Nitrogen in Trailer Tires

A fad that has run it's course. No benefit. Do not pay anybody extra $.

Roger Marble, retired tire engineer and RV enthusiast on nitrogen in his RVtiresafety.net blog: Inflate with Nitrogen and there will be Magic.

Passin Thru wrote:
3.8 PSI higher for NO2 at 8000 ft.
You want Nitrogen info read all about it
https://www.getnitrogen.org/sub.php?view=getTheFacts&subpage=altitude

Uh, the conversation is about nitrogen, not nitrogen dioxide (or even N20 - nitrous oxide -laughing gas).

Not sure what your point is anyway, the link says "The effect of high altitude on nitrogen is essentially the same as it would be for air, since altitude affects all gases in a similar manner." Although, that's technically incorrect. The tire pressure doesn't go up, atmospheric pressure goes down with altitude. That changes gauge pressure, not absolute pressure.

Passin Thru wrote:
3.8 PSI higher for NO2 at 8000 ft.
You want Nitrogen info read all about it
https://www.getnitrogen.org/sub.php?view=getTheFacts&subpage=altitude

Your link:

The effect of high altitude on nitrogen is essentially the same as it would be for air, since altitude affects all gases in a similar manner.

3.8 LB/PSI at 8000 ft higher than at Sea Level.
https://www.getnitrogen.org/sub.php?view=getTheFacts&subpage=temperatureeffects

3.8 PSI higher for NO2 at 8000 ft.
You want Nitrogen info read all about it
https://www.getnitrogen.org/sub.php?view=getTheFacts&subpage=altitude

Question: what happens to the air that is in the tire when it is mounted? I can’t imagine creating a vacuum then putting in pure N.
I would venture to say that N filled tires are actually only a couple % more than plain old air.
Anyway, I’ve never had a tire that was destroyed from within by moisture that I know of. Pretty much they were done in by outside forces, mostly me.

FredoTT wrote:
Getting new tires & they recommended filling with Nitrogen:low air loss, no expansion or contraction with temp changes. I cant find any literature or articles about this subject. Anyone with experience in this area?

If they do it for free, why not! But if they charge extra, forget it!

mike-s wrote:

time2roll wrote:
The compression process provides a very dry product so there is never a moisture issue to affect the tire, wheel or TPMS.

You obviously don't have a compressor. The air inside the tank is at close to 100 percent humidity (you need to drain water from the tank on a regular basis). When it comes out, the temperature drops and that moist air turns into moist air and water. Their's a good reason they sell water separators, dehydrators, dryers to put on compressors.

Yes, there's less water coming out than going in (which is why the tank needs regular draining), but what comes out is by no means "very dry."

Ok "very dry" was a bad term. Just substitute "dry enough"

The compression process provides a dry enough product so there is never a moisture issue to affect the tire, wheel or TPMS.

ktmrfs wrote:

mike-s wrote:

mat60 wrote:
Back in the day I raced stock cars and we used nitrogen in our tires thinking it would help slow down the expansion of the tires as they build heat.

Nitrogen obeys the same gas laws as other atmospheric gases. There is absolutely NO difference in heat expansion.

What does make a difference is moisture, which you also get from air. Industrial grade N2 might have 5 ppm of moisture (~0.03% relative humidity @ 70F). Even dry desert air might have hundreds of times that. For today's Daytona race, right now it's 73F and 72% RH. That's ~12000 ppm moisture.

Compressed N2 can simply be a more convenient source of dry gas than a compressor and good dessicant dehydrator. Nitrogen is just the cheapest compressed dry gas available.

exactly!!! If you used dry air, the effect would be almost identical to nitrogen. but as you mention dry nitrogen is cheapest and easiest way to get a dry gas source.

Race teams use it because (a) it is dry and (b) it is consistent.

One small advantage is that the nitrogen molecule is slightly larger than Oxygen, even though the molecular weight is less. That means pressure loss over time will be SLIGHTLY less. not enough to justify it's use alone.

Pass air through the right membrane and all the oxygen and water will go through and all your left with is nitrogen. also a nice way to make an oxygen concentrator.

Race teams may use it. But they still start out with very low PSI, and wait for it to heat up, and gain PSI to desired setting