inner tire drying...?

[81xsproject]

I am going to try the tire balancing beads on my truck. I drove the tires to the shop to be mounted in the rain. Even though the guy said he dried the insides before he mounting them I really want to make sure they're dry before I put the beads in. I dont have a real air compressor or I would just deflate and inflate after every drive a few times.

Any suggestions?

I was thinking of maybe deflating, adding a shot of starting fluid, inflating, going for a drive and then deflating??? I don't think there would be enough starting fluid to be real flammable, but I'm not sure. I am sure there isn't a lot of water in there.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Jessie,

Stay away from that starting fluid! Just saw a CSI episode where some disgruntled bus mechanic put some hyrdocarbon solution INSIDE the tire thru the valve....can't remember what it was exactly, but it caused the rubber to harden and break down after about 700 miles worth, BLOWOUT Failure!!

The tire bead is pretty secure, put it on the center stand, and deflate it, take out the valve and let it sit out in the sun, you might even squeeze the side wall a few times to "pump" in and out the air. Then after several hours, put the valve back in, and get a bicycle pump, and fill it back up enough to where you could ride to your local gas station to get it filled to proper pressure!

After all of this, I don't think you really need to worry much about the water, there's usually a bit left over from the mounting solution they swab onto the bead when they are first put on, the tires are not totally impervious to air flow, and I think the water vapor eventually leaches out thru the rubber!
T.C.

[Dennyz]

Unless you are inflating a tire from a "Dried" air source (paint quality), you are putting water in every time you inflate. Compressed air is super heated, making it able to suspend more water than ambient air. Once the air cools back down (inside your tire), the water falls out. It also settles in the air hose between usages. The higher the ambient humidity is, the worse the problem. Anybody that has run air tools or painted with an air gun knows about water in the air system.

Most gas stations and shops don't make much effort to remove water from their compressed air system. And it takes a serious effort. If you are taking air directly from a compressor, you have water in the air.

I would not spend much time worrying about moisture in a tire. The higher the tire temperature, the more the mositure inside the tire will be suspended (like the compressor). I suspect that there is a continuous cycle going on in all our tires. Mositure suspened while we are our riding, and puddling in the tire when it cools back down. Particulaly if the tire was infalted on a rainy day.

I know it is not uncommon to have moisture spit out of the valve stem when deflating a tire.