November 04, 2009
The tire/vehicle system
Breaking down each system gives you a better understanding of how they work in tandem
By: Jacques Bajer
Of equal importance is the quality of the air used to pressurize the tire/wheel assembly. The air must be dry and clean (free of contaminants and oil). This requires the use of high quality, well-maintained air compressors, air storage tanks and lines, careful tire and wheel handling, and, of most importance, well-trained tire technicians. Clean and dry air consists of about 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen.
A well-designed, developed and produced new tire mounted on an equally well-designed, developed and produced wheel fitted with a high quality valve should not lose more than 4 to 5 psi of pressure per year. A good portion of this pressure loss is attributable to the absorption of the oxygen portion of the air by the tire structure.
Although a nearly 100% nitrogen-inflated tire also loses some of its nitrogen by being absorbed into the tire structure, it does so at a much slower rate than a tire inflated with regular air (nitrogen being an inert gas).
The development of the bromobutyl tire innerliner years ago has made a significant contribution to tire inflation pressure retention. A very recent innerliner development claims to further improve on the already high performing bromobutyl innerliner, and features a reduced thickness (hence reduced weight and cost), while still maintaining its higher level of pressure retention.
What happened to American ingenuity?
The future has never been riper for the introduction of practical, simple, affordable and exciting vehicle and tire innovations that would benefit the consumer in tangible ways, and this particularly in view of our current socio-economic circumstances. This future does not necessarily lie in conspicuous, frivolous consumption of products that do not offer intrinsic value, which includes vehicles fitted with extravagant tire/wheel assemblies and other superfluous accessories.
Even though one cannot schedule an invention, I refuse to believe that good old-fashioned American ingenuity has vanished. I prefer to believe that it is merely dormant.
This is the time to waken it. Many people are out of work, having lost their jobs or been forced to retire early, including all types of engineers with valuable experience. This is the time to tap their talent and creativity. ■
For more than 50 years, Jacques Bajer has championed the cause of tire structural integrity in one way or another. His work with Ford Motor Co., beginning in 1955, led to the creation of a tire uniformity grading machine. In 1964, he almost single-handedly developed low-profile tires for the 1964 Lincoln and Thunderbird. They performed so well that Ford made them standard equipment on all its vehicles the following year.
The French-born engineer also owns a number of patents, including one for a “casing preparation method” used in producing quality retreaded tires.
He is perhaps best known, however, for radializing the domestic automotive industry. Bajer didn’t invent the radial tire, but when he convinced Ford to offer radial tires as options on its vehicles, a new era began.
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