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Monday, October 17, 2011
Here's a question on tire gauges:
in your experience, what brand/type/whatever is the most accurate?
I had three of the general stick type; I found out a short time ago that they all disagreed on readings, and I'd like to know of some that can actually be trusted.
I have never sweated the to the pound accuracy of them , but i am sticky about pick one, put it in the vehicle and then only use it to check that vehicles tires . It keeps things consistant.
I'm not a fast or a close driver, and generally go on how the vehicle grips and feels, so long as the side wall isn't flexing too much.
My tyres are up and down all the time, really hard for long road trips, softish if I'm going onto grass, and very soft for mud, snow and ice.
putting figures on that, something like 40ish max, 25 to 30ish for general road, 15 or less for mud, snow and ice. I've been using all sorts of filling station air lines, but luxury of luxuries, I've just got a 12V compressor for the car, with a guage on it.
ps, just found out that the greens have had the old pattern general grabber mud & terrain tyres banned from Britain - too noisy apparently.
I've just driven through the first sleet of this winter today - hideous and with a gale force wind behind it too.
The three I use all give different readings on the same tire at the same time (like you, I tested them). At first it bothered me that I may be under or over inflating the tires. Then I realized, most the time, I just kick them and if they're hard, they roll. If they're soft, they need air, so fill them to hard. Heck, they're rubber- what's to break?
8 comments:
I have one like this:
http://www.cabelas.com/maintenance-garage-accessories-slime-dial-tire-gauge.shtml?WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleBaseUSA&WT.z_mc_id1=1242649&rid=40&mr:trackingCode=C4985DE7-E8A1-E011-9A77-001B21631C34&mr:referralID=NA
That I like.
This one at amazon gets great ratings:
http://www.amazon.com/Joes-Racing-32307-Pressure-0-60psi/dp/B000VZ9CL2/ref=sr_1_11?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1318869766&sr=1-11
I have never sweated the to the pound accuracy of them , but i am sticky about pick one, put it in the vehicle and then only use it to check that vehicles tires . It keeps things consistant.
I've got a no-name rotary that seems to work OK.
I don't know how accurate it is, because it's not like I have a known-good reference standard to test against...
(Indeed, the one I actually USE is the rotary built-in to the tire inflator attachment for my compressor.)
I'm not a fast or a close driver, and generally go on how the vehicle grips and feels, so long as the side wall isn't flexing too much.
My tyres are up and down all the time, really hard for long road trips, softish if I'm going onto grass, and very soft for mud, snow and ice.
putting figures on that, something like 40ish max, 25 to 30ish for general road, 15 or less for mud, snow and ice. I've been using all sorts of filling station air lines, but luxury of luxuries, I've just got a 12V compressor for the car, with a guage on it.
ps,
just found out that the greens have had the old pattern general grabber mud & terrain tyres banned from Britain - too noisy apparently.
I've just driven through the first sleet of this winter today - hideous and with a gale force wind behind it too.
I like these:
http://www.ghmeiser.com/dial.htm
but I'm with Farm Dad - pick one and stay with it.
For best results, check tire pressure when the tires are stone cold - let them sit overnight after driving if possible
T'ain't a budget gauge by any means, but this is the one I use, from Longacre Racing: http://www.longacreracing.com/catalog/item.asp?id=213&catid=8
http://www.sparepartsnmore.com/tools-equipment/tire-wheel-tools/tire-gauges/8519-accutire-ms-4020gb%C2%A0-standard-digital-tire-gauge.html
I use this on the street cars and the race car.
Jim in Texas
The three I use all give different readings on the same tire at the same time (like you, I tested them). At first it bothered me that I may be under or over inflating the tires. Then I realized, most the time, I just kick them and if they're hard, they roll. If they're soft, they need air, so fill them to hard.
Heck, they're rubber- what's to break?
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