Tire pressure

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Igor Smetaniuk

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This thread is specifically for Richard L, Gavin and Yardsale. :grin:



So, you fill your tires to the required pressure on your door or to your own preferential settings. How can you trust the reading on your tire pressure gauge?



Just kidding - looking for all to chime in here!



I currently have 3 different gauges (priced from lowest to highest below) and each one has a different reading within a 6 psi range. That's a lot! How does anyone truly know for sure what they are setting their tire pressures at? Does one really need to buy a $100 gauge? Even then, how do you know that one is the correct reading when you use it?



1st - metal pencil style



2nd - http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/victor-tire-pressure-gauge-22-5-60108-8-h1/1920138-P?searchTerm=victor+pressure+gauge



3rd - http://www.autozone.com/tire-repair-and-tire-wheel/tire-gauge/slime-deluxe-digital-tire-gauge/9581_0_0/

 
Maybe you could get a favor and some advice at a tire shop and pass it on to us. Ive had a couple of gauges that seemed way off and get my coworkers to compare their readings to see who should trash their gauges. :fire:
 
Before I retired. I took my pencil type, digital and gauge style to work. I was a Instrument tech and had access to calibrated equipment.

The pencil gauges are crap IMO. The digital and gauge type were always close. Forget tire shops. Every time I left. Not one tire they checked had the same amount of air. Nor did their pressures match my gauges.

What I do now, is. I hand them my digital that I trust, to use.

I retired in 2005 so I hope my two gauges I trust are still accurate. One digital and one gauge type on a hose.

One thing is, shop around. I have seen the exact gauge's cheaper than ones stamped with a name brand.
 
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Given a choice I STILL prefer analog gauges. One of the few devices I own that does not require batteries or power.
 
I just go off what the gauge on the hose to the tank says. If they're all four at the same PSI I'm happy. Accuracy isn't as important to me in tire pressure as them being the same.
 
Most large tire shops have a tire gauge checking devise, the one I use is named The Truth, seriously, its printed on the front of it, If at any time you think your gauge is off, you check it and if it's off I throw out the gauge and get a new one, we keep twenty NEW extras.

But in the end if the guys don't care to check the tire pressure and adjust it correctly, it doesn't really matter, if the gauge is correct or not. And that is the hardest thing to teach new guy's on the floor, pride in their work.



 
I do not use the tire pressures noted on the door jamb sticker for two reasons (other than the Exploder debacle). One is that those tire pressure recommendations are, typically, a compromise of performance, economy, comfort and wear. This isn't to mean that those recommended pressures cannot or should not be used, only that they may not be optimum for a driver and particular desired driving characteristics. The other is that I have a different tire size (larger) that requires a lower pressure.



To me, the actual tire pressure isn't important - the correct tire pressure is important. That is, the tire pressure that provides an even contact patch and tire wear. The reading on the gauge is merely a reference to ensure that whatever is the correct tire pressure can be checked. In this context, the accuracy of the gauge isn't as important as the (reading-to-reading) precision. I have been using the Accu-Gage RA60X with angle swivel, pressure release and rubber boot. It?s robust; after I ran it over, I replaced the broken glass with acrylic and it keeps going. It?s very similar to the Victor.



One has to experiment a bit to find the correct tire pressure.

 
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I keep a couple of digital gauges and a few old pencil gauges around. I check them against each other every now and then, and usually they are within a half a psi reading of each other. When the digital gauges fail, they usually start reading all over the place on the same tire. I toss them when they start doing that. I double-check the reading before calling the tire properly inflated.



I generally use the door jamb pressures and try to check the tires the first thing in the morning. Sometimes I make a slight adjustment to compensate for the temperature. If my garage is 40 degrees, but the temps outside are in the 20's, I usually add one or two psi to the door jamb pressure. I would rather err slightly on the over inflation side than to be underinflated. I agree that getting the pressure pretty even from side to side is probably more important than absolute accuracy.



My wife's car has individual pressure readings for each tire. I find that to be very accurate to what my gauge says. It is interesting to watch the effects of temperature and driving on the pressure readings.



I have found that in OEM sizes, the OEM door jamb pressure recommendations are pretty much spot on for long tire life.



Works for me. Your mileage may vary.
 
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I like the Slime brand one that holds the pressure until you press the button on the side of it. Really easy to hold and to read.
 
Some interesting results which were compared to a calibrator.



I'm surprised how well the pencil type ones fair amongst dial and digital. The % accuracy variance is pretty large on some having +/- 2 psi. The consensus seems to be that the digital ones have the smallest variance and are most accurate.



http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/technical/tiregauges3.pdf



 
Some interesting results which were compared to a calibrator.



I'm surprised how well the pencil type ones fair amongst dial and digital. The % accuracy variance is pretty large on some having +/- 2 psi. The consensus seems to be that the digital ones have the smallest variance and are most accurate.



http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/technical/tiregauges3.pdf



 
Some interesting results which were compared to a calibrator.



I'm surprised how well the pencil type ones fair amongst dial and digital. The % accuracy variance is pretty large on some having +/- 2 psi. The consensus seems to be that the digital ones have the smallest variance and are most accurate.



http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/technical/tiregauges3.pdf



 
Some interesting results which were compared to a calibrator.



I'm surprised how well the pencil type ones fair amongst dial and digital. The % accuracy variance is pretty large on some having +/- 2 psi. The consensus seems to be that the digital ones have the smallest variance and are most accurate.



http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/technical/tiregauges3.pdf (copy/paste this one :-( )



 
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My "good" tire gauge is a digital unit. When I get a new vehicle I use the door sticker as a starting point and see how they wear and adjust from there. For example when I drove Rangers, the sticker said 30 F and 35 R but that was more for load carrying capacity and me and everyone else on the Ranger boards flipped it and got better handling and tire wear with 35 F and 30 R. If you knew you were going to put a load in it was easy enough to pump up the rears to 35. Both of my Tracs got perfect tire wear with 35 all around. Be advised that some of the tires we use will have a max pressure of 44 on the sidewall, which #1 is too high and #2 higher than the 40 psi that standard valve stems are rated for. When the recommended psi is above 40 then you should use high pressure valve stems. Bud of mine owns a tire shop and tells me this stuff.
 

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