Nitrogen inflation improves tread life

[OntarioVanMan]

VANCOUVER -- Recent research conducted and funded by nitrogen tire inflation proponent and equipment supplier, Vancouver-based DREXAN, showed improvement in both tire tread life and vehicle fuel economy in a long-haul trucking fleet.

Drexan's president, Konrad Mech researched and authored the study, and presented the results at the 23rd annual Clemson University Tire Industry Conference in South Carolina in March 2007.
Nitrogen filled tires maintain proper
inflation pressure for longer periods. When used for tire inflation, nitrogen is said to all but eliminate pressure loss because the gas won't penetrate the tire casing the way ordinary air will. As a result, tires maintain proper inflation pressure for longer periods.

Harris Transport of Winnipeg paid $8,500 to convert 65 percent of its fleet to Nitrogen. The study comprised over 177 million tread-km for 1,988 tire positions. In the tires inflated with air, a control group of 452 tire positions showed an average of 5.38 mpg, and an average tire life of 26,623 km per 32nd of tread wear. A group of 836 nitrogen-filled tires, the study says, produced 5.56 mpg, with 49,748 km per 32nd of tread wear.

That's a fuel economy increase of 2/10ths of a mile per gallon, Mech notes, and a tread life increase of 86 percent. During the trial, the additional fuel efficiency translated to a savings of over 500,000 liters of fuel, or roughly $425,000 in fuel cost savings.

"Drexan completed the long-haul trucking trial to determine the benefits of Nitrogen tire inflation, and the results exceeded our expectations," says Mech. "Moreover, fuel efficiency of the nitrogen inflated equipment increased by 3.3 percent even though the tire pressure of the air inflated tires was aggressively maintained. We did not expect this, so it is very good news."

The results were obtained by measuring tread wear on an air inflated control group comprising 35 percent of the trial fleet. The results were statistically analyzed by a PhD statistician and were found to be highly significant. The final report with statistical data was submitted to Transport Canada for their in-house technical review on March 30th.

For a copy of the study, call Drexan's Konrad Mech at 800-663-6873, or 604-431-6400, ex 2104.
By Today's Trucking

 

[ATeam]

While the study results are impressive, it seems to me that benefits of nitrogen-filled tires came not from the nitrogen itself but from the fact that with nitrogen, the tires maintained proper inflation longer than with ordinary air. It's not about nitrogen. It's about proper tire inflation. A driver with a tire guage, air hose, a desire to optimize tire wear and fuel economy, and a willingness to actually use the tire guage and air hose can produce the same benefits nitrogen provides.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

. As a result, tires maintain proper inflation pressure for longer periods."

ATeam and this part of the study????


Nevermind I just re-read and your correct more effort with the air same results....doh

 

[Turtle]

Yeah, the bottom line is, whether it's filled with air or nitrogen, a properly inflated tire will give better fuel economy and tread wear.

However, there are a couple of important differences between tires properly inflated with nitrogen and those properly inflated with air. One is, nitrogen doesn't have nearly the wide ranges of expansion and contraction that air does, which means the difference between cold tire pressure and hot tire pressure is minimal with nitrogen. A tire properly inflated at cold tire pressure is inflated to a point so that when the tire heats up it won't be over-inflated. But at cold tire pressure temperatures, the tire is, essentially, underinflated, and until the tire heats up you have lower fuel economy and more tread wear. Then, the more a tire expands and contracts the more pressure is put on the tire casing, resulting in more air escaping. When a tire heats up from friction, the nitrogen is not affected nearly to the degree that air is, therefore the nitrogen doesn't put increased pressures on the tire casings.

No amount of due diligence will overcome this, to wit: ""Moreover, fuel efficiency of the nitrogen inflated equipment increased by 3.3 percent even though the tire pressure of the air inflated tires was aggressively maintained."

Second, the time involved in aggressively maintaining the tire pressure with air inflated tires can be significant if you want to even come close to mimicking the effects of nitrogen. Checking the pressures and topping off with air once a week, or even once a day, wouldn't be enough. A difference of 1 or 2 PSI can have a significant impact on fuel economy and tread wear, even 1/2 a pound can make a difference over the long term. Things would have to be monitored several times a day, especially when on a run.

Even taking into account that aggressive maintenance really can't overcome the inherent issues of air, regardless, how many drivers will have the discipline to properly inflate the tires when cold, and then pull over to deflate the tires to the proper level once heat and pressure have built up, and then re-inflate them to the proper level once they are off highway speeds and the tires begin cooling down?

I used to think this whole nitrogen thing was a load of horse hockey hype. Not anymore. Seen it. Back when I used air, I checked my tire pressures at least every other day, and did my best to add in a pound or two as needed. After I switched to nitrogen I quickly reduced that to once a week, then found out I was releasing more nitrogen when checking the tires than was leaking out on its own. I still eyeball them every day, but generally only check the pressure about once a month. After a couple of months the pressure will be down a pound or two, but that's also usually just about the time that I have them rotated, so they just wind up being re-inflated for front and rear pressures during the rotation.

In the one year that I've had these tires, other than at rotation time, I have had to add one pound to each tire, once. I rotate them every 20,000 miles, which is probably too many miles between rotations. But, as long as tread wear is even, and they are rotated at a consistent 20,000 miles, it's all good. I wouldn't rotate them at 20,000, then rotate them again at 10,000, for example. If I were to have an alignment or some other problem that were to cause uneven treat wear, then they would have to be rotated more frequently, as the whole purpose of tire rotations is for even tread wear.

My tires currently measure out with the same tread thickness on all 4 tires, and they have logged 98,384 miles as of this morning. They are 80,000 mile Michelins, and all signs point to having them replaced at the 120,000 mile mark. Or at least having the steers replaced at that point, with the other two tires still having enough tread left for a few thousand more miles. But I'll almost certainly replace all 4 at the same time.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Where can you take a truck to get nitrogen in the tires? What is the process to change from air to nitrogen? Do they evacuate and then recharge with nitrogen? When out on the road and you need to add more nitrogen is there a web site to locate a dealer? We are very interested but need to know how easy this will be to maintain on the road.

Thanks

 

[ebsprintin]

I have my car done at Costco. Part of purchasing tires from them. I've seen RV's in their tire shop too, so I'm sure I can get cargo van support from them as well. Don't know about the bigger trucks. Don't have the paperwork for the people who supply Costco, but if I run across it I'll post it. The suppliers are trying to create a market, so they're out there.

As for the servicing, they put on green valve stem caps to let shops know to use nitrogen. In the likely chance an outside shop doesn't have nitrogen, just use air. Next time in for tire servicing, home shop will purge and replace if you ask.

eb

 

[greg334]

TeamCaffee
I thought many t/a's and other truck dealers have the unit - I had my Wife's van and my Dodge all done for under $20 - but it makes me want to buy one to charge tires while on the road to make extra money.

Well the process is straight forward - they just hook the hose from the machine up to the tire and let it go. It 'exchanges' the air for the nitrogen (actually it filters out everything except nitrogen from the air in the tire).

I forget how long it takes but I can tell you except for my blowing a tire on my Dodge, the slow leaks (not the tire that blew), the stability of the pressure and the wear of the tires all seem to improve a lot.

 

[Turtle]

Where can you take a truck to get nitrogen in the tires?

You'd think there would be a Web site that lists all the places that cars and trucks can get nitrogen. But, no. And the larger fleets simply have their own nitrogen generators or fillers. There are many tire dealers that do truck and RV tires, though. Here's a very incomplete list for trucks.

http://www.retread.org/PDF/08-06 NIT LIST.pdf

(For additional information, including a list of locations where nitrogen is available, contact the Tire Retread Information Bureau (TRIB) toll free from anywhere in North America at (888) 473-8732, send an e-mail to [email protected] or visit TRIB’s website at www.retread.org.)

Service Tire Truck Centers, 25 locations in PA, NJ, DE, MD, and VA.
http://www.sttc.com/Locations.php

Most Tire Warehouse locations, Gem Tire in OH, IN and KY. Dunn Tire in and around Buffalo.

Tire Discounters, Cosco, tons of other places. Problem with most of them is, you can't tell from the outside if they have nitrogen, as most don't advertise it all that well. Many times a tire or a diesel shop that doesn't have it will know who in town does.

I wish Speedco would get on the ball with nitrogen. Maybe they will once they realize that you can fill a tire with $.45 worth of nitrogen and then charge 10-20 times that for it. Most places who have it, if you buy the tires from them they don't even charge for the nitrogen, otherwise they'll charge between $5-$7.50, maybe $10 per tire. I certainly wouldn't pay much more than $10 for it, even for a truck tire, as I keep reading where places who do truck tires charge the above rates. I get charged $5 per tire when I have them rotated, but then again, I'd pay the same amount if I had air in there.

What is the process to change from air to nitrogen? Do they evacuate and then recharge with nitrogen?

Yes, exactly. Depending on the type of machine they have, they will bleed the tire, then fill with nitrogen, then bleed that, then refill with nitrogen. The first fill and then bleed of the nitrogen will ensure than any remaining oxygen within the tire is expelled (larger nitrogen molecules will push the smaller oxygen molecules out). Some machines will do the purge/fill in one step. The whole process either way takes, oh, I dunno, maybe three minutes per tire.

When out on the road and you need to add more nitrogen is there a web site to locate a dealer?

See above, unfortunately, no. But then again, it's not that big a deal. Chances are, the only time you'll have to add any out on the road is if you spring a leak for some reason. While air will leak out of a tire at the rate of 2-3 psi per month, nitrogen leaks out at a rate of 2 psi per six months. You'll probably be rotating your tires more often than every 6 months, anyway. Incidentally, my very first question to my tire guy was what happens if I need to add more nitrogen and can't find any.

Just yesterday during my pre-trip (something that I actually do every day, even though I'm in a van), something caught my eye in my right rear tire. At first I though it was a small rock caught in the tread. Nope, it was a bolt the size of my little finger. Tire didn't look low, and the tire pressure was fine, so at least it was well plugged in there. But I knew I didn't want it in there, just the same.

I was at the Flying J in Waddy, and got a short run from 12 miles away to Ford in Louisville, 24 miles or something like that. I chanced it, having more than enough extra time built into the load so that if the worst happened it would still be fine. Delivered the load without incident, then went to the nearest tire place, one of those Goodyear shops. They couldn't get to me for 3 or 4 hours, and as it was 11AM, I didn't want to kill a day on a simple tire repair. Drove a mile down the road and went to Big O Tire, where they got me in and out in 20 minutes. They don't have nitrogen, though, so they filled the tire with regular air.

So, I'll just keep a little closer eye on that tire until I can either get home, or until I happen to run across some place that has nitrogen and they can purge and fill. No big deal.

We are very interested but need to know how easy this will be to maintain on the road.

It's as close to plug-n-play and set-it-and-forget-it as you can get with a tire.

Obviously, you don't want to just assume that because you have nitrogen in your tires that they will now always be properly inflated, as can easily be the case with most mortals. You'll still want to check the pressures once a week or so, whatever you are most comfortable with. If you use an automatic pressure monitoring system, that'll be really easy.

Tires (and batteries) are something that I refuse to skimp on, at all. Mainly because I don't want to have to deal with it all the time, or worry about it every day. I do run different tire pressures on front and rear, so that does present a small problem when it comes time to rotate them, as I can't have them rotated at just any ol' place, it has to be a place that does nitrogen (unless I'm willing to have them filled with air for the time being). But I just go home for that, or in one instance I happened to run across a place with nitrogen just about the time I was getting ready to head home. It's now gotten to the point where I have them rotated, and never have to add additional nitrogen until the next rotation. And while I do still check pressures every week or so, it's not something that I worry about at all.

 

[RLENT]

I just called the Hartville location of Terry's Tire Town (local chain in noertheast Ohio) to see how much they would charge to fill four tires. I knew that they offered it having drove by several of their locations that advertised it on their signage. A very pleasant lady (Tina) answered the phone - when I asked her how much to do a nitorgen fill on 4 tires, she said "Just bring it by - we'll do it for free - no charge." (YMMV on large truck tires)

Definitely a dood PR move ....... I've never bought anything from these guys ...... but I'll definitely be calling them for prices the next time I need tires.

 

[Turtle]

Just found some good information here:
http://www.getnitrogen.org

They have some articles from various publications, as well as some videos that people should see. The videos are small, short, and one is of a Discovery Channel spot, and the others are of local news stories, one in Mentor and one in the Twin Cities.

Pay particular attention to the one where they say it's a no-brainer.

 

[ConfusedMuse]

We have bottles of argon in our garage. Can we use argon instead of nitrogen? Or does it specifically have to be nitrogen.

 

[greg334]

No argon.

 

[Turtle]

You can actually use any inert gas in tires, be it nitrogen, argon, helium, neon, radon, krypton, xenon. I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Air is comprised of about 78% nitrogen, 20% nitrogen, .9% argon, .3% carbon dioxide, and the rest is trace amounts of other gases and water vapor.

Argon is relatively inexpensive, because it's a byproduct of making liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen. Still, it's not as inexpensive as a nitrogen generator, which sucks nitrogen out of the air, as argon has to be trucked in. I seem to remember reading where some of the more high dollar luxury cars have tires filled with argon, like Rolls, or Bentley, something like that.

Incidentally, any gas, not just an inert gas, can be used in tires. Hydrogen, for example, though, that would likely give a whole new meaning to a blow out. :+

 

[Doggie Daddy]

>Incidentally, any gas, not just an inert gas, can be used in
>tires. Hydrogen, for example, though, that would likely give
>a whole new meaning to a blow out. :+

LOL Turtle,I just had a flashback to the film clip of the Hindenburg crashing."Oh the humanity".DD.

 

[Packmule]

Does anyone know the effects of adding standard pump air to tires that are filled with Nitrogen? As in a situation where you needed to add air but no Nitrogen available.

Danny

 

[Turtle]

>Does anyone know the effects of adding standard pump air to
>tires that are filled with Nitrogen? As in a situation where
>you needed to add air but no Nitrogen available.
>

Yeah, standard pump air has the same effect on inflating tires that nitrogen does, meaning, it'll inflate them. :+

Seriously, though, the air we breath, and standard pump air, is about 80% nitrogen and about 20% oxygen. Adding regular air to tires inflated with 100% nitrogen merely changes that mix a little bit. If you do that, you should simply have the tired purged and refilled with nitrogen when you can. Oxygen molecules will leak through the tire walls at a faster rate than nitrogen, so if you add regular air you'll just need to keep a little closer eye on the pressure is all. And oxygen introduces water and water vapor inside the tires, so they should be purged and re-nitrogenized next time you're at a place where they have nitrogen.

The goal is to have your tires at the optimum pressure, always, and nitrogen achieves that better than air will. But it you have to add air to the tires, you're accomplishing the same goal.

Unless you develop a leak or something, more than likely you won't have to add additional air or nitrogen to the tires in between tire rotations. I have my tires rotated at 20,000 miles (2-3 months), and at that point the tires are usually about 1 psi (or a less) down from the 55 front and 80 rear tire pressures (Sprinter).

Three or four weeks ago I had a tire pick up a bolt. Had the tire repaired, but the tire dealer didn't have nitrogen. They used (gasp!) regular air. Last week when I was at home I had my tire guy purge and refill with nitrogen. No biggie.


Slow and steady, even in expediting, wins the race - Aesop