Tire Air Pressure Gauge

This question is to the car lovers in the forum.

What is a good tire air pressure gauge to have in the car? I have a digital gauge I have been using for a few years but looks like it stopped working reliably.

One that has an air compressor attached to it; This is the one I use: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=110266-40883-110266&lpage=none , it's the size of a book, is powered by your cig lighter/12v socket, the gauge is backlit for night use, comes with the carrying/storage case, and it'll add 10 psi to a tire in about a minute. And it's $30 :thumbsup:

I have one of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VZ9CL2/?tag=cpf0b6-20

I also just got a craftsman digital one...it's ok.. but I like the big sweeping analog that glows in the dark.

I'm also wondering about the OP's question.

However, I'd like to know about a digital gauge that has already lasted for MANY years for someone.

I also got the Craftsman digital about a year ago. My dad says it doesn't work right anymore because some plastic broke around the outer lip. (EDIT: I found out that it's the inner 'tube' thing that presses against the metal pin of the tire nozzle - it looks to be broken up and not even.) But I still seem to find it to be accurate, myself.

Soo - I'm looking for a good, accurate, reliable and long-lasting [digital] one.

(I hope I'm not hijacking the OP's request, but since we seem to be looking for something similar, I'd rather not start a new thread..)

This is what I have on each car in the house
Pen type in general, I buy them at Sears

In my (humble) experience, tire gauges only last for a few years before they stop reading accurately. I'm a lot happier just buying a new pen-type gauge every two years, than buying an expensive gauge and wondering just how accurate it really is after five or ten years.

That's only 0-20 psi though.. (EDIT: the one at http://www.motoworldracing.com/bikemaster-06-pen-tpe-tire-gauge.html above) All your cars have less than 20psi tires?? :huh:
I'm the furthest thing from an auto expert, but all the cars here seem to be ~30psi, including my Honda Helix scooter.
My bicycle takes ~80 or so psi, IIRC.

I do have a couple analog gauges that look like that though.. One goes to 50psi, the other goes to 120psi.

My car [Hyundai Santa Fe] has a low pressure warning built into the dash...but I have no clue that are the tolerances to it...as far as I am aware of +/- 5psi is workable and +/- 10psi could be lethal

I lug around the jumper/compressor with me everyday...just to be careful.

steed77 said:

I have one of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VZ9CL2/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Click to expand...

That one seems to be decent for an analog.. And a flexible tube, too - so one doesn't have to worry about the logistics of getting a pen-type gauge around small/tight areas.

But it's only good for 0-60psi and has no reviews.. So I have no idea how long it would last.
I'd prefer one that goes from 0-120, so I can use it for my car, motorcycle, and bicycle.
(Yes, I'm calling my Honda Helix a motorcycle, because I needed a motorcycle license to get to drive it. Anyone wanna tell me otherwise?!? I'll cut ya man, I'll cut ya! )

I prefer the analog dial gauges. Never quite trusted the pen style, where sometimes that stick slides too easy and will jump out past the true reading. Probably the best advice is vtunderground's to just get a new one every few years.

Geoff

I also prefer the analog gauges with the hose extensions. If you overfill your tires you can bleed it until you reach the desired PSI. Some you can set to a desired PSI for off road purposes.

(Moderator note: Hotlinked pic removed. V8 --> :whoopin: )

Sorry for the Hotlink! I've been away for a while and forgot!

I have an old dial gauge with a release valve. Best of all it's mostly brass, pretty accurate, and built like a tank. It also has the ability to hold a reading until I release the needle. It's got a sturdy hose and barely shows signs of wear. Very easy to use and easy to read. I've seen new ones pretty much like it for about $15-20. Fairly cheap over the long haul I guess and for some things you really do get what you pay.

I prefer a guage with the a big analog dial, release valve and ability to hold a steady pressure as well. They make for easy pressure adjustments. Mine's ten years old, and while I haven't verified it's accuracy recently, it's at least consistent.

My preference is a pen type gauge 0-50psi. They don't have the accuracy of a good dial gauge, but they are cheap enough and small enough you can carry two if needed. A dial gauge is more accurate, but the extra accuracy usually isn't needed, and it takes up a lot more room in my already crowded glove compartment. They're great to keep in the garage. Battery operated gauges are nice at first, but will not last long in a car type environment with the extreme heat and cold. And most likely you will not know the batteries are dead until you need to use it.

Even with a tire pressure monitoring system, it's still a good idea to have a tire gauge in the car. Those will only alert you when the pressure is below a certain level, without a gauge you really don't know how much you need to fill up, and it's almost impossible to tell by just looking at the tire

I keep my tires at 40 psi. But they are 275/70R17 so they are bigger tires than most of your average city type cars. I use a pen style gauge in my truck, and around the farm. We have the guage style in the shop but hardly use it.

Semi tires need to be around 100psi
your average car needs about 30psi
An large Ag tire only needs about 9psi, and it takes forever to get to that 9 pounds.

Dont trust your cars computer to tell you when the pressure is low, most only come on when the PSI gets below 20 or so.

If your vehicle pulls to one side, most likley you have a low tire, air up the tire or check the pressure as soon as possible, you could do serious damage, and dont Ever ride on a flat even if is just a couple of blocks, you will ruin the rim and tire if you do so.

A thought for those who like cheap gauges -

If your cheap gauge is off by only a few PSI, you're wasting money on gas (if it's reading higher than the actual pressure) and possibly causing unnecessary tire wear. If the gauge is reading lower than the actual pressure, you're possibly causing a different type of tire wear. So are you really saving a few $$ or not? A good gauge is far cheaper than even a cheap set of new tires and poor handling in the meantime.

By the way, for those who do not know already, look for the sticker that will tell you what your tire pressure should be. It's usually on the drivers door or frame of the drivers door.

Huh? Why not just pump those suckers up to the max. pressure indicated on the sidewall? (or as Hunter S. Thompson said of a Cadillac in Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas, "Pump those suckers up to 95 PSI and we'll make this thing handle like a Lotus Elan!"). Because the "max. pressure" indicated on the tire sidewall is just that, it's the maximum recommended pressure. That can be off by several PSI from the manufacturers' recommendation for the vehicle. The sticker will tell you the pressure that the car was designed to have for better handling, tire wear, safety, etc. Check the owners manual for information and the location of the sticker. If I recall, this was one of the major contributing factors to the tire blow outs on Ford Explorers some years ago.

Also for novices and those whose Daddies never told them, why is it important to measure tire pressure when the tires are cold? Because as you drive you heat up the tires and that will change the tire pressure and give you an incorrect reading. They are meant to be checked when the tires are cold (before you drive more than a very, very few miles).

Get a good gauge and take 30 seconds to find out what pressure you should have in those rubber donuts. Yes, it really does make a difference.

Not that I disagree with you about the importance of tire pressure, but a few PSI really isn't that critical for an average car. If you're racing in Formula 1 or Autocross, but for normal street driving there's a pretty wide margin, well within the accuracy of a cheap, working tire gauge. If the gauge is bent or sticking then you're better off getting a new one. Even expensive gauges can be off by a few PSI unless they're calibrated regularly, so having another gauge that you can use to check against is not a bad idea.

Like you mentioned, air temperature has a big effect on tire pressures, it's something like 1 psi for every 10 degrees. So even if the digital gauge can read 0.0001 psi accuracy, unless you're measuring the ambient temperature while you fill up your tires, , it's overkill. Also, while higher pressures do give better mileage, the increase is very, very minimal, on the order of a few percent, and probably not noticable unless you pay close attention to your mileage.

The sticker on the drivers door is a good starting point, but it's not always the optimal pressure. The car manufacturers put a priority on comfort rather than performance or tire wear. Plus those pressures might not apply to non-OEM tires. Sometimes there two different pressures listed, depending on the load. Generally, I like to inflate to about 32-36 psi for a regular passenger car radial tire, that gives the best compromise between comfort, handling, and tire wear. Above 38 psi the ride starts to get rough, and below 25-26 psi the car feels a little sluggish. Truck tires, low profile tires, heavy loads, and type of tire will change that number.

Well, you are right to a point. A small variation in PSI probably won't make a huge difference. But if most of your miles are highway miles (and with a long commute especially), you over or under inflate by even 5 PSI or so, and you only check the pressure once every couple of months, you will see a difference. These are real world circumstances that a lot of people see and you will notice the effects. Judging tire pressure by ride feel alone might also not always be a good idea but we all know people who do it. They do this stuff all the time. It's not real likely that a tire will have a catastrophic failure but your tire wear and gas mileage will suffer to some degree. Will you see a 10 or 15% change? No, probably not, but you will see some change.

I base my info on what an automotive engineer and an engineer from a tire company have told me as well as a few of my racing and rallying friends. Someone probably knows more about the subject than they do, but for now I'll stick with their judgment and advice. But it isn't like someone is really going to care one way or another about the other guy's (or my) tire pressure and I know I sure don't about theirs. It's only whether it makes a difference mechanically and it does. We all see how many people inflate a tire with a max. pressure of 35 to 40 PSI or even more. Many people never rotate a tire or even know why you should. Heck, most people still think that they can judge tire pressure just by looking at a tire.

I merely suggested that it is a good idea to get a quality gauge, inflate to the design specifications, and check the pressure often -- basic maintenance to save a bit of money in these hard times. Anyone can do it or don't do it. I couldn't care less about their car, only my own and I guess I'll stick with the design specs.

I've been using digital gauge, and found they are decently accurate. They are ten bucks each so don't really care if they stop working after a few years.

Tried pen type, and big expensive analog type, they don't work any better.

My mechanic told me to skip the "stick pen" gauges and get a digital or analog dial gauge. He said that the ones where the white stick pops out are generally off a few PSI, which defeats their purpose anyway.