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Old 05-30-2014, 05:20 PM   #1
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What tire pressure guages are you using?

Well, finally got my plates renewed for this year and had the tire pressures up to 50 psi during hibernation.

Bleeding pressures bank down to 29 psi/front and 35 psi/rear. A relative gave me a led guage that is a total pain in the a$$ to use and I want to pick up an accurate guage to carry with me.

What are you good folks using? Seems like a pretty basic question I guess...but I'd like the pressures to be spot-on.

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Old 05-30-2014, 06:11 PM   #2
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Digital, Kobalt. (lowes) seems accurate enough. Checked it against some very sensitive gauges.

I swap the factory gauges on air tools with high end Ashcroft gauges.
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Old 05-30-2014, 06:19 PM   #3
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I just go to my local Discount tire and ask for a new one every month(sometimes more, when I stop in for a quick air pressure check) .
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Old 05-30-2014, 06:22 PM   #4
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This is the kind of thing I do for a living .
The max I'd pay is around 100 for a longacre or similar , but checked against the tpm in my car the $6 cvs digital one is accurate enough to measure in increments of one pound so that's what resides in the boxster .....
How accurate do you think you need it compared to how accurate do you actually need it are often worlds apart
Don't over think it .... Spend the money on gas instead !!!
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Old 05-30-2014, 06:57 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian c View Post
This is the kind of thing I do for a living .
The max I'd pay is around 100 for a longacre or similar , but checked against the tpm in my car the $6 cvs digital one is accurate enough to measure in increments of one pound so that's what resides in the boxster .....
How accurate do you think you need it compared to how accurate do you actually need it are often worlds apart
Don't over think it .... Spend the money on gas instead !!!
Ha! That is good advice...I guess with the new Michelin PSS I wanted to be sure I was at the right pressure for the first drive this year. My ocd kicking in again
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Old 05-30-2014, 07:10 PM   #6
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IMHO , paying a few bucks for a fill with inert gas is worth it for cold-hot stability . And 2-3lb below factory specs COLD is a good starting point .
And 20 bucks (or whatever) on an harbor frieght ir thermometer is money well spent .
We use calibrated flukes at work , so obviously I have a free one of them in the garage
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Old 05-30-2014, 07:15 PM   #7
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I have a pencil gauge and a cheapo dial gauge and they both read within 1psi of each other Close enough for the girls we go with as my high school math teacher would say.

Don't obsess about tenths of psi. Play with tire pressure and get a feel for how changing pressure affects handling. The single easiest, cheapest and probably most change you can make to your suspension set up is by changing tire pressure.

The factory specs for pressure have a huge front tire low pressure bias to induce understeer, 29/36 if I remember correctly.

But understeer is precisely what you don't want for spirited driving. So run equal pressures on all tires, like I do which gives just a bit of oversteer. Or experiment, run 2,4 psi lower in the rears and see how it feels, should induce more oversteer if you like that.

So just use any gauge that gives consistent readings, the actual values don't matter, what matters is how the changes affect handling.
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Old 05-30-2014, 07:36 PM   #8
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I just go to my local Discount tire and ask for a new one every month(sometimes more, when I stop in for a quick air pressure check) .
+ 1 for free Discount tire gauges. Have one in all 3 cars and they all read the same (which still may not be accurate ).
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Old 05-30-2014, 07:55 PM   #9
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This is exactly the input/advice I was looking for. Thanks all!
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Old 05-30-2014, 08:23 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian c View Post
IMHO , paying a few bucks for a fill with inert gas is worth it for cold-hot stability . And 2-3lb below factory specs COLD is a good starting point .
And 20 bucks (or whatever) on an harbor frieght ir thermometer is money well spent .
We use calibrated flukes at work , so obviously I have a free one of them in the garage
I have a Flir thermal imaging camera. It takes sweet shots of heat. I'll take some tire pics when I'm back on the road.
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Old 05-30-2014, 09:26 PM   #11
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+ 1 for free Discount tire gauges. Have one in all 3 cars and they all read the same (which still may not be accurate ).
you'd be surprised how accurate they can be given you replace them every so often. I've worked with tires for the longest(Discount Tire, Goodyear, NTB). We always had fresh TPG's coming in weekly by the bags so i know for a fact they have more than a couple to spare.lol
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Old 05-31-2014, 02:30 AM   #12
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I've been using an Accu-Gage 60 PSI dial gauge for several years and it's been great: Amazon.com: Accu-gage Tire Pressure Guage - 60 PSI Range Straight Angle: Automotive
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Old 05-31-2014, 05:55 AM   #13
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you'd be surprised how accurate they can be given you replace them every so often. I've worked with tires for the longest(Discount Tire, Goodyear, NTB). We always had fresh TPG's coming in weekly by the bags so i know for a fact they have more than a couple to spare.lol
Actually I was kidding. They seem to very accurate. And the price is right !
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Old 05-31-2014, 06:05 AM   #14
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Found an accu-guage 0-160psi locally for 12.50. Doesn't have the rubber hose feature but I think it will be fine.
A good reason to take the Box out for a run
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Old 05-31-2014, 06:16 AM   #15
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I have this one...works well and is accurate.

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Old 05-31-2014, 06:26 AM   #16
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Hi jmatta....what brand and psi range is yours? Like the idea of the case.
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Old 05-31-2014, 06:54 AM   #17
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I have this one...works well and is accurate.

I have the same and it never skipped a beat.
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Old 05-31-2014, 06:58 AM   #18
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ekam...do you recall where you bought it?
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Old 05-31-2014, 07:06 AM   #19
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I have an Accutire

Amazon.com: Accutire MS-4021B Digital Tire Pressure Gauge: Automotive

When my first one stopped working, the company replaced it without charge.

I also have a gauge built into the tire inflator that I use with my air compressor. Tire Inflator with Gauge The Accutire gauge indicates this reads about 3 psi too low.
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Old 05-31-2014, 07:49 AM   #20
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