Tiresaver Facts

What Industry Leaders Say:

• Michelin supports the use of nitrogen based on its ability to better retain pressure over a period of time.
  -Michelin Technical Bulletin, November 2003
  
  
• Goodyear says 15% under-inflation = 8% less tread mileage and 2.5% decrease in fuel economy
  -Goodyear Radial Truck Tire and Retread Service Manual, Pg. 40
  
  
• Pirelli says 20% under inflation = 15% shorter tire life.
  
  
• United States Dept. of Energy says the United States loses over 2 million gallons of fuel each day due to under inflation.  
  
  
• TMC (Technology & Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Association) says that about 90% of tire failures causing tire road debris is caused by under inflation
  -TMC Tire Air Pressure Study, May 2002
  
  
• Bridgestone says air inflated tires lost an average of 2.7 psi per month and nitrogen inflated tires lost an average of 0.7 psi per month.
  -Guy Walenga, Clemson Tire Conference, March 2004

Return on Investment:

Retail:
A typical passenger car will travel 15,000 miles/yr, cost $100 to replace a tire, and get 20 mpg.  This yeilds a fuel cost of $2,250 annually.  A 3.3% improvement will save $75 annually.

Increasing tire life by 25% will save $100 or $25/yr over the life of the tire.  This yeilds a total savings of $100/yr, or $400 over the life of the tires.

This savings coupled with the fact that approximately 60 deaths/yr and 10,000 accidents are attributed to underinflated tires, should make an easy sell.

Fleet Operations:
A typical truck tire with two retreads costs $480 and last approximately 270,000 miles. Inflating tires with nitrogen has been shown to increase tire life up to 25%.  Increasing tire life to 337,500 miles would save $120/tire.

A typical tractor trailer gets 6 mpg, and over the 337,500 miles life of the tire, would use 56,250 gallons of fuel or $168,750 ($3/gallon).  A 3.3% improvement would save $5,569 over the life of the tire.  This yields a total savings of $7,729 over the life of the tire.  

A fleet with 50 trucks and 900 wheel positions would save $386,000 over the life of the tires.