy duty Ingersoll Rand dryer to ensure we didn't have trouble with the machinery. Unfortunately the dryer itself was trouble. They're essentially a small refrigerator, evaporating the moisture out of the air. I believe we paid a couple thousand dollars for it.

Moisture is the issue and the welding supply people have it under control. Even if you don't evacuate the tire first, you'll be eliminating 95%+ of the "moist" air, getting most of the benefit. And if you have a wheel with two air valves on it - like the 949racing wheel - you don't even need an exotic vacuum purging system to ensure 100% nitrogen for the fill.

Mike

So Mike, U going to find out about the Nitrogen then ?

Mike Simanyi wrote: Moisture is the issue and the welding supply people have it under control. Even if you don't evacuate the tire first, you'll be eliminating 95%+ of the "moist" air, getting most of the benefit. And if you have a wheel with two air valves on it - like the 949racing wheel - you don't even need an exotic vacuum purging system to ensure 100% nitrogen for the fill.

To do nitrogen properly you'll need one of these:
http://www.theracedepot.com/product2-2.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.fluiddynamicsllc.com/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Larry

Mike Simanyi wrote:And I'm *definitely* not messing with a Harbor Freight tank for holding 3,000 psi gas!
Mike

What's wrong with harbor freight, I get all my cliff climbing gear from their clearance racks!

I've never had much luck with 12V compressors, I've gone heavy tank (the 335s I used needed the 10g). But the more I look around now it seems the more it was just my bad luck. My co-driver has the one that came with his car that is working very well and I've now seen my 'power station' that failed on me in 3months used by others for over 2 years.

Jay W

Jayson Woodruff wrote:

Mike Simanyi wrote:And I'm *definitely* not messing with a Harbor Freight tank for holding 3,000 psi gas!
Mike

What's wrong with harbor freight, I get all my cliff climbing gear from their clearance racks!

I've never had much luck with 12V compressors, I've gone heavy tank (the 335s I used needed the 10g). But the more I look around now it seems the more it was just my bad luck. My co-driver has the one that came with his car that is working very well and I've now seen my 'power station' that failed on me in 3months used by others for over 2 years.

Jay W

My (Costco) Power Station (won at SDR banquet raffle) is going good 2 yrs steady use.

Jayson Woodruff wrote:
What's wrong with harbor freight, I get all my cliff climbing gear from their clearance racks!
Jay W

But you've never climbed any cliffs with it.

This Sears/Craftsman model works well and it didn't blow the cigarette/cigar/power outlet on my Miata:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... +Inflators" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you get an air tank and don't have a large compressor it's good to make friends with someone at a local shop so you can fill it up to the max.

As others have covered, tanks and compressors both have their strengths and weaknesses. If you decide to go with a compressor, we've been using the one below for the past several years and it's the smoothest/quietest I've ever come across. Chances are good that you can pick it up at your local Costco and get the great lifetime warranty too.

http://www.amazon.com/Q-Industries-MV50 ... _pr_sims_t" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Costco and most tire stores advertising nitrogen fill don't do anything more than fill the tire as if it we're compressed air. I use nitrogen for the convenience but as long as condensables are present, it's very similar to using compressed air as far as stability in rising temperatures. Unlike an standard air tank that is capable of safely holding 150 lbs of pressure, a nitrogen tank is very heavy as the pressure is approximately 2400 PSI when full. Extreme care must be taken in handling the tank. If it is dropped in a way that the valve breaks off, is becomes a very heavy missile capable of doing an extreme amount of damage. I would not recommend transporting a nitro bottle in the trunk of a car unless it is carefully strapped in place and the valve protected from damage.

Brian Peters wrote:As others have covered, tanks and compressors both have their strengths and weaknesses. If you decide to go with a compressor, we've been using the one below for the past several years and it's the smoothest/quietest I've ever come across. Chances are good that you can pick it up at your local Costco and get the great lifetime warranty too.

http://www.amazon.com/Q-Industries-MV50 ... _pr_sims_t" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

^^^ I strongly second that recommendation. I got mine for $25 from Kragen on clearance a few years ago (thanks for the tip Bill Hogan!), but get it from Costco for the lifetime guarantee. Other than popping a fuse or two and having to rebuild the on/off relay that had its internals jiggled loose, it's been running strong for almost four years.

George Schilling wrote:Costco and most tire stores advertising nitrogen fill don't do anything more than fill the tire as if it we're compressed air. I use nitrogen for the convenience but as long as condensables are present, it's very similar to using compressed air as far as stability in rising temperatures. Unlike an standard air tank that is capable of safely holding 150 lbs of pressure, a nitrogen tank is very heavy as the pressure is approximately 2400 PSI when full. Extreme care must be taken in handling the tank. If it is dropped in a way that the valve breaks off, is becomes a very heavy missile capable of doing an extreme amount of damage. I would not recommend transporting a nitro bottle in the trunk of a car unless it is carefully strapped in place and the valve protected from damage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEJGNLTo84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

KJ Christopher wrote:

George Schilling wrote:Costco and most tire stores advertising nitrogen fill don't do anything more than fill the tire as if it we're compressed air. I use nitrogen for the convenience but as long as condensables are present, it's very similar to using compressed air as far as stability in rising temperatures. Unlike an standard air tank that is capable of safely holding 150 lbs of pressure, a nitrogen tank is very heavy as the pressure is approximately 2400 PSI when full. Extreme care must be taken in handling the tank. If it is dropped in a way that the valve breaks off, is becomes a very heavy missile capable of doing an extreme amount of damage. I would not recommend transporting a nitro bottle in the trunk of a car unless it is carefully strapped in place and the valve protected from damage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEJGNLTo84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I want that job... sheesh. Blow stuff up all day ??? Yes please ! }:)

Campbell Hausfield 250 psi portable battery compressor works for us.
Has 12v and 110 hookups for charging - and a light/flasher.
Have been using for over 3 years now.