Nitrogen filled tires

[B47]

I have been reading some posts nere that talk about the tires on RV and the pros/cons of servicing them with nitrogen instead of good old plain air.

Most posts seem to be be mixed about the pros/cons of using nitrogen.

In my experience, I can only say that my new 2012 Silverback 29RK was delivered with nitrogen filled Trail Express tires. On our second trip out, the left rear tire went flat while parked in Brenham,Texas. I have a service contract and had the spare installed. We were on our way to Port Aransas, Texas so I called around after getting there trying to find a place to get the flat repaired. When I called and asked if they had nitrogen, no one did, so I finally had a Goodyear store repair the tire and they put plain old air in it. The tire was reinstalled and I have not had any problems with it since.

Some posters don't believe that nitrogen is any better than air for tire inflation and I tend to agree with them. Most all posters say that maintaining proper tire pressure is the single most important thing you can do to keep your tires roadworthy and again I agree with them.

One bit of information - In 1987 the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive (similar to an auto recall, but manadorty by law) that required all Transport Category aircraft ( these are your big Boeings, McDonnell Douglas types) to have their tires serviced with nitrigen instead of air. The reason as stated in the AD is "... to elimate the possibility of a chemical reaction between atmospheric oxygen and volatile gases from the tire inner liner producing a tire explosion."
So the FAA was more concerned with preventing tire explosions and fires( mostly from overheated brakes due to the magnesium wheels)than anything else.

[EdJunior]

I just put 20 pounds of O2 in each of the 4 Nitrogen tires on my trailer. I've had the Trail Express on mine now for 2 years, and whilst knocking firmly on wood, have had no issues with them. But I do check them before I leave out anywhere.

[Tee]

The air we breath is 78+% Nitrogen, almost 21% oxygen, almost 1% argon, and the rest of the mixture of elements is almost too small to deal with.

The problem with the 21%+or- of oxygen is it is very easily saturated with H20. This H20 is where the corrosion you mentioned comes from.

We use pure nitrogen in our race car tires because it does not change pressure as easily with temperature fluxuations. Gives us a more consistant set up for each round of racing. For your everyday vehicle, regular air is fine, just keep an eye on proper pressure/inflation as you mentioned. The places that charge for Nitrogen filled tires are playing on the everyday, regular folk, not understanding what the air we breath is made up of!!! And cash it on it..

I don't know aircraft stuff, but I suspect that the reason it is required by the FAA is the fact that it doesn't change with air temp as drastically, (it's pretty dang cold at 30K ft above sea level. An aircraft with properly inflated tires at sea level is drastically under inflated at 8k ft. with regular air. So an aircraft with properly inflated tires in Denver, would be highly over inflated at sea level!) and the absence of oxygen reduces the likelyhood of corrosion. But I am a simple countryboy drag racer. So I don't know for sure.

T

[TURBS]

THE reason they charge for nitrogen is because it cost as little as 3000 dollars for a nitrogen machine . they have to reclaim there money somehow .

[Ovair]

If you're splitting hairs, or really reliant upon performance, then yes the nitrogen fill is better. For most humans on planet Earth, it doesn't matter much. As has already been mentioned, atmospheric gas (air) is already close to 79% nitrogen.

[crocus]

"An aircraft with properly inflated tires at sea level is drastically under inflated at 8k ft. with regular air."
=============================================
Actually, you have it backwards.
And nitrogen in camper tires is a waste of money and effort.
My new Dodge Ram came with nitrogen in the tires. Both rear tires have been patched, so there is nothing but plain old air in those, and I don't notice any difference in the pressure change in the winter between the ones with nitrogen and the ones with plain air.
Save your money, use air, it is free.

[Mark and Linda]

I have thought about the nitrogen service, where do you find a unit to fill your tires? I worked in aircraft maint. for 27 years. We used to fill the tires with air and our accumulators, then they switch to nitrogen. We had a cart....still haven't seen a sign that says....nitrogen fill here out here in the real world.

[B47]

Tee - the primary reason for the FAA AD was to prevent explosions and the resultant fires from overheated brakes burning the magnesium wheels. There was a rash of them prior to the AD being written.

I agree with you and the others here that making sure the tires are properly inflated is the most important thing you can do to keep the tires roadworthy.

The decal on my Silverback 29RK shows the cold PSI is 80.

[B47]

M&L - as I stated in my post and as you must know about AD's, this AD is applicable to Transport Cateragory (sp) aircraft and the AD became effective June of 1987.

I was not able to locate any tire store that had nitrogen available - I was told by someone that they thought Discount Tire has it, but I cannot verify that.

[edman87k5]

Even with the nitro fill, you are not getting a tire with only nitrogen in it. When mounted, there is atmosphere air in the tire before it is inflated. Nitro fill is nothing more than a gimmick to make money from the common folks.
It may make a difference in an f1 car with extreme speeds and insane temp cycles, but in your daily driver and travel trailer, it is 99.5% useless. Very similar to a late night infomercial in the way it is advertised and sold and uses the same tactics to get you to spend the $4 per tire.

[B47]

edman - I am tending to agree with you here - of course there will always be those who will insist on the nitrogen fill ( as I was before since I always try to follow the manufacteurs recommendations - comes from my FAA days) and then there are the ones who decide it is just a gimmick.

You are the first one to state how much it costed.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by edman87k5

Even with the nitro fill, you are not getting a tire with only nitrogen in it. When mounted, there is atmosphere air in the tire before it is inflated. Nitro fill is nothing more than a gimmick to make money from the common folks.
It may make a difference in an f1 car with extreme speeds and insane temp cycles, but in your daily driver and travel trailer, it is 99.5% useless. Very similar to a late night infomercial in the way it is advertised and sold and uses the same tactics to get you to spend the $4 per tire.

Have any stats to back up your claims? Or is it your theory?
Quote "99.5% useless"

[B47]

f1100 - shouldn't you be busy in your shop cranking out those landing gear stabilizer kits?

[TURBS]

Lol yes sorry !
Back to work I go

[shineysideup]

Originally Posted by edman87k5

Even with the nitro fill, you are not getting a tire with only nitrogen in it. When mounted, there is atmosphere air in the tire before it is inflated. Nitro fill is nothing more than a gimmick to make money from the common folks.
It may make a difference in an f1 car with extreme speeds and insane temp cycles, but in your daily driver and travel trailer, it is 99.5% useless. Very similar to a late night infomercial in the way it is advertised and sold and uses the same tactics to get you to spend the $4 per tire.

I've seen pics of "race rims" that have two valves, I assume one is for purging the air in the rim/tire and the other is for filling with nitrogen. Last time I checked my trailer rims I only saw one valve per tire! Guess I won't reach into my pockets for some gimmicky sales tactics! I back up the 99.5% uselessness of the product with 100% conviction! (for the average everyday person).

[TURBS]

you all claim that its useless and not cost effective to fill with nitrogen but NO ONE can back the USEFULNESS . just sayin !

[B47]

f1100 - after reading some of your other posts, I have to say that IMO you seem to be a knowlegable guy about these things, so I will ask -

What is your opinion of these nitrogen filled tires that are coming on Rv's these days e.g. are they actually better performing than non nitrogen filled tires, are they worth the extra expense of servicing them with nitrogen and the extra of finding a shop that has nitrogen, etc?

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by B47

f1100 - after reading some of your other posts, I have to say that IMO you seem to be a knowlegable guy about these things, so I will ask -

What is your opinion of these nitrogen filled tires that are coming on Rv's these days e.g. are they actually better performing than non nitrogen filled tires, are they worth the extra expense of servicing them with nitrogen and the extra of finding a shop that has nitrogen, etc?

I just think theres a lot of claims of no benefit from using nitrogen with out scientific testing to disprove . I would entertain to be proven thats theres not a benefit to using nitrogen
sure its over priced ! my company buys I believe them to be 20 lb cylinders at 20,000 psi for $12.00 a fill .
I think maybe others would feel different if the price was say maybe $1.00 per tire to fill and it was more readily available .
WHY in the world wouldn't you want spot on tire pressures all the time ?
for tire wear and maybe some better fuel economy .
I have been proven wrong before and I have big shoulders .

[B47]

f1100 - not to get into a long term discussion and remember I am leaning towards believing that there is no real benefit to using nitrogen for your tires, I find your statement about keeping your tires serviced to the proper pressure to be what most of the other posters say is the most important thing you can do to keep your tires roadworthy to be right on.

I haven't been to my RV in awhile, but I believe the decal says that cold PSI is 80 - does that sound right for a 33 foot silverback 29rk with 16" wheels?

[shineysideup]

Originally Posted by f1100turbo

I just think theres a lot of claims of no benefit from using nitrogen with out scientific testing to disprove . I would entertain to be proven thats theres not a benefit to using nitrogen
sure its over priced ! my company buys I believe them to be 20 lb cylinders at 20,000 psi for $12.00 a fill .
I think maybe others would feel different if the price was say maybe $1.00 per tire to fill and it was more readily available .
WHY in the world wouldn't you want spot on tire pressures all the time ?
for tire wear and maybe some better fuel economy .
I have been proven wrong before and I have big shoulders .

I don't doubt there is a benefit to having PURE nitrogen in tires for extreme applications ( why else would racers and airplanes us it). For the everyday person, the cost/benefit isn't there (IMHO). As I mentioned previously, the average tire/rim/dealer setup can't get pure nitrogen in our tires anyway. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me...