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3 Things You Need to Know About Buying New Tires

On July 12, 2012, in Tire Care, by allisonmreilly
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buying new tiresIt’s inevitable that your tires will wear out after a few years of usage. Sooner or later, they will have to be replaced. The good news is that you have many options to choose from when it comes to buying new tires. You’ll have the opportunity to pick a set that’s best suited for your car. Of course, having many options can be confusing to the uninformed buyer. Better arm yourself with the following tips so that you’ll know exactly what to look for:

1) Size

Bigger vehicles need bigger tires. For example, compact cars have smaller tires than SUVs. This consideration is obvious and straightforward, but surprisingly, many people don’t get it right. They don’t give size much thought because they think it’s easy to determine. After all, just one look will tell you that a truck’s tire can’t fit on a two-seater sports car. However, a problem can arise when tires seem to fit, but actually don’t. A few millimeters off is not obvious to the naked eye, but it sure makes a difference in the car’s long-term performance. Precision is the key here.

Before buying a new set tires, check the specs of your car if you’re unsure about the exact size. You can usually find the information you need in the manual that came from the manufacturer. You can also look for the decal that has a listing of the tire specs on the glove box lid or on the door jamb.

If you don’t have the manual or the decal, you can refer to the sidewall of one of your current tires. You’ll see an alphanumeric code that begins with “P” running along its circumference. The three numbers following “P” indicate the tire’s width in millimeters. Next, you’ll see a slash, after which, you’ll see two more numbers that tell you the percentage of the tire’s height compared to its width. The next letter, “R,” identifies the radial construction. The two numbers after it represent the diameter of the rim in inches.

These numbers should be enough to tell you what size to get for your new set of tires. As a general rule, get tires with the same specs if your current tires have worked well for your car.

2) Weight

Two tires can look the same, but they may have different load-carrying capacities. Again, check your car’s specs to determine the maximum weight your tires should carry. The manual and the decal have that information.

The alphanumeric code on your tires has that, too. After the two numbers indicating the wheel diameter, you’ll see another pair of numbers. This corresponds to the load index of the tire. You can search for complete load index charts online to check the exact maximum weight that corresponds to your tire’s numbers, or you can go here. As a general rule, a high index means a high maximum load.

Take note that tires should not just support the car, but the passengers and cargo inside it. Thus, it’s not advisable to go for a new set of tires with a lower index than what your car is used to. It’s best to stick to the load index of your current tires.

You can also go higher if you know that your car will regularly carry a lot of people and/or stuff. Just make sure that the size and the other measurements match your car’s when you buy tires with a different load index.

3) Performance

Ultimately, your tires affect your car’s performance. It’s best to think about how you use your car when buying a new set of tires.

If you know you’ll be driving down some snowy streets, equip your car with all-season tires, or better yet, with specialized snow tires. Summer tires won’t be up for the job; don’t even try driving in winter with these on.

If you drive fast, choose tires with a high-speed rating. You can determine the rating by looking at the letter beside the load index in the alphanumeric code. The range is A to Z, with A being the lowest and Z the highest, but you’ll usually find a range that falls between Q to Z for most cars. Again, refer to charts that are searchable online, but for a quick reference, you can check this out.

Remember that these are just guidelines to help you get started on your search for a new set of tires. When in doubt, the best thing you can do is find a store that you trust. The salespeople will be more than happy to entertain any specific questions you may have about buying new tires.

nitrogen tire inflation myths paper

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6 Reasons Why Nitrogen Tire Inflation is Great for Managed Fleets

On June 28, 2012, in Managed Fleets, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, Sustainability, by allisonmreilly
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nitrogen tire inflation for managed fleetsThere’s still a lot of doubt about the value of nitrogen tire inflation, despite research and experience that say otherwise. Even though it may be hard to convince the consumer marketing about the benefits of having nitrogen in tires, industry should take a little less convincing when major companies and industries like the military, the airlines, and NASCAR have used nitrogen tire inflation for years. If you are in fleet management, and you still need a little more convincing, here are six excellent reasons on why nitrogen tire inflation is a good idea for your managed fleet:

  1. Better Pressure Retention – Because of its larger molecular size, nitrogen migrates through a tire three to four times slower than oxygen. Tires are not impermeable, and oxygen molecules migrate through the sidewalls, belts, tread, tire bead, and valve stem. Using nitrogen tire inflation will slow this migration, and help each of your fleet vehicles to maintain proper tire pressure for a longer period of time.
  2. Improved Handling – Proper tire inflation ensure the recommended “contact patch” of your tire is on the road. Tires that are over or underinflated will create uneven wear patterns, making them less safe on which to drive. Over/underinflation also negatively affects fuel efficiency, which leads to our next reason.
  3. Higher Fuel Economy – Proper tire pressure lessens rolling resistance and maximizes fuel efficiency. Research has found that proper tire pressure leads to a 3.3% increase in fuel efficiency. This may not seem like a lot, but for a managed fleet with 100, 1000, or 10,000+ vehicles, those few percentage points add mean a return on investment for nitrogen tire inflation and fuel cost savings in the long run. A tire that is 15 percent underinflated has a 2.5% decrease in fuel economy.
  4. Enhanced Safety and Reliability – Under-inflated tires cause 90 percent of blowouts. Nitrogen provides more reliable pressure for reduced blowout potential. Safety and reliability should be a top priority for all members of a managed fleet.
  5. Longer Tire Life – Under-inflated tires wear quickly on the shoulders, and overinflated tires wear in the center. In addition, removing oxygen eliminates oxidation and condensation that can damage inner liners, steel belts and rims. Proper tire pressure, which nitrogen maintains for a longer period of time than air, increases tire life by 20 percent. A tire that’s 15 percent underinflated has eight percent less tread mileage than one at proper tire pressure. The increase in tire life could mean savings in tire expenses or in retreads for a managed fleet.
  6. Better for the Environment – Anything that improves fuel efficiency and reduces toxic emissions is good for the environment, and nitrogen in your tires can help. Anything that your managed fleet does that’s considered “green” or “sustainable” is also great for marketing purposes, since it’s a way not only to differentiate from the competition but also to appeal to customers.
Sometimes, one small change in how you do things can have a big impact. Nitrogen tire inflation is one of those small changes. Nitrofleet99 is the only nitrogen tire inflation provider that works specifically with managed fleet. They can help any fleet, large or small, integrate the equipment with any maintenance program 
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A Fourth Way the Trucking Industry Can Go Green

On June 14, 2012, in Managed Fleets, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, Trucking Industry, by allisonmreilly
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trucking industry going greenThe trucking industry is vital to just about everything. The produce at your grocery store, the new television at Best Buy, and the new cars at the dealership all get where they need to be because of trucks. Despite their overall importance to the economy, the way the industry works has remained largely unchanged for decades. One of the ways they haven’t changed is in their fuel efficiency and consumption, and this post on GreenUnite offers three ways the trucking industry can go green. However, the article missed a fourth way the trucking industry can go green, a way that is so much easier to implement than the three mentioned in the article. That way is nitrogen tire inflation.

Nitrogen tire inflation is the process of using nitrogen in tires instead of regular air, and with the right equipment, it can be implemented in a managed fleet more quickly and easily than reducing speed (truckers are on tight deadlines, and can’t afford to waste precious time by going slow, or to lose business for slower deliveries), using alternative fuels (the truck takes what the truck takes. Hybrid 18-wheelers aren’t yet on the market, and until they are, this isn’t possible), or building a more aerodynamic truck (again, until one comes on the market, nothing’s changing). The great thing about nitrogen tire inflation as a way for managed fleets and the trucking industry to go green is that it is something that individual fleets or trucking companies can do on their own, and tomorrow. The technology already exists, and a single fleet can purchase this technology and do their part to go green without waiting for legislation, or innovators, or the industry to make changes themselves.

Nitrogen tire inflation helps a managed fleet or trucking company go green in two ways: improving fuel efficiency and improving tire life. The process of using nitrogen in tires has been found to improve fuel efficiency between three and six percent because nitrogen is able to maintain proper tire pressure for a longer period of time. Three to six percent improvement may not seem like a lot, but for a managed fleet of several hundred or thousand vehicles, that equals a lot of savings in fuel and transportation costs. If anything, improved fuel efficiency should be enough of a reason to go green, because it’s a way to go green while saving green

Nitrogen also improves tire life because it’s not necessarily nitrogen that’s so special, but it’s the oxygen and water vapor in compressed air that’s damaging to tires. Oxygen reacts with the tire rubber, causing it to deteriorate over a long period of time. An improvement in tire life could mean that managed fleets could get one more retread out of each tire. The water vapor can also do damage to the wheel studs by rusting them over time. Water vapor is also much more reactive to temperature, causing tire pressure to fluctuate. The tires will warm up after a drive, and could be read as overinflated if tire pressure is taken right after getting off the road. This means that the driver will release the pressure, making them underinflated. This can make the tires unsafe to drive on by putting them at risk for flats and blowouts.

How does a managed fleet or trucking company get involved with nitrogen tire inflation? Nitrofleet99 is a the only nitrogen tire inflation firm in the country that services managed fleets, and will work with your fleet or your company to create a strategy within your maintenance infrastructure so that every single one of your vehicles will receive nitrogen in their tires when they go through regular maintenance. Nitrofleet99 will also teach you how to use the technology, and will provide enough for your fleet whether its five vehicles or 5000 vehicles.

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Managed Fleets Large and Small Improve Bottom Line with Nitrogen Tire Inflation

On May 31, 2012, in Fuel Efficiency, Managed Fleets, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, by allisonmreilly
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managed fleet

A managed fleet like this can save a lot of money with nitrogen tire inflation.

A boost in equipment and maintenance doesn’t necessarily need a brand new device or technology. Sometimes, a great change can come from doing something differently.

That’s the case with nitrogen tire inflation, the practice of inflating tires with nitrogen instead of compressed air. Nitrogen has been used by the airline industry and NASCAR for decades, and has only recently begun to make its way into the trucking industry.

“The two largest costs for trucking fleets are tires and fuel,” said Ken Lawton, CEO of Nitrofleet99. Nitrofleet99, based in Brentwood, Tenn., is a nitrogen tire inflation systems firm that has worked with various trucking fleets around the country.

“Managed fleets are the biggest beneficiaries of nitrogen tire inflation,” Lawton said. “By using nitrogen, there is an increase in fuel economy and an improvement in mileage and carbon emissions.”

Air is already 78 percent nitrogen, but it’s not necessarily the nitrogen that improves tire performance. It’s the other 21 percent of the air that’s the problem. That other 21 percent includes oxygen and water vapor. The oxygen reacts with the rubber, destroying it over time. The water vapor makes the tire more susceptible to temperature changes, causing the tire pressure to fluctuate. The nitrogen used is a dry gas that isn’t affected by the rubber or the temperature changes.

That’s the exact philosophy behind Wood County Bandag, a truck tire retreading company in Bowling Green, Ohio. President Jim Keiser said that a client mentioned the idea eight years ago, and now utilizes nitrogen in every single tire retreaded and every single tire in its own fleet of 16 vehicles.

“There isn’t one reason for a trucking company not to be using it,” Keiser said. “There’s a whole list of benefits, and it saves them money.”

Keiser explained the temperature buildup that takes place as trucks spend the long hours driving affects the air pressure as well as the quality of the ride. As air-filled tires warm up, they increase in pressure, so much so that the driver “feels each bump like there are stones underneath the tire.”

“The temperature builds up as the tire has less pressure,” Keiser said. “The road running temperature of a tire is 190 degrees. If the tire gets up to 250 degrees, it will fail within an hour. At 275 degrees, it will fail catastrophically.”

Ever since Wood County Bandag implemented nitrogen, Keiser said that the fail rate of those tires is exponentially lower. That’s something that trucking fleets around the country are noticing.

“You get a more consistent tire pressure,” said Dave Kuppler, Group Manager of Health and Environmental Services for the City of St. Peters, Mo. “They aren’t working at optimum if the tire pressure is low.”

The City of St. Peters started using nitrogen tire inflation five years ago on its entire fleet of 261 vehicles, which includes everything from police cars to solid waste trucks. The city noticed that the tires on its vehicles kept on coming in with low tire pressures.

“With nitrogen, we use less tires and gas and it saves money,” Kuppler said. “The tire pressure is better, which is also better for safety.”

Chad Sanders, Founder of N2Generator, agreed that nitrogen tire inflation can lower the risk of a blowout because the nitrogen maintains proper tire pressure three to four times longer with less fluctuation than regular air. N2Generator is a nitrogen systems dealer based in Woodstock, Ga. that primarily works with automotive dealerships, but has also worked with smaller trucking fleets.

“If a fleet owner sees a 20 percent increase in tire life and a seven percent increase in fuel economy, that’s upwards of a million dollars in savings,” Sanders said.

How does nitrogen maintain proper tire pressure longer than air? The air molecules are three to four times smaller than nitrogen, so they have harder time migrating through the casing. Also, as mentioned previously, the fact that the nitrogen used is a dry, inert gas also makes a difference in maintaining proper tire pressure.

Proper tire pressure and improved mileage were the exact things that Allied Republic found when it conducted a test of nitrogen tire inflation on a small portion of its fleet. The original testing was conducted in the fall of 2008, when a regional vice president thought that the new technology was worth exploring. Allied Republic has over 60,000 vehicles in its fleet, and now uses nitrogen in the tires of every single one of them.

“The original testing we did across 300 [trucks] in service and new trucks in our fleet showed us that after 90 days of monthly preventative maintenance, fuel usage improved by one to two percent on new trucks and between three to four percent on in service trucks,” said Robert McClellon, General Manager for Allied Republic. “We were all pretty amazed.”

A few percentage points may not seem like a lot of benefit, but for a fleet of 60,000, a few percentage points can add up to immense savings. It might not be the seven percent that Sanders said, but with gas at all-time highs, and fuel approximately 25 percent of the costs of an average trucking fleet, every little bit of savings can affect the bottom line.

“This is a chance to have a better maintenance program,” said Lawton of Nitrofleet99. “The bigger the fleet, the bigger the benefit.”

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Summer Driving Season: More Cars, Lower Gas Prices

On May 17, 2012, in Fuel Efficiency, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, by allisonmreilly
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summer driving season

Prepare for the summer driving season with nitrogen tire inflation

Memorial Day is next weekend, marking the beginning of the summer driving season. As many folks around the country plan trips and vacations, there’s a couple of things that will be going on in the coming months that motorists ought to be aware of.

First, according to AAA, is that car travel is expected to increase this year. It’s projected that 30.7 million people will be on the roads over the long weekend, although they will be making shorter trips than last year. Nonetheless, with more people on the roads, safety should still be a top concern. If something happens, you are more like to cause problems and/or to be a hazard to others traveling during the weekend and throughout the summer driving season. Make sure that your car is in top shape before starting on your trip.

Second, gas prices are the lowest they’ve been since February, making the summer driving season much more appealing this year than in previous years. Gas prices have decreased slightly to $3.78 a gallon, down about 4 cents from a week ago and down 15.5 cents in the past month. However, it’s also projected that these gas prices aren’t going to hold throughout the entire summer travel season, as Edward Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup, said in the Washington Post that “It’s still a tight market, and summer gasoline is hard for refiners to make. We don’t think the worst is over for consumers, and I’d be surprised if there is not another price pickup before the July Fourth weekend.”

Gas prices shouldn’t scare anyone away from taking a quick vacation this summer or going to see family, but a great way to improve your vehicle for safety as well as improve your fuel efficiency is with nitrogen tire inflation. By making the small change from air to nitrogen in your tires, you’ll be able to maintain proper tire pressure for a longer period of time. That alone makes a big different to tire life, tire safety, and tire performance; all good things when going on a road trip.

Make memorial day weekend a memorable one for the right reasons, not because you ended up getting a flat or overspent on gas. Make it an enjoyable trip by making it a safe one.

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Managed Fleets Can Achieve Sustainability with Nitrogen Tire Inflation

On May 3, 2012, in Managed Fleets, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, Sustainability, by allisonmreilly
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Nitrogen Tire Inflation

Nitrogen tire inflation is a good way to add sustainability and energy management to your managed fleet.

Nitrogen in tires not only does well for the bottom line of a managed fleet, but it also helps with energy management and sustainability. If managed fleets want to add a hybrid tires or going green branding/spin to their company and its services, then nitrogen tire inflation can provide that benefit as well.

Nitrogen in tires can help a managed fleet go green in three ways: fuel efficiency, extended tire life, and carbon emission reduction. Carbon emission reduction comes from the improvement in fuel efficiency, while extended tire life means that each tire lasts longer, and fewer of them will end up in landfills. Obviously, the improvement in fuel efficiency in and of itself is good for the environment. The less fossil fuels used, the better.

Why should managed fleets care about energy management and sustainability? Is this something that customers and shareholders care about? Would this even be something that a company board of directors or a CEO will care about? Maybe for a managed fleet, going green for the sake of going green may not mean a whole lot. However, going green (especially with the practice of putting nitrogen in tires) can cut significant fuel and maintenance costs. That is something that customers, shareholders, a board of directors, and a CEO will all consider a good thing.

In fact, this type of energy management will not only cuts costs, but those cut costs mean additional funds for hiring more people, updating facilities, improving company infrastructure, or even lowering prices for your customers. All that sounds like win-win for everyone! To think all that can come from one simple change from air tire inflation to nitrogen tire inflation.

Nitrofleet99 is the only nitrogen tire inflation firm that’s dedicated to serving managed fleets with nitrogen tire inflation services and equipment. For pricing on nitrogen products and services, please contact us.

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Why Managed Fleets Need Nitrogen Tire Inflation

On April 19, 2012, in Managed Fleets, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, Proper Tire Pressure, by allisonmreilly
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managed fleets nitrogen tire inflation

Managed fleets can really benefit from nitrogen tire inflation.

Managed fleets come in all sizes, and are found in a variety of industries, but do have at least one thing in common: they use a lot of fuel.  With gas prices on the rise, keeping control of those costs can be difficult. However, increasing a vehicle’s fuel economy by just 1 mile per gallon can save a 300-vehicle fleet over $50,000 in one year. Fleet managers can easily reign in fuel costs for their fleets and their companies by improving fuel efficiency.

One of the best ways to improve fuel efficiency is with nitrogen tire inflation because nitrogen in tires makes it easier to achieve the most important factor to improving fuel efficiency and increasing tire life: proper tire pressure. By itself, proper tire pressure increases fuel efficiency between three and six percent. If the vehicle already gets 34 miles to the gallon, then a three percent increase in fuel efficiency will achieve that 1 mile per gallon increase that needed to see savings. If the vehicle gets 25 miles to the gallon, then a four percent increase is what needed to achieve that one mile per gallon. Since nitrogen tire inflation maintains proper tire pressure for a longer period of time, those savings are more easily achieved and kept.

According to the Tire Retread Bureau, the biggest issues affecting the bottom line of fleet managers, after fuel costs, are tire maintenance/safety and replacement/tire wear. Nitrogen tire inflation targets those issues as well as the fuel economy because proper tire pressure increases tire life as well as the fuel economy. This leads to even more savings for managed fleets, as they can not only cut fuels costs but cut tire maintenance and replacement costs as well. According to the Technology & Maintenance Council, 10 percent under inflation will shorten tread life anywhere between nine and 16 percent. Under inflation shortens tread life because driving on these tires causes sidewall flexing, which creates irregular tire wear and extra heat build-up within the tire, reducing retreadability and safety while using more energy and fuel. With an average tire press of $250, under inflation will cost a managed fleet an extra $25 per tire. Proper tire pressure with nitrogen tire inflation will reduce those maintenance costs while making the vehicles safer for your drivers.

Nitrogen tire inflation is a win-win for managed fleets both large and small, and in all sorts of industries. It’s been used by the airline industry, NASCAR, and the military for years, so nitrogen must be doing something right for them. If improving fuel economy or cutting operational costs are what you’re after as a fleet manager, then why not see if nitrogen tire inflation can do something right for your managed fleet?

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Nitrogen in Tires Will Absolutely Save on Gas

On April 12, 2012, in Fuel Efficiency, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, Proper Tire Pressure, by allisonmreilly
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nitrogen in tiresA recent article in the Huffington Post showcased six myths about saving on gas. One of those myths was nitrogen tire inflation because the difference is negligible, and tires filled with air at proper tire pressure will achieve the same results. Prepare for this myth to be busted.

We grant that proper tire pressure is what it takes to achieve greater fuel efficiency, but the way the myth is presented in the Huffington Post article presumes that regular air and nitrogen gas react the same way in consumer tires and in the tires of managed fleet vehicles. The only times the two react differently is in commercial aircraft and high-performance race cars, since they undergo much more extreme temperature changes than a typical four-door driver or long-haul driver.

However, regular air does react to even the less extreme temperate changes that take place as one drives to the store or across state lines. Why else would it be recommended to check tire pressure when the tires are cold? What would be the point of this recommendation if regular air didn’t react under normal driving circumstances? Well, regular does react under those circumstances, and when it is used, it warms up as the car is driven, increasing the tire pressure. Checking the tire pressure when the tires are warm could give a false reading of a tire pressure higher than what it actually is. This could cause someone to release tire pressure that’s needed, or not fill up when they really should.

Nitrogen gas maintains proper tire pressure better and for a longer period of time because it doesn’t react to temperature changes nearly as much as regular air. This reaction takes place in the tires you get from your local auto repair shop as well as the tires on race cars and commercial aircraft. Fuel efficiency increase three to five percent with properly inflated tires versus under-inflated tires. With gas prices going up, that kind of fuel efficiency is much more than “negligible” to some people.

True, some dealerships and auto repair shops may charge for nitrogen, but some do provide the service for free. Some sell brand new tires that are already filled with nitrogen. The core of this myth is busted, since the core argument was that commercial aircraft and high-performance vehicles need it to handle the extreme temperature changes. However, temperature changes still take place in regular driving, so it’s reasonable to conclude nitrogen can make a difference to consumers and to managed fleets as well.

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March Roundup of Nitrogen Tire Inflation News

On March 29, 2012, in Fuel Efficiency, News Roundup, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, by allisonmreilly
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nitrogen tire inflation

Nitrogen tire inflation got a lot of press this month! Check out some of the news you may have missed.

Just a few weeks ago, we wondered why there wasn’t a whole lot of news are regarding nitrogen tire inflation. However, it seems that we got our wish, and there’s quite a bit of news this month on the practice of filling your tires with nitrogen. The news covers the spectrum: four wheelers and 18-wheelers, consumers and commercial purposes, blogs and industry publications. Enjoy the good news!

The Advantages of Filling Your Tires with Nitrogen – Brant Shop Talk blog

The Reality Regarding Nitrogen in Tires – Automotive Parts blog

Are Your Ruining Your Tires with Compressed Air – Four Wheeler Magazine

Does Nitrogen Help Fuel Efficiency? – CBS Local

Consensus Scarce for Nitrogen Tire Inflation – Transport Topics

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Does Nitrogen Tire Inflation Improve Mileage & Save Money?: A Response

On March 15, 2012, in Fuel Efficiency, Nitrogen Tire Inflation, Proper Tire Pressure, by allisonmreilly
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nitrogen saves moneyBack in 2010, G. E. Miller wrote an article about nitrogen tire inflation, and questioned whether or not the practice really provided the benefits that nitrogen providers claimed. Yes, the article is almost two years old, but it’s one of the most recent articles out there. However, G. E. Miller makes several factual errors in his arguments against nitrogen tire inflation, and this misinformation could be steering people away from a money-saving practice. We’re going to clear up some of that misinformation, and show you that nitrogen tire inflation does improve gas mileage and save you money.

About midway through the article, Miller says,“Dry air (the stuff we breathe) actually consists of 78.09% nitrogen, and 20.95% oxygen.” Although Miller’s percentages are correct, notice that they don’t equal 100 percent. That’s because the last one percent includes other elements, including water vapor. Meaning, the air we breathe is not dry air, and neither is the compressed air going into your tires. Miller’s statement isn’t accurate at all. Yes, air is over 78 percent nitrogen, but it’s the other elements of air that can damage tires and not be as reliable to maintain proper tire pressure.

After that, Miller refers to a Consumer Affairs article on nitrogen tire inflation, which says that “the person filling the tires would actually need to completely purge and refill the tire 3 times to get a 95% nitrogen consistency.” That may be the case, but a tire doesn’t have to be purged completely in order for the affects of nitrogen tire inflation to take place. Nitrogen helps maintain proper tire pressure for a longer period of time, and it is less affected by temperature changes than compressed air, even topping off your tires with nitrogen will help them in the long run.

Towards the end of the article, Miller says, “The other argument for nitrogen over air is that oxygen within normal air causes ‘oxidation’ within the tire. However, I haven’t seen any concrete evidence as to what oxidation really is or why its such a bad thing.” Oxidation is the interaction between oxygen molecules and all the different substances they may contact, from metal to living tissue. According to this definition, rust counts as oxidation, and I hardly believe that Miller has never seen rust before, or would argue that a rusty nail is as good as a non-rusty nail. Rust is concrete evidence of what oxidation is (even though it isn’t the only example), but to write off a scientific word just because it’s hard to understand doesn’t mean that it’s harmless or made up.

Miller also says that “If it’s rubber deterioration from the inside, I have a feeling that tire tread wear on the outside from normal use probably has a much larger impact, regardless of what’s inside the tire.” But, tire tread wear and rubber deterioration are not the same thing. Tire tread wear is obvious, but rubber deterioration is the break down of the actual tire. Both not only have an impact on tire performance, but both are also affected by proper tire pressure and nitrogen tire inflation. If you are driving on tires that are over or underinflated, then that will affect how your tire tread wears over time. The strength of the tire rubber is just as important as the tire tread wear itself.

The science behind Miller’s article is wrong and misinformed, misguiding readers into thinking that nitrogen tire inflation can’t be any good, when in fact it can do a lot of good once you understand the science.

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