To Air On the Safe Side

51woodie

51woodie

Well-known member
Got the '46 off jack stands, and getting ready to go for the first run of the year. All fluids checked, battery off tender and ready to go. Aaah…. may as well check the tire pressure. Well now. All four, including the spare, were at 28 PSI when it went on the stands last October. This May 1st., they are all at 21 PSI. I am running 6:00X16 WWW with tubes (I know, radials are better) filled with air. The reason I mention air, is that both our daily drivers tires are nitrogen filled, and the never seem to lose pressure. So I guess the "sales pitch" we get at the tire shop, that nitrogen is better, seems to hold water... or nitrogen at least. Seems it has something to do with molecule size difference between air and nitrogen. Odds are that offshore innertubes don't help either. Just an observation to read while we are holed up. NO! don't say holed around tires. It's bad luck. :)
 
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51woodie said:
Got the '46 off jack stands, and getting ready to go for the first run of the year. All fluids checked, battery off tender and ready to go. Aaah…. may as well check the tire pressure. Well now. All four, including the spare, were at 28 PSI when it went on the stands last October. This May 1st., they are all at 21 PSI. I am running 6:00X16 WWW with tubes (I know, radials are better) filled with air. The reason I mention air, is that both our daily drivers tires are nitrogen filled, and the never seem to lose pressure. So I guess the "sales pitch" we get at the tire shop, that nitrogen is better, seems to hold water... or nitrogen at least. Seems it has something to do with molecule size difference between air and nitrogen. Odds are that offshore innertubes don't help either. Just an observation to read while we are holed up. NO! don't say holed around tires. It's bad luck. :)
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Dry nitrogen is also used in aircraft tires. It has a minimal potential to leak and it doesn't expand or contract in relation to temperature, pressure or altitude.
Ken
 
KGS said:
Dry nitrogen is also used in aircraft tires. It has a minimal potential to leak and it doesn't expand or contract in relation to temperature, pressure or altitude.
Ken
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Plus......the moisture that WAS removed (from the DRY NITROGEN) is no longer an issue where any moisture MIGHT have pooled in one spot inside the tires to freeze at altitude. That could dramatically throw a tire out of balance while possibly landing at 130 kts. or more. DD
 
51woodie said:
Got the '46 off jack stands, and getting ready to go for the first run of the year. All fluids checked, battery off tender and ready to go. Aaah…. may as well check the tire pressure. Well now. All four, including the spare, were at 28 PSI when it went on the stands last October. This May 1st., they are all at 21 PSI. I am running 6:00X16 WWW with tubes (I know, radials are better) filled with air. The reason I mention air, is that both our daily drivers tires are nitrogen filled, and the never seem to lose pressure. So I guess the "sales pitch" we get at the tire shop, that nitrogen is better, seems to hold water... or nitrogen at least. Seems it has something to do with molecule size difference between air and nitrogen. Odds are that offshore innertubes don't help either. Just an observation to read while we are holed up. NO! don't say holed around tires. It's bad luck. :)
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Don't put too much trust in the nitrogen hokum! It's an over-hyped gimmick to put more money in the tire dealers' pockets. Yeah, it works great in specialized applications like race cars, but who takes on-ramps at 120+ MPH? And who drives at 20.000+ ft. where moisture in a tire might freeze? Tire shops have moisture traps on their air lines anyway.
Plain ol' air has 78% nitrogen to start with, and most tire shops don't use pure nitrogen anyway. They use special compressors that up the nitrogen percentage to 90-95% but according to tire experts the nitrogen percentage must be 100% to gain any benefits.
Next, watch a tire being mounted. Once it's seated on the beads, there is air trapped inside. How is the air removed to make way for the nitrogen? If that air is not purged, it severely dilutes that expensive nitrogen and you lose most of the benefits! Does your tire shop take the time to do several cycles of filling with nitrogen then releasing the pressure and refilling to get rid of most of the air? (They'll never get rid of all of it).
Some years ago General Motors sent a technical bulletin to its dealers telling them to NOT use nitrogen in tires! They said any benefits were so small as to not justify the cost. Some major tire chains such as Discount Tire also do not use nor recommend using nitrogen.
Some tires hold air better than others. The quality of the tire (or tube) has more to do with this than using nitrogen.
 
To actually know where your air is going, you need to first, bring the pressure back up, then take each one off and wash it up with soapy water. Then watch for bubbles.
 
frnkeore said:
To actually know where your air is going, you need to first, bring the pressure back up, then take each one off and wash it up with soapy water. Then watch for bubbles.
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51woodie's tires lost 7lb. in 6 months, which is well within normal limits of 1 to 2 lb. per month. I think you'd be watching for bubbles for a long time!
 
I agree with 40 Deluxe on the use of nitrogen in our cars. The only reason we have it in our daily drivers, is that our dealer says, "We don't charge extra for it". Other than that, if one of our tires are low, I top it up with my shop compressor, which gives me 78.09% nitrogen!
 
V8COOPMAN said:
Using helium in your tires causes a high-pitched "Chipmunks" sound as the tires roll down the road. DD
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Always wondered if you'd get better fuel economy this way, less friction? Minute difference probably would not out way explosion potential once it starts to heat up.
 
Will D said:
Always wondered if you'd get better fuel economy this way, less friction? Minute difference probably would not out way explosion potential once it starts to heat up.
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Helium would exit through a container faster than any other gas discussed here. Filling would be more frequent.

No way this stuff explodes. That's hydrogen.

Blimps and airships could use a come-back...
 
VeryTangled said:
Helium would exit through a container faster than any other gas discussed here. Filling would be more frequent.

No way this stuff explodes. That's hydrogen.

Blimps and airships could use a come-back...
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Right you are, helium is inert. I confused the 2.
 
The fact that you left the car parked with all four tires reading the same and few months later they still all four read the same, but at a lower number tells me you may have used a different tire gage in the spring that does not read the same as the one used in October.?
 
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