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Nitrogen tires vs air?


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I'm new to this, and at my recent orientation, I was told that once you add air to the nitrogen filled tires, they have now been compromised and would have to be re-done with nitrogen.  Yet I see many discussions here about air pressure "adjustments", with many different opinions.

 

Do most abandon the nitrogen concept in favor of air, or am I misunderstanding?   (Which wouldn't surprise me)

 

Doug

"Bright Star" 


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2019 Legacy Elite II, twin beds. Happily pulled along by 2018 Ford F-150 LARIAT, Super Cab, Sport 4x4, 3.5EB, w/max. towing goodies.  Life is Great. 


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From Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth :

 

"By volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere."

 

I assume that if you kept on filling with air, you'll just be gradually increasing the percentage of Oxygen and other gasses until you reach a state equivalent to pure air.

 

Or not. Just spit-balling...

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Nitrogen filled tires for the average application are more or less a scam , just use air and don't fret about a non-issue. I used to fill high performance jet aircraft tires with N2 when I was an A&P, since it is bone dry and marginally better at staying at a set pressure during wild temperature swings, but all the smaller planes got good old shop air....

 

It is best to use air that has gone through an effective moisture separator, especially in a humid climate. You really don’t want water inside your tires, since it can corrode the wheels and valve stems. If you have a small compressor at home, consider adding one inline with the regulator, if you haven’t already, and be sure to drain the main tank often. Dry air is good air. It preserves your air tools and is absolutely mandatory if you want to paint using an air sprayer.

 

If you have to fill at a gas station, just hope their system is adequately maintained.

 

https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a3894/nitrogen-in-tires/

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

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Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved Storm, Lucy, Maggie and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge)

2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4 

 

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Racing cars also use nitrogen in their tires for much the same reasons as do high performance aircraft.  However, at my age, I've learned (for the most part) just how crazy it was to test the limits of my tires and the machinery that they ride on.  I doubt that many (if any) of us (Oliver Owners) are stressing the tires on our Ollies and/or tow vehicles in such a manner that the positive effects of using nitrogen would really be worth it.  If I'm given a choice of nitrogen over plain air for the same price, I'll take the pure nitrogen.  However, I've only run into one tire shop that will do that,

 

Bill

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

Near Asheville, NC

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