Can Compressed Air Be Added to Nitrogen in Trailer Tires

Updated 08/20/2021 | Published 08/19/2021

Products Featured in This Question

Kenda 5.70-8 Bias Trailer Tire with 8" White Wheel - 4 on 4 - Load Range D

(7668)

$70.68

TST TPMS for RVs - Color Display - Signal Booster - 4 Tire Sensors

(400)

$368.00

Question:

so my toyhauler has nitrogen gas in the tires the pressure on each tire is a mere 40lbs each tire so adding 40 lbs of compressed air to each is probable not good to do what say you ? thank you

asked by: Robert P

Expert Reply:

If you don't have immediate access to compressed nitrogen, you can certainly add compressed air to the tire to bring it up to the correct pressure. Compressed air works just fine (atmospheric air is about 78% nitrogen) folks have been using it to till tires for a hundred years and it won't have any negative effect on the tires if the two or mixed.

The primary benefit of nitrogen is that the pressure in the tire will bleed out more slowly than compressed air does. Properly inflated tires mean less rolling resistance which means better fuel economy for the tow vehicle and longer tire life. This benefit isn't terribly important if you're pretty fastidious about keeping tabs on your tire pressure or if you use a TPMS system like # TST-507-RV-4-C.

If you're like the majority of us that do an imperfect job of monitoring your tire pressures, it might be worth it to take your toy hauler to a shop that can deflate your tires and refill them with nitrogen.

expert reply by: Mike L