Adams Motor Express Inc., a shorthaul carrier based in Carnsville, Ga., has been using nitrogen tire inflation for about four years, said Paul Mincey, the company’s director of maintenance. He said the company did not switch to nitrogen inflation to improve fuel economy or tire casing life, but to better maintain tire pressure.
“Our main goal was to have our tires hold air longer,” Mincey said.
Adams, which primarily hauls construction equipment, owns 46 tractors and 250 trailers. Given the company’s 1-to-5 ratio of tractors to trailers, many of its trailers sit for extended periods of time.
To help the tires on those trailers retain air better, Adams purchased a nitrogen generator from Parker Hannifin Corp. for about $14,000.
At the same time, Adams began a training program with its drivers to “let them know how important it was to check tire pressure.” The result was a dramatic decrease in tire failures, Mincey said.
The year before switching to nitrogen inflation, the company experienced 57 tire failures. The year after adopting nitrogen, that number plunged to two and has remained in the single digits each year since then, he said.