Winterizing trailer tires

[harddock]

Re: RE: Winterizing trailer tires

If you used multi viscosity synthetic air you would not have to change it every season.

I hear that synthetic air is not enviromentally friendly and you need to be licensed to buy it around hear.

I spend too much time hunting naugas trying to get enough hides to redo my own seats. Apparantly they go into hybernation and are difficult to come by in the winter. Most in new england are runts so it takes many hides just to do a seat.

[WakeSlayer]

RE: Re: RE: Winterizing trailer tires

That is doubly troubling. Best of luck with your hunt.

[Norfork210]

RE: Re: RE: Winterizing trailer tires

I dont know about this selling nitrogen to fill tires with. Couple of points.
The "air" we pump into our tires (and breath) is already 78% by volume nitrogen.
As far as leaking out goes. The moluclar size of oxygen and nitrogen are very close. Oxygen in about 3% smaller.
I think it got started filling aircraft tires due to its inertness and lack of moisture or oxidative qualities, as opposed to "air".
You wont find me paying for nitrogen any time soon. My $.02

[ClemsonDave]

Here is an easier way. They have some very innovative products. I use their heavy duty clutch belt in the vette.
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main...4c93d385085f03

[SkiTower]

Re: RE: Winterizing trailer tires

If you used multi viscosity synthetic air you would not have to change it every season.

And where would you get some of this and how much would it cost?

I found some, right next to the bottled spring water!

[core-rider]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Winterizing trailer tires

I dont know about this selling nitrogen to fill tires with. Couple of points.
The "air" we pump into our tires (and breath) is already 78% by volume nitrogen.
As far as leaking out goes. The moluclar size of oxygen and nitrogen are very close. Oxygen in about 3% smaller.
I think it got started filling aircraft tires due to its inertness and lack of moisture or oxidative qualities, as opposed to "air".
You wont find me paying for nitrogen any time soon. My $.02

If it wasn't for the fact that I was filling tires very frequently before I put nitrogen in them and I had to replace a valve stem I wouldn't have done nitrogen. $10-15 a tire is ridiculous, but I have not had to top off a tire since going to nitrogen. Since the tires stay inflated to correct pressure better, I don't run the risk of under-inflaton and the problems associated with that. I also thought about my wheels being steel and already seeing more moisture than usual since they get dunked underwater everytime I take out the boat. The moisture inside the tire will lead to rust/corrosion of the wheels that could one day lead to problems.

Like I said, I did it since I was already at the tire shop having other work done. I waited a long time before that becuase I could justify just replacing air for $20-30. Since I needed other work done they didn't charge me for nitrogen. Not saying every tire place will do this, but it may be worth a try next time you need to replace tires.

[MikeC]

I put my trailer on blocks for the winter. I figure it prevents soft spots on the sidewalls from sitting, with the sidewall flexed, in the same position for a number of months and possibly flat spotting the wheel bearings. Does it help, I honestly don't know, it's probably more psychological than anything, but it makes me feel better.

Putting compressed nitrogen in your tires as opposed to compressed air in most cases is probably not worth it. They put it in jet aircraft not because it's dry (you can get dry oxygen just as easy as you can get dry nitrogen) it's used because of it's resistance to pressure changes due to change in temperature and altitude. The tire pressure on a jet is between 150psi and 200psi and let's say it's going from Brazil (90 degrees) to New York (30 degrees), the airplane will go from 90 degrees outside then cruise for about eight hours at negative 58 degrees outside then descend and land in where it's 30 degrees, about 30 seconds after touchdown the temperature of the tire will be well above 300 degrees due to braking (this doesn't even touch on what will happen if your tire pressure is a little low when you touch down - landing on an underinflated tire usually turns out with an accounting in the local news). Because of this huge range of operating temperatures you need a gas that will maintain a constant pressure under the most extreme conditions. I don't think my boat trailer operates under quite the same conditions.

Nitrogen will sometimes stop a slow leak in an auto tire simply because it will not expand and contract as the temperature changes. With nitrogen it's not necessay to check your tire pressure only when it's cold, basically if you fill your tire with nitrogen to 50psi when it's cold and drive it 200 miles it's still going to be 50psi, unlike compresssed air which is going to expand slightly when the tire warms up, or, conversly, contract as the tire cools such as when it's sitting out all winter. My suggestion - save the money you would spend on nitrogen and use it to buy a portable air compressor and a good tire gauge.

[DanielC]

This time I am being serious.
I could be wrong, but I think nitrogen in its gaseous state follows the same gas laws that every other gas does. You increase the temperature of a gas, either the pressure goes up, or the volume goes up.

As far a nitrogen being less leaky, If you have a tire that is leaking any gas, and replace the valve stem, which generally requires unseating the bead, just the mere fact that you have reseated the bead, and replaced the stem, probably sealed up any leaks that developed. There is also a good chance that the person working on your tire was extra careful to make sure the bead surface was clean before they reseated the tire, and filled it with nitrogen.

If I remember my Scuba diving pressures correctly, I believe you would need to go down into the water between 60 and 90 feet to equal the same pressure that is in the tires. There is no way water, a liquid will leak into a tire two feet under the surface when the tire has 30 to 50 PSI of air in it.

I have blocked some trailer tires up on boats in long term storage, but my Ski Nautique gets used until late October, and is recommissioned in early March, and is moved a few times in between. I am simply too busy, or lazy to block its tires up off the ground, even though I should. It is stored where the sun does not shine on the tires.

[bobchris]

pressure change is very slight with nitrogen and just because it's filled with it doesn't mean it's not going to leak out if there is a leak so very foolish not to check the tire pressure before you tow the trailer just beacuse it is filled with nitrogen.

The flexed side wall is static it will not weaken sitting in one spot, might create a slight flat spot if you leave it sit for a year in the sun but again if you want to be annul so be it but pretty much a waiste of time blocking it up for 5-6 months.

[MikeC]

I have to correct my earlier post on the nitrogen vs air. I decided to call up my chemistry professor uncle and get his explanation on the expansion rates of gasses. His answer in a nutshell: dry nitrogen has a minutely lower expansion rate than dry oxygen, the key is dry. Dry nitrogen has a considerably lower expansion rate than air due to the moisture content. It's the presence of moisture that causes the noticable increase in tire pressure with temperature increase. Why do we put dry nitrogen in tires? It's cheaper to produce dry nitrogen than dry oxygen and nitrogen is inert (it won't support life or fire), where dry, pure oxygen can be dangerous in the wrong enviornment. Again nitrogen is needed in some instances, aircraft and race cars due to extreme performance requirements but unnecessary in normal applications.