I should have said the wear from both sides. The rubber is manufactured with anti-oxidants in it to prevent the oxidation from the oxygen in the inside air. The anti-oxidants can and will be used up since there is no way to replenish them. Normally, the treadwear from the outside and the oxidation from the inside are racing towards each other. When the anti-oxidants are used up, the inside oxidation is greatly increased. This is why you see tires at a point that seem to wear disproportionately faster than they did early in their lives for a given mileage. For example the first 20,000 miles wore x amount of rubber but the second 20,000 miles wore 1.5X of rubber (numbers made up to illustrate the point).
A few years back studies on fleet truck tires (lots of miles) gained up to 50+% additional life when inflated with N2.
N2 also prevents rust of the metal components since there is no water vapor. Valve stems rust from moisture and this is what makes them leak, so you lose air and also MPG from that aspect as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Doe
Unless you drive more than 10K a year, in which case the tires wear from the outside faster than they could ever deteriorate from the inside.
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