VTO wheel Christmas special

[jlaird]

Intresting all that, seems like it might be the thing to do for a well used car but with the kind of milage we do just may be a waste of time except for the:

less moisture in tires possible rusting rims.

longer period of time tires will maintain pressure.

Not sure that is worth the bucks involved but hay I now know more than I did. Thanks.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

The purpose of filling the tires with dry Nitrogen is to eliminate moisture from the inside of the tires. Moisture in the tires causes pressure increases as the tires heat when you are racing. Uncontrolled moisture levels results in different and unwanted pressure increases. Small pressure differences can make large differences in the handling of the car. For street use this is less important.

Yeah, but most racers do not fiddle with this at the track, I have my own nitrogen tank I carried with me to the track, but it wasn't for my tires, it was for the shocks. This was thought to be the hot ticket 25 years ago, now days most racers don't put alot of stock in it.

 

[startech47]

Nitrogen bottles were allowed at our track for awhile, until someone was caught using the Nitrogen cylinder to put tire softener into the tires. This is not a safe practice.

 

[regularman]

Any tire can leak around the bead or valve stem over time, so checking the pressure at a regular intervals is important no matter what you fill your tires with. As for nitrogen, yeah the air is mostly nitrogen and as for moisture in the air. When you compress air with an air compressor most of the moisture settles out in the bottom of the tank and can be blown out with the bleeder on the bottom. I do this before I do any painting because we know what water can do if it gets in a paint gun :wink: Most of the time you are not going to have much water vapor in the air from a compressor, so its mostly dry. In the Air Force we sued to use dry nitrogen in some equipment to keep out moisture but it was expensive, sensitive electronic equipment. Thinking on this, I am not sure that air with 0 moisture content might not accelerate the dry rotting process inside the tire.
I am not buying the Nitrogen thing unless I can see some verifiable proof that it makes tires preform better and last longer over time and many miles.

 

[regularman]

softener INSIDE the tires? That makes no sense to me at all. You want that stuff on the surface to give you more grip. I have seen all kinds of stuff done in the motorcycle pits. They put special coatings on the tires and then "cook" them in these electric tire covers for a while. Never seen anybody putting anything inside but air, or some other gas but no softener.

 

[jlaird]

Ahh, softner goes on the outside. I know. Really works too.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

softener INSIDE the tires? That makes no sense to me at all. You want that stuff on the surface to give you more grip. I have seen all kinds of stuff done in the motorcycle pits. They put special coatings on the tires and then "cook" them in these electric tire covers for a while. Never seen anybody putting anything inside but air, or some other gas but no softener.

Actaully, they do do that Kim, more of round track racing thing, but yes some use a homemade concoction made of stuff you can buy at Home Depot, and put it inside the tire, then rotate them on a special spit made for this. We had one of our vintage Midget racers do this , used the same amount of softener as his vintage Corvetter racer did the tires lasted two sessions on track on the Spridget, not good since these tires cost like $600 a set. Tire softner is not illegal in most road racing, but normally done to wake up old tires, and applied on the outside of the tire.

 

[startech47]

Yes Hap, this was being done at Old Dominion Speedway, a short track stock car track. You had to buy and run the track tire the same day you purchased it. This meant a new set of tires every time you raced, you had to do this anyway to be competitive. Week old tires had you running in the back of the pack. When we were running carts at Charlotte Motor Speedway one of the competitors had his cart on a stand and was soaking the tires and heating them. After the fire was extinguished there wasn't anything usable left of the cart.

 

[davester]

Would those 5.5" rims fit an unmodified SWA Sprite Mk III with 165/70-13 tires? I thought 5.5" was too wide to shoehorn in there without raising the suspension or doing unmentionable things to the bodywork or spring mountings.

 

[Pythias]

I'm running them on a '66, with 175/70s. No Problem. It's close though.

 

[jlaird]

Never haveing done this I have never had a fire. However, this stuff is bad, bad, bad.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Would those 5.5" rims fit an unmodified SWA Sprite Mk III with 165/70-13 tires? I thought 5.5" was too wide to shoehorn in there without raising the suspension or doing unmentionable things to the bodywork or spring mountings.

yes we recommend the 175/70/13 on the SWA car with the 5.5 wide wheels and the RWA crowd can go as big as 185s. I guess I probably fitted a 100 Spridgets with this fitment, they are 4" backspacing in case you are wondering. Barry and I both being old Spridget racers, we designed these wheels with Spridgets in mind.

 

[davester]

Oh dear! Hap, you're making this very difficult. I was figuring these were too wide for a stock car. Now, I'm seriously pondering whether to stick with my classic stock rims and hubcaps (classic, but I fear a bit too skinny for the 165/70-13s on there) or spring for some Classic 8s. It doesn't help that I'll be visiting my brother-in-law in Columbia, SC right after christmas. I'll no doubt be feeling a strong suction (concentrated on my wallet) emanating from the vicinity of Greenville.

 

[198686d]

Jack: On new tires on my Mini Cooper S, nitrogen was only $7 per wheel.

dave in University City, MO

04 Mini S
61 BugEye
05 Vespa ET4
09 Triumph Bonneville SE

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Oh dear! Hap, you're making this very difficult. I was figuring these were too wide for a stock car. Now, I'm seriously pondering whether to stick with my classic stock rims and hubcaps (classic, but I fear a bit too skinny for the 165/70-13s on there) or spring for some Classic 8s. It doesn't help that I'll be visiting my brother-in-law in Columbia, SC right after christmas. I'll no doubt be feeling a strong suction (concentrated on my wallet) emanating from the vicinity of Greenville.

Dave, alot of folks run steelies for shows and then alloys for driving, but you'll like the look and ride of the new wheels so much you never put the steelies back on. Everything is shipped out of AZ, I keep a few show wheels here but thats it, so shipping will be pretty cheap for you in CA., however Columbia is only 100 miles from me and you're more than welcome to come up for visit.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Just got the word, we are extending this deal thru the end of Jan.

VTO 13x5.5 in both Classic 8 and Retro 4, in both black and silver cneters with polished outer rim, 450.00 a set, inlcudes center caps, and valve stems.