Not happy with <span class="highlight">nitrogen</span> inflated tyres.

I know a few years back Bob Jane tyres were really pushing the Nitrogen and they told me that the main advantage was that the gas does not heat up as much. The tyre expert said this means less heat in the tyre, therefore less friction, less tyre wear. I never really found any difference and did not think it was worth the bother. Maybe if we were on a race track doing a zillion kilometres per hour? Do not understand why it would make much difference in van tyres. Plus the fact in a van you would be travelling and it would be harder to top the gas up. Kevin

Cant coment on the gas.
In regards to getting the tyre off...
I have always carried a breaker bar or now a extendable tyre spanner. Cost $20 from Repco. Will never get caught out.

Craig

Richard,

There's a pretty comprehensive report here about the benefits (if any) of using nitrogen in tyres. Personally, I see no significant advantage in doing so in our sort of application - I'll stay with the nitrogen/oxygen mix we can breath.

Nuts - Know what you mean about undoing nuts that have been tightened using power tools. Once upon a time when I was far younger and lacking critical experience I had a 4 ton truck. When I came to remove a wheel I found just how tight those nuts could be. Had to extend the the handle on the tool using a length of water pipe and jump on the extended handle to move those nuts. They were so tight that I even started braking the studs off!

This was before I learned that on one side of the vehicle the wheel nuts were left hand threaded!

Cheers

John

If you look at a kids Helium baloon it goes flat in less than a day! compared to a balloon filled with Air!

And wait for it Nitrogen is less viscous than Helium so you would think it would go flat quite quickly compared to air!.

So maybe there lies the problem.

Cheers

Don't know why it deflated... gas expands when heated, never contracts.

Wheel nuts - grrrrrr.

If you want a bit of light reading reference nitrogen in caravan tyres have a look at Caravaners Forum

With tight wheel nuts, I have a 12v electric 'rattle gun' which makes it easy to undo the nuts. I use a tension wrench to do them up. After a service and before a trip I undo and re-tighten the nuts so I don't get caught out on the road. I do that to both the tug and van.

Had a good chuckle at some of the Caravanners Forum comments in the link put up by Rod.
Karl on that forum has nailed it exactly. With racing, and with aviation, using pure nitrogen in tyres has measureable, and often important benefits. Removing an oxygen supply assists with a reduction in fire potential.

For caravans, using nitrogen in tyres is unnecessary and merely sales hype. As Karl says, air is nearly 80% nitrogen anyway, so, a 20% increase in the niitrogen level, for caravan use, has barely-measureable benefit.

I suspect perhaps the tyres the caravan manufacturers are using, may be borderline in load capacity (a common problem) - and by using nitrogen, they're hoping that their marginal tyres will last, until the warranty runs out.

Richard - The alternative to excessively tight nuts is loose ones, and that can be a nasty experience. Been in a car where a wheel fell off because someone never tightened the nuts.
The problem with excessively tight nuts, though, is the potential for wheel stud fracture.

Wheel studs are high tensile, and high tensile fasteners are heat treated and rely on a set amount of stretch created by correct torque application (or "elastic deformation" as the engineers call it), to keep a certain amount of pressure on the item to be retained in position.

Once a high tensile stud is stretched beyond its elastic deformation limits, the stud will fracture. That fracture may not be readily visible, but a fractured wheel stud will break without warning when a load peak is applied, in circumstances such as cornering.
Thus, it's fairly critical to ensure that correct torque is applied to wheel nuts.

I shudder when I see people using rattle guns on wheel nuts, with no final hand torque check - and I always re-check wheel nuts after a tyre shop has done them.

A rattle gun isn't a device that can supply a set torque range, the torque output varies according to rattle gun lube, air pressure to the gun, and the torque setting adjustment screw. They're handy tools, but you never rely on them to set final torques.

Cheers - Ron.

Might I suggest your issues were incidental to whatever the tyres were filled with and were probablly low right from the start

i actually doubt you even had nitrogen in the tyres - sounds like salesman BS to me

plenty of people for many years using air in the tyres with good results

i notice airplane tyres state nitrogen only whkich could make sense if its less prone to pressure changes

- but your not looking to take off i gather

Nitrogen has theoretical advantages but im sure in the real world no one would notice a difference to a normal user

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the feedback, I'm getting my Jayco in a few months. Cant comment on the Nitrogen but I always undo then retighten wheel nuts on all my cars trailers ect. You never know if they are tight enough or not tight enough.

I'd rather be doin it at home in the shed then on the side of the road with kids screaming prob in 40 degrees heat, flies and the bride going off her tree.

I learnt the hard way but it works.

Cheers Wilko

I am so glad I have J with me.

The first thing he did after arriving home with our new Jayco was make sure he could remove the wheels then checked the wheel bearings for grease & adjustment.

Running nitrogen when travelling in the bush is not practical.

Hope you have better luck next trip.

nitrogen aside, what does the van weigh loaded ( don't guess weigh it).
And what do the load V preasure tables say that the tires fitted should be inflated to.

You simply cant trust people to correctly inflate tires for you or to even recommend correct preasures.

As for the wheel nuts......I never trust anybody else to tighten my wheel nuts, as soon as a vehicle comes back from a tyre shop, I loosen and retighten the wheen nuts.....I don't want to get caught.

cheers