Nitrogen Filled Tires

Thanks all for the input! I had always been skeptical of the N2-filled tires for highway purposes.

opnspaces wrote:
Nitrogen in tires is a marketing gimmick. I would and do use regular compressed air in all my tires and they work just fine.

Talk about a marketing gimmick! My brand new Forest River Salem TT had a big sticker on the side touting that the tires had been filled with 100% nitrogen at the factory......but they forgot to mention the no name bias-ply China bombs that were also part of the factory install. Woo-Hoo!:S

I doubt that the water in the compressor line turns to steam. I would simply be a fine mist of water vapor.

And what if a few more drops of water condense inside the tire then would condense with nitrogen? It has been condensing in car and TT tires for years. Tractors even add water and antifreeze to their tires for weight.

It is true that Nitrogen reduces air migration through the tire wall, is that a problem? Do you wake up in the morning and find your car tires have gone flat from tire wall air migration?

There are no doubt a few highly specialized tire applications where nitrogen is useful. But the TT and TV tire have been doing rather well without it.

DutchmenSport wrote:
Yes, regular air, and just forget about the nitrogen!

+1

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Hi,

Any 'problem' with using compressed air to fill your tires is that it might contain some moisture. It will not directly damage the tires, however when a cubic centemeter (10cc) of water is heated to 212 F and turns to steam, it will expand to 1.6 liter of steam! So it expands 1600:1.
Fred.

While this statement is correct in that water expands dramatically when converted to steam, there is another factor involved with the possibility of liquid water boiling to steam inside a tire - pressure.

We all know that water boils at 212 F at sea level. However, folks that cook at higher elevations also know that it takes more time to cook things because water boils at a lower temperature at high altitude. Lower boiling temperature equals longer cooking time.

The opposite applies to water boiling at higher pressure, such as in a pressure cooker. Higher pressure reduces cooking time because it results in a higher boiling temperature.

An RV tire running at 80psi would have to somehow heat to 312 F before any drops of water inside would turn to steam. My guess is that a tire would have come apart long before the boiling temperature is reached.

It would seem that we got along quite well with regular air. Personally I have never had a tire rot from the inside; I have had a number crumble from weather checking.

My 2010 TT tires came Nitrogen filled, I suppose the amount of air that has been added in the past five years may have reduces it to 99.9% nitrogen.

Yes, regular air, and just forget about the nitrogen!

subcamper wrote:
The whole nitrogen-in-car-tires thing started from the use of nitrogen in aircraft tires. Probably the manufacturers of the nitrogen generators for aircraft saw an opportunity to sell their equipment to car dealers and service garages.

The main reason they use nitrogen in aircraft tires is that it doesn't support combustion (no oxygen)in case the tire explodes on takeoff/landing. Landing speeds for airliners are generally 150+ mph, and the tire is suddenly accelerated from zero rotational speed to full speed as soon as the tire touches the runway. Watch a plane landing closely and often you can see the puff of smoke from the tires. And you thought a trailer tire was stressed! The last thing an airplane needs is a tire fire at landing (or takeoff). Also, without oxygen in the tire, it will not corrode the wheel from the inside.

When they fill a new tire/wheel with nitrogen, there will still be some "regular" air in it unless they use a vacuum pump first, because of the ambient unpressurized air it started with.

Yes, it's true that nitrogen will permeate a little slower through the tire, but if you check the pressure regularly you don't have to worry. This is a case where they are not lying about the benefits of nitrogen, but how much do the benefits actually mean (for a car/trailer)?

Steve

Interesting but not buying the oxygen in the tire will make it more of a risk to burn. At landing, there is typically plenty of oxygen in the surrounding air, if the tire wants to burn. Also it's the exteriro of the tire slidign on the runway that gets hotest.

Yes, aircraft tires have a tough life going from 90F on a hot runway to -75F at 35k feet, then back to 90F before being slammed into the runway, day after day. Not clear how nitrogen would help that in any significant way.

This just a guess but they get really really intense on corrosion control with planes. Do they build the rims to the bare minimum to save weight and any corrosion would compromise the strength? (as opposed to truck & trailer rims which are typically overbuilt, so some light corrosion isn't usually an issue)

2012Coleman wrote:
Well, I don't know about you, but I use LT tires on my airplane...;)

I use airplane tires on my TT. :)

Of all the threads on car, boating and trailer forums this is the best explanation I've heard yet

subcamper wrote:
The whole nitrogen-in-car-tires thing started from the use of nitrogen in aircraft tires. Probably the manufacturers of the nitrogen generators for aircraft saw an opportunity to sell their equipment to car dealers and service garages.

The main reason they use nitrogen in aircraft tires is that it doesn't support combustion (no oxygen)in case the tire explodes on takeoff/landing. Landing speeds for airliners are generally 150+ mph, and the tire is suddenly accelerated from zero rotational speed to full speed as soon as the tire touches the runway. Watch a plane landing closely and often you can see the puff of smoke from the tires. And you thought a trailer tire was stressed! The last thing an airplane needs is a tire fire at landing (or takeoff). Also, without oxygen in the tire, it will not corrode the wheel from the inside.

When they fill a new tire/wheel with nitrogen, there will still be some "regular" air in it unless they use a vacuum pump first, because of the ambient unpressurized air it started with.

Yes, it's true that nitrogen will permeate a little slower through the tire, but if you check the pressure regularly you don't have to worry. This is a case where they are not lying about the benefits of nitrogen, but how much do the benefits actually mean (for a car/trailer)?

Steve