Just to review what others have stated above.
Butyl rubber is NOT impermeable to gases. It is much less permeable than other types of rubber, which is why it is used on the inside of tubeless tires and why it is used for tubes.
Much of the air leakage from a tire is from the wheel/tire interface.
Oxygen does indeed migrate INTO a 100% nitrogen filled tire. (We have experimental proof in the form of a presentation to Tire Society, but the paper was never published. I know the author.)
Since pumped air is already 70% nitrogen, is the difference noticeable?
Told myvife I wanted 100% easily-generated hydrogen so the tires would weigh less.
Same reason I wanto remove the back seats we never use. (Except for the 5 hitchikers.)
Please do, let us know how it works out for you, no wait, never mind, we will read about it when you run over a nail in the road and that nail (or whatever) sparks as it goes thorough the steel belts in your tiresâŠ
How ae you already not a Darwin winner??? If I was you I would be playing the Lotto multiple times a day⊠Gezzz,
Why not just use a good Oxy Acetylene mix and put that in your tires, it is lighter then air also???..
Joking. Do not khow to get such gasses into a tire.
100% H2 cannot burn.
OxyAcetylene is heavier thahydrogen and a wonderfully-combustible mix.
Years ago a man filled a big balloon with OA.
En route to a July 4th getogether, he failed to realize thathe balloon rubbing on the back seat could generate static electricity.
Think I saw a photo of the vehicle with roof bulged out.
Why not, it worked for the Hindenburg, until it didnât.
The Hindenburg did not have H2 at a high pressure a tire would require.
The tire pressure H2 would not allow O2 in to create a combustible mixture.
Yes, there could be leakage around the metal pins.
In our space chamber the observation ports used quartz to avoid gas migration through glass.
Ok science guys youâve had your fun. Now where can I get one of those ion pumps and should I carry it in my trunk?
Ion pumps bexpen$ive.
Goodwill and Salivation Army is where I look.
Thanks. I wasnât thinking, and it isnât close.
The amount of surface area for embedding is vast compared to the amount of material to be captured. Tantalum has the benefit of deep penetration. Even so, they occasionally âburpâ as we used to call it but that is infrequent and short lived- much like the real thing 
I have never seen one completely used up and they have been in use for decades.
I have couple decades plus of experience with pressure and vacuum vessels using fused silica, borosilicate, sapphire and magnesium fluoride glasses. All of those have glass to metal seals, primarily to Kovar. Some use frit seals others direct sealing. The oxidation layer on the kovar is critical to sealing and maintaining vacuum or pressure integrity long term. We have methods to measure the gas pressure inside the tube very accurately. Although itâs a destructive test, in the end, you can tell if anything has changed with either the gas composition in the envelope or the pressure⊠Never saw anything that could be construed as gas exchange through the envelope. Speaking to the original topic of vacuum tubes, I think itâs a nice theory on paper but for practical purposes, not enough of an effect to cause any noticeable change in performanceâŠ
You mention space applications? Funny story- a product we developed for on orbit applications had a vacuum chamber. Sat for so long in preparation for flight, the chamber had leaked enough (inlet sealed with a ruby bead on a piezoelectric element) it was no longer in operational range for the ion pump. They were contemplating scrubbing the launch to rough the vacuum chamber. Donât do that! you can rough it when the shuttle gets on orbit with the shuttle vacuum port. Although the shuttle had a halo of debris around it creating a sort of atmosphere, it is sufficient to use for roughing the chamber before the ion pump will work to bring it down the rest of the wayâŠlast thing we want is to be the reason for scrubbing a launchâŠ
If you just use air, isnât it almost 80% nitrogen anyway? Just saying. Is all of this really worth it?
Shorter version of my number 6 postâŠ
NopeâŠ
I believe there is definitely reasons that tires would be filled with Nitrogen but if you are not a professional racer in a race (not their personal vehicleâŠ). Especially if you consider the racing team might also use âtire warmersâ to preheat the tire rubber and the nitrogen is easier to control the exact tire pressure then it would be with random air inflated in the tires on days with different humidity levelsâŠ
There are various reasons that a person drives a car with nitrogen filled tires. The dealer/tire shop/repair center sold them a âbill of goodsâ and they did not know better and trusted the âmore knowledgeableâ personâŠ
There are those folks who have more money than good sense and will buy the most expensive item regardless of any benefitsâŠ
And then there are those who just want bragging rights that mean nothing⊠âI will only drive on tires filled with nitrogenâŠâ
I put these folks in the same category as the person who brags, âI was over at my buddieâs house last night and I drank ten Jaegers and they did not hit me until I got home and parked on my neighborâs front yardâŠâ
Young guys that want the very best for their car, even if that car is an old beater.
When I was a kid we used to talk about winter air / summer air. Around November weâd ask guys if theyâd put winter air in their tires yet. We didnât even have to ask them directly, just talk about âwinter airâ to each other within earshot of some guy. Invariably, the guy would ask where to get winter air. Same thing in May; âgot your summer air yet?â.
You can never get away with that with girls though. Young guys will abandon commen sense when it comes to their car, girls wonât.