Sudz

Just looking for info on user recommended tire pressures loaded/unloaded. Nitrogen filled and now the debate between my husband and me is what the tire pressures should be. He says that's the purpose of nitrogen filled..you don't have to adjust...however...I disagree..I would like to get the best ride/wear I can get, loaded and unloaded...any opinions?*We pull a horse trailer..probably 13000 lbs give or take..Thanks in advance

P.S. I know there is a lot of discussion about this but I haven't seen a very concrete answer...I may not be looking in the right place..

2012 CTD DRW factory mounted Generals I believe..

cdennyb

Well, right or wrong, good or bad I run mine at the max recommended pressures. e.g. 80 psi, all the way around, loaded or empty. The last set of General Ameritrac TR tires I had on there ran just over 100,000 miles and a good portion was empty but there were a lot of miles pulling a 40' triple axle enclosed 5th wheel car trailer, gross about 20K
On a race car at indy, or Le Mans, maybe the N2 filled tires are all the new edge thing to win by a fraction of a second, but really... really, just keep the tires inflated and don't run over nails, I use whatever air is available, my compressor has a water trap and that's quite good enough for me.

Busboy

Nitrogen is used in tires because it maintains a more stable pressure than compressed air as the tire heats up or cools down, it's commonly used in race cars and aircraft and now some tire shops including Costco are using it. There are a couple of ways to inflate your tires, 1 the door sticker, 2 the pressure on the sidewall of the tire, 3 advice from the masses,. You can also chalk a line across the tire and go for a short drive, if the line is worn from the center the tire pressure is too high, if from the sides it's too low. Ideally you want as much tire surface area on the road so the tire will wear evenly plus each fine little cut/groove (sipe) is a gripping edge so the more gripping edges on the road the better the traction. As you can imagine the greater the load the more pressure will be needed to maintain the maximum surface area on the road. Never exceed the max tire pressure on the sidewall of the tire, I used to know 2 guys who did. Hope this helps.

Sudz

Soo..if I release air, am I releasing the nitrogen? Thanks for all the info..

Busboy

If there is only nitrogen in the tire then Yes, but if it has been topped off over time using compressed air then it would be a mixture of the two. I might add that choosing the right tire pressure is only part of the solution, it's maintaining the correct tire pressure. Always check cold and never let air out if the tire is hot because as it cools down it will decrease in pressure.

6.7L MegaCab

The auto manufacturers recommended tire pressure is set after a lot of testing to maximize tire wear, fuel economy, and safety. With the advent of the TPMS, it has allowed manufacturers to recommend the safest light load and max load tire pressures (really only affects the rear tires). I personally would never run at the tires max cold air inflation pressure - especially on the front. My recommendation especially if using nitrogen, is to set it at the trucks recommended max pressure if you are hauling the majority of the time, even if you aren't hauling a couple weeks at a time. To put it into perspective, it has been quite a few months since I hauled anything heavy requiring me to set my pressure to the trucks recommended max (70 psi). My tires wear even and I haven't ran into any problems. Additionally, I rotate my tires at the manufacturers recommended interval of 7500 miles, which does help with even wear since the front tires will always be one pressure regardless of the load.

During the off season, if you have one, I may consider lowering it to the light load setting, but in my experience, I haven't felt it necessary.

I now have about 57,300 miles on the original tires. Based on the tread depth, I think I can squeeze out another 6K to 8K before getting new tires.


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sabersix

I run unloaded most of the time. I go by door sticker: 65/40 front/back. Max pressure in back makes the ride very rough.

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Grit Dog

If you have realtively narrow tires (like a stock dually) then you wont get much "balloon" effect running high psi driving empty (talking trucks here where pressures, IMO, should be tailored to the load).
So you'll still get good tire wear but have a ROUGH ride when empty.

I don't believe in nitrogen filling because I adjsut tire pressure in all my vehicles to the conditions. IMO it's a sales ploy to charge more $. I can see a benefit maybe for the avg person who doesnt monitor tire pressures and experiences wide temperature swings.
In a empty dually I'd go 40psi max rear pressure for a decent ride. I only run 40-45psi rear in my srw truck with 295's empty.
In the winter, I run about 35psi empty to help with traction.

The probelm with the newer trucks is the TPMS telling you you're too low and throwing an idiot light. Rams have the light load button, not sure what the psi threshold is but it can be lowered further by the dealer to accomodate the pressures you want to run without throwing the idiot light.

On my new Ferd company truck, F250, the TPMS comes set at 75psi min rear pressure! Truck is almost un driveable at that pressure, empty.
I got the dlr to lower the threshold to 30psi on all 4 corners so I can air up or down as needed and only trigger the low pressure light if I'm really about to have a flat tire.

SOhappy

I might add that "air" is 78% nitrogen anyway, most of the rest is oxygen.

Busboy

It's remaining 22% that's the kicker. While I don't believe there is any noticeable benefit from using nitrogen in passenger cars and trucks and would certainly NOT pay for it, if they want to inflate with nitrogen I have no objections. One thing Nitrogen has going for it is that it is dry with no moisture content or very little. If you have ever checked a tire pressure and had the valve freeze open and the tire deflate in -35c and below you come to appreciate every little thing that can help avoid having to change an aircraft wheel that weighs more than twice as much as you do outside in the snow and wind especially by yourself.

Sudz

Thanks for all the opinions! I may try lower pressure in the duals..to get a better ride...Will watch for wear...I think I have about 60 in the fronts..

Spooler

Set to the recommended pressures on the door or under the center console. Lots of testing has went into these values. Ride quality, load handling capabilities, suspension setup, and tire wear. I never ever run the max pressure on the tire.

CoastalDav

My truck has a 9300 lbs rear axle. The rear tires at 80PSI will support 11,500+
LBS. So 80 psi is not needed, it will only wear the center out of the tire.
The Label on the door represents the Axle rating. 65 psi in my case. Loaded
with the trailer at 3000 lbs pin, I'm around 8700lbs on the tires. Thats about 2175 lbs per tire. Tires are rated for 3040 lbs. Michelins LTX M/S. So I run
55 lbs in the rear which is a little more than I need for the weight I carry.

Just put new Michelins on at 93,840. They still had at least 8-10 k left on them. All tires were built in 05 or 06. The only reason I changed them was some cracking in the side walls from the sun. They were ran at 55 in the rears and 60 in the front.

If you look at the RV Tire Load Inflation Table Goodyear puts out, you'll see PSI and Load on the tire is what is used in the table. So a G614 that can be ran at 110PSI does not need to be. I run mine at 85 psi on the trailer.


Dave