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Tyre gauge...

Nic Robinson

Nic Robinson

Moderator
Not the most thrilling car related thread but...

For years I've been checking my tyres with my trusty Snap-On gauge assuming it be be accurate. But recently I purchased a new pump with digital display which reads several psi above the Snap-On. I can't believe the old one is so far out...or is it?

What do you do to assess tyre pressures accurately (assuming temperature etc. to be consistent)?
 
I use the tyre inflator at the local Sainsbury’s and it’s gauge reading is the same as on old metal sliding tube type I’ve had for years. The tyre place I use ask me what pressures I want, I check them later & they’ve always over inflated them by a fair bit. You’d expect them to have really accurate gauges!
 
I use my hand and foot to tell me if it is too soft and the forecourt pump to tell me what I just put in.
 
I have a foot pump with a gauge but these days I use my cycle pump as it has a nicer gauge and seems to be fairly accurate and is nicer to use. I occasionally cross check with my old fashioned pen type with a piston - both pumps gauges seem to be fairly accurate.
 
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awkwardbydesign said:
No good for me, where I need accuracy to 1/2 lb at around 26-30psi. Motorbike trackdays. :rolleyes:
The old sliding pen shape gauges are about the best, I have found, for general car use. I tried a handful of digital gauges and they were all different
Click to expand...

Never had any issues when I was flinging my DC5 around Anglesey Circuit... But suppose it's different when you're on 4 wheels compared to 2
 
Nic Robinson said:
For years I've been checking my tyres with my trusty Snap-On gauge assuming it be be accurate. But recently I purchased a new pump with digital display which reads several psi above the Snap-On. I can't believe the old one is so far out...or is it?
Click to expand...

Which one is the more accurate, however; just 'cos it's digital......! I've only ever used my snap-on (I assume you mean the manual one where the cylinder shoots out to align with pressure markings). I had two, and they more or less agreed. Never the easiest things to get a clean, hiss-free connection though.
 
I've been using a digital 12v inflator for a couple of years but it always overstates the pressure so I've gone on to using an analog speedo dial type one to check

Yay for analog
 
You can't beat a 'proper' gauge:
e.g. PCL-TPG1H17
I've found that the gauges built in to inflators etc really aren't always that accurate, especially the digital ones.
 
I have 2 of the cheap slide out ones and a gauge on the inflator. They all agree. I had a crappy thing that ran off the fag socket, its gauge was miles out so I binned it. I suggest that you try another analogue tester and junk whichever one is found to be faulty.
 
Christ, who'd be a motoring journalist? Variations of 0.7 psi? Steady on. Unless you are Lewis Hamilton that really is neither here nor there.
 
Digital on my Aldi compressor is pretty accurate.

The Australian gauge on our main compressor is useless so I use a little Trelleborg dial gauge or a Porsche one to check.

Found the Australian was out when I booked in to have tyre pressure monitors checked; they're accurate to about 0.5psi.
 
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