Tire Pressure
 

I know the answer to my newer vehicles, and yes I use Nitrogen in all.
The 78 has GoodYear tires on it EAGLE GT II's, door says MAX and MIN load.. i.e.32/28 or 28/26 don't quote me on the min load?
Tires are about 5 years old with 30K miles. Look like new.
Anyway PREASSURE: I picked 32 rear and 28 up Front? Which is max, the car has the bigger tire option. Thoughts?
It had 40 rear 32 up front, so I went with the above.

When it gets nicer out I will switch it to Nitrogen also.
Thank you guys in advance.
Bryan

Depending on the condition of roads in your area of the country, I would start with 30/30 and increase if roads are very smooth.

Not to hijack, but the 'nitrogen' fad is bad science and has been thrashed to death many times. If it's free, no problem but don't go paying for it.

Your owners manuals should indicate precisely what pressures to use on which tires and when. Max load means just that- car loaded to it's maximum capacity with passenger and luggage.

The major value of nitrogen is in new cars that have tire pressure monitors. The nitrogen contains no moisture, and pressure sensor life is extended. Other then that, you're right, it's not much value.

Normal, everyday air is 78% nitrogen, and just because it's air doesn't mean it necessarily has moisture in it. My brother's air compressor has a gadget that removes moisture from the air. The whole nitrogen in the tires thing is a buncha snake oil.


Scott

Thanks, I love this site.
I will say, NITRO has saved many sensor warnings in our dashes compared to air, my 08 F350 was notorious.
I will be driving little miles a month, just to run to the store or burn the rubber down, or get spanked by my wifes new Mustang (we shall see, I did not share our vette HP to her!) LOL.
Thank you all.
Bryan Tuvell

http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/...Vettetoday.jpg

Please advise why my picture did not insert? Thanks

I can see a couple reasons. 1st, you forgot to add image tags. Image tags look like [ img ] URL [ /img ] with no spaces between the brackets and "img".

Second, I copied the photo's address by viewing its properties (in windows, right click, select "properties") and copying the image's URL. I pasted that URL in image tags, and the result is below.

http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/...Vettetoday.jpg

:thumbs:

Photobucket and Picasa sometimes are picky about embedding images on forums.

**edit** I just looked again... it looks like you were using the email & IM link instead of the IMG Code link.

i run 30 psi in all 4 tires.

32 works for me.

:thumbs:

There is science behind using nitrogen. In fact, there have been studies done on it. However, I guess I am old school and do not want to pay for it.

The science is:
The amount of pressure in the tires will remain more constant. In addition, nitrogen is more stable and drier. Nitrogen does not react like plain air with changes in pressure due to hot or cold weather. This means you will not have to fill you tires as often, thus, less tire maintenance. Remember that many people do not check their tire pressure very often, so for them it may be a good idea.

If I was racing cars or using aircraft tires, it would be something I would do for sure.

Riski-

Nitrogen expands and contracts at the same coefficient as air- but let's say that it does behave differently as you've mentioned.

Car manufacturers' recommended pressures are always specified as 'cold'. Accepting that air expands at a constant rate, they know that a cold pressure of X will result in a hot pressure of Y at highway speeds- where it really counts.

If nitrogen expanded less than air, this would mean that the tire would be underinflated at full operating temperatures on the highway. :eek:

The "science" (note the quotation marks, to impart a sense of irony) of nitrogen filled tires is pretty bad science, and that's putting it mildly. The "science" basically boils down to people who don't know what they are talking about saying that it is science. Which doesn't make it science.


Scott

when i bought new tires , the salesman gave me his best pitch on how this new gas for the tires was going to save the world let alone be good for my tires.i laughed and told him to put in that cheap old air.

Scott,

Thank you for the response. I agree that there is good and bad science.

However, I think you might want to check with NASCAR and see what they think about using nitrogen in race car tires.

NASCAR would make a rule requiring all cars to use WD-40 as brake fluid, if WD-40 paid them enough money. That would not be proof that WD-40 makes good brake fluid. But you have piqued my curiosity, I think I will google search NASCAR and nitrogen and see for myself.

BTW, that was a nice, civil response to a post that some would consider provocative. I appreciate it, and will try to follow your example!:thumbs:


Scott

OK, it seems that NASCAR teams use nitrogen in there tires because: when haul-assing around a track at close to 200 miles per hour, the tires get very hot, and the pressure of the gas inside the tire increases with the temperature. Nitrogen is used in attempt to minimize the amount of water vapor inside the tire (Praxxair supplies all the nitrogen to NASCAR, that should tell you something right there). You are most likely not going to be traveling at 200 miles per hour in your Corvette. The temperature extremes that your street tires are subjected to don't even come close. In my opinion, the benefits of nitrogen filled tires are theoretically true, but in practice, are so negligible that they can be dismissed as snake oil. It is my humble opinion, and it's still a free country, so you have a right to have a different opinion, and so do I. Isn't freedom awesome?:D


Scott

Great info as always. Thank you all and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
I went with the doors recommended 32R and 28F.
Bryan

I have an good friend that ownes a Ford dealership. When nitrogen became the rage I casually asked him at dinner one night what was the benefit of nitrogen in tires for the average driver. His response was "None. The benefit is for me and it is called more profit".

I also have a friend that I have bought tires from for 25 years. His response was that he felt that the greatest benefit (for the driver)was safety, in that if you pay $39 for nitrogen it is very likely that you will pay close attention to your tires and be back to visit the tire shop where they can see your tires and catch any problems. That also means more profit from the rotations, balancing, front end alignments, and the sale of new tires when they are needed.

Tire pressure monitors are sealed units and the small amount of water vapor in compressed air should not normally be an issue. For the average driver a monthly tire pressure check and adjustment will suffice.

That's a fact.

:thumbs:

There's the problem- they're not even theoretically true. Bad science is bad science. The 'expands less' is absolutely false and as mentioned above would be counterproductive and dangerous if it were true.

The 'leaks out slower' myth might be true if tire carcasses were the precise size of 'filter' that would let out air but not nitrogen. Rubber is an organic compound that has greatly varying 'spaces' in it's structure. Even if it were true- the nitrogen would remain behind as the oxygen leaked out meaning the tire would stay at worst, 78% inflated. Each subsequent top up with air would reduce the % of oxygen until it reached zero. All for free.

Water inside a tire is obviously of no benefit, but the chances of a wheel assembly having enough liquid inside AND running hot enough to cause it to boil is infinitesimally small. It could be considered to be a good thing- the main cause for tire blow outs is under inflation. The water would boil causing the pressure to increase and the tire to cool, blow out avoided! Maybe the scammers could market a new gas mix featuring dihydrogen monoxide (two atoms hydrogen one atom oxygen) as a blow out preventer.:D

Aircraft use nitrogen for very good reasons

1) it's easy to move bottles across the apron. Not so easy to drag a compressor and hoses around.
2) any moisture inside the wheel assembly can turn into a lump of ice while the aircraft is at -50* conditions during cruise. Landing with an out of balance wheel is not fun when it's accelerated from zero to 180 knots in one second.
3) it does not support combustion in a landing gear wheel well fire.

NONE of these points really apply to cars.