2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Anyway to keep tires from "losing" air in winter

[JCyrbok]

Kind of a stupid question but figured I'd ask.



I hate having to air mine and my wifes tires up every 2-3 weeks in the winter months.



Checked em a couple of days ago and mine were down any where from 5-10psi each and hers were 5-12 down from aprox 4 weeks earlier.



My tires are Bridgestone Dueler revo 2's with about 6k miles and hers are some kelly's with about 12k on them.



I have already checked for leaks (no obvious ones found, plus all the tires are low each time) checked the valves and the valve stems with nothing obvious there either. No damage to the rims that would lead me to believe there was a cracked rim or anything (plus same thing ref all the tires). Even checked with a different gauge to rule that out.



I know that colder temps cause volume to decrease and heat causes increase both vehicles were checked hot the other day and same results.



I know some of this is just cold temps like above and some may be just some seepage through the rubber itself but is there anything that can be done to slow or stop this? Like Slime tire sealer or anything like that? Or should I just shut up and put up, LOL



Thanks

J-

 

[seafish]

I am pretty sure that a Nitrogen fill, like what they do at some Costcos, will cure your problem of seepage While there is much disagreement as to the claimed advantages of using Nitrogen as a tire fill gas, I am pretty sure that less seepage due to molecule size is one of the documented advantages--



"Better air pressure retention -- Nitrogen doesn't seep out through the tire walls like Oxygen can, so tires remain fully inflated longer. "



"Filling your tires with nitrogen mainly does two things: it eliminates moisture, and it replaces skinny oxygen molecules with fat nitrogen molecules, reducing the rate at which compressed gas diffuses through porous tire walls. "



That being said, I am SURE that I am opening up a can of "opinion" as to the advantages of nitrogen, but PLEASE note, ALL I am saying is that Nitrogen does not seep out as much as regular air, which is ALL the OP is asking about. I am NOT saying it will be to his cost advantage to use Nitrogen, but that it OUGHT to solve his desire of NOT having to fill up his tires so often.



Also, please note that I pesonally do NOT use Nitrogen fill, so I have no idea as to the rightness or wrongness or advantage or disadvantage of it, but a simple search seems to verify tht Nitrogen molecules are fatter then air and thus do not leak out as fast... .

 

[Grizzly]

Sounds to me like your tires were never properly sealed to the rims when they were mounted. The bead of the tire should have the proper amount of sealing solution applied when mounting to the wheel.

 

[MChrist]

I agree with Grizz. Sounds like they weren't sealed correctly when mounted. And as far as the Nitrogen thing, air is roughly 80% nitrogen anyway... so if it was just the oxygen molecules escaping, leaving the nitrogen molecules behind, then if you refilled with air again, you would have an even higher ratio of nitrogen in the tires, maybe 90%. Then do it a few more times and the leakage would stop since all the O2 escaped and trapped all the Nitrogen.
Or just have the tires re-seated. If you spray a soapy water mixture along the bead inside and out, you should find it easily.

 

[GaryOwen]

I looked into nitrogen fill a couple of months ago for my wifes car and found two studies that showed nitrogen leaked out at 2/3 the rate of air. So it will still leak out, but not as fast. I opted to stay with air.

 

[jelag]

Grizzle has it right... . I check my tires only for trips... my Jeep has the pressure sensor in the tire and I'm on my second set of tires... now a 100K miles and have never put air in the tires except for when there's some piece of metal in them and they have to be repaired... There should be no leaks...

 

[WestTN]

Nirogen is 78% of ouj atmosphere. And it doesn't hold air any better than the standard air pump.

 

[WestTN]

I made an earlier post the hasn't appeared. It could have been an error on my part.



The composistion of air;



77. 9% nitrogen,

21%oxygen

0. 1%trace: everyting else.

 

[Road Dog]

Don't forget the 0. 00039% of CO2.

 

[scotmartin]

I am going to go out on limb. I wonder if the extreme cold up there causes the soft rubber which seals around the bead to harden enough to seep. And when the summer comes, it warms enough to seal up again.

Just a thought.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Remember your high school chemistry? PV =nRT. Pressure is directly proportional to temperature. Thus, when the weather gets cold, pressure decreases.

 

[Schumacher]

With the road salts and chemicals in your area, I would say you have a little corosion between the wheel bead area and the tire. Remove the tire and wheel from the vehical and lay it flat on the ground. Use soapy water or windex and spray around the bead area. Watch for bubbles or foam it way take awhile because its a slow leak. Do this on both sides. If thats the problem the tire and wheel bead area need to be cleaned with a wire wheel and a little bit of black bead sealer won't hurt. If your wheels are alloy its a normal problem. When I worked in a tire shop I had to do this aften.

 

[PatrickHansen]

The comments from Joe and Dennis really cover this issue. The only way I see to avoid the pressure losses is to move to someplace that stays warm year 'round, like California. But you'll have to be careful: the heat might make your pressure rise!

 

[madmanmanick]

one of the other advantages of nitrogen compared to air is that unless there is a 100 degree temp difference the pressure should stay the same. If you get it done you might want to have the tire place make sure the bead of the tire is on the rim, a bad seal there will lose the pressure. Also check the valve stem and make sure they don't need replaced. Hope this helps.

 

[WestTN]

Air is 21% oxygen, and 1% all other gasses except nitrogen. So it cannot live up to the hype. Merchandising and facts do not nevessarily go hand in hand.



Look for the leaks in your tires if the 'loss' isn't simply lower pressure caused by colder temperature.

 

[fest3er]

My OEM GoodRear tires sat in my shed for nearly 10 years, untouched. When I got them out to get new tires, they all had full pressure.

The inner liner of some tires is much more porous. The inner liners of other tires is much less porous. Materials and processes differ among manufacturers, and even different tire models from one manufacturer can seep more air, less air, or not at all.

When you buy new tires, be sure they wirebrush the crud off the bead seats. A glue-ish lube on the beads during installation doesn't hurt either. Especially if you have 19. 5" wheels which don't have much of a 'seat'; the sidewalls just sort-of rest against the wheel.

 

[mwilson]

Being a cold weather connoisseur I would like to share my cure... ...



For your truck. .

Valve Stems!!

Take those cheap rubber valve stems and throw them just as far as you can, then replace with the metal threaded style.

Once you do that on the truck it will cure your issue.

Have had 3 Rams all do the same thing until I upgraded the stems.



Your car tires need to be broken down and have the rim cleaned and then remounted using a compound called Bead Seal. I have to do that on any aluminum rim equipped vehicles that I own or they will seep all winter long.



It will work, I haven't lost a pound of air thru the winter on any of my four vehicles once I did the above.



Mike.

 

[JMcCoy]

Remember your high school chemistry? PV =nRT. Pressure is directly proportional to temperature. Thus, when the weather gets cold, pressure decreases.

This is probably most of your issue. When the temperature drops, the low air sensors on my patrol car and my girlfriends car activate. When it warms up, the light goes off.



If you are loosing air, I would bet it's from the valve stem core seal. It probably gets hard when the temperature drops.



I had nitrogen put in several sets of tires over the years. I notice a huge difference in air loss between the two



. As mentioned earlier, temperature fluctuations don't effect tire pressure as much with nitrogen.



I don't currently have much nitrogen because I have aired down my tires, several times, while off road.