how check tire gage accuracy?

[edwardh1]

Has anyone invented a way to check the accuracy of your home tire gage?
my brookstone gage - a dial gage 10 years old- says 28 pounds cold when checking the 4 new costco michelin tires I just bought , cold pressure, manual calls for 30.
how do I tell if its really 30 and my gage is off?

 

[Donald]

Most of the digital gauges are very accurate.

The new air machines various places that add and remove until until it beeps are right on.

The best gauge for accuracy for you is a 0-50 PSI. Most plain (non digital) gauges are most accurate at or near full pressure on the gauge. A 0-150 would not be very accurate for 30 PSI.

 

[raytseng]

Get several tire gauges to determine a consensus of which gauges are in agreement-even like a couple $2.99 stick ones. Throw out the gauges that begin to read inconsistent from the group.

 

[Charlie1935]

Check with a local tire dealer and ask if they have a master gauge. A reputable dealer should have one.

 

[redbone3]

Or, you could send it to a calibration lab and have it professionally calibrated.

 

[sicko]

I used three gauges, the one at the gas station by my work, the digital one I keep in my car, and an analog one I have at home. Two of them matched, the digital one I keep in the glove box apparently reads 1.5 psi high. Knowing that I'm okay with it, I just know to subtract 1.5 from whatever the digital gauge tells me when I'm using it.

 

[wymi516]

I have a few of these and they have always read the same presure between them:

http://www.sears.com/accutire-digital-ti...mp;blockType=G6

 

[Vikas]

how is the repeat-ability of the gauge? If you take ten readings, what would be the variance between them?

 

[edwardh1]

repeatability I think is very good, what does that indicate?

 

[Vikas]

Most gauges tend to leak a small amount while hooking them up to the tire.

 

[bigt61]

I got my son one of these - it was dead on with two gauges I used for my race cars. I like that it holds the pressure until you can read it. Inexpensive at Walmart.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/SLIME-20048-Dial-Tire-Gauge-5-to-60-PSI/40781094

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I use a digital inflator that is pretty accurate. I also double check on occasion with a couple of other gauges. All of them are accurate to within a pound, so I'm confident that everything is reasonably accurate. If I put 32# in a tire with the inflator, and make sure it checks to 32# with the other gauges.

I also keep an inexpensive pencil style gauge in each vehicle, and test them on occasion. There is one that always shows 4 pounds short, so I have it marked as such.

 

[turtlevette]

I have several different cheap 4 buck gauges. No 2 read the same and the variance is as much as 10 pounds.

I guess you have to spend 20 or more to get an accurate one.

 

[JHZR2]

I really just don't care enough if the gauge is off by a few psi. I usually run a few psi higher than the OEM spec, so if a gauge was off by a few, there's nothing bad that could happen.

So long as the pressure on an axle is the same, and the tires are t under inflated for the load, it's not that concerning...

But that's just my reasoning for not being that worried. It doesn't answer your question. Essentially, I try to test the few dial gauges and pencil gauges I have on one tire when I think of it, and see f they're close. As in within a few psi. It's only a guess, but as good as any, that they aren't all systematically high. So long as they aren't all, reading high with enough error that my tires are all under inflated, I'm ok, so I don't worry much.

Perhaps some day I'll try to calibrate one.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I have my tire rotate at America's Tire, they have air system dialing the pressure and the air pump stop st that pressure. I had various pressures on different cars, I check my gauges against their pressure and all 3 gauges were within 1 PSI for all tires.

This type of calibration is not very accurate but it's close enough for me. I do the same as JHZR2, I have all my car tires about 2-6 PSI above door placard, if America's Tire and my gauge are off by few PSI it doesn't matter much, as long as the tires on the same axle have the same PSI.

 

[moto94536]

It doesn't matter as long as you have one in your car ( digital or stick type). I personally have craftsman digital gauge ( $15 ). I have been using it for 2 years. It is very good, and easy to use.

 

[Errtt]

Have about a half dozen gauges, 2 digital, rest dial. They read pretty close the same. When I buy a new gauge, if it don't read like what I have, it gets tossed or returned, depending on the price. I also don't get the ones that read something like 0-150psi I'd rather have a 0-60psi resolution gauge.
For a low price digital I got the accutire on sale but when I travel I'll carry a dial as I don't want a digital that all a sudden have the batteries die.
Besides the low cost accutire, I usually go $35 on up, not top of the line but not bottom of the line stuff. Reviews are helpful to me to.
Like my thermometers in/out of the home, when I go buy a new one, I'll look at several, even the same models and sometimes I find one that doesn't read like the others. Last time out of maybe 10 thermometers I was looking at, one was way off so I took one that read right in where most were, got home and it read the same as what I already have.

 

[Gillsy]

Originally Posted By: Errtt
Have about a half dozen gauges, 2 digital, rest dial. They read pretty close the same. When I buy a new gauge, if it don't read like what I have, it gets tossed or returned, depending on the price. I also don't get the ones that read something like 0-150psi I'd rather have a 0-60psi resolution gauge.
For a low price digital I got the accutire on sale but when I travel I'll carry a dial as I don't want a digital that all a sudden have the batteries die.
Besides the low cost accutire, I usually go $35 on up, not top of the line but not bottom of the line stuff. Reviews are helpful to me to.
Like my thermometers in/out of the home, when I go buy a new one, I'll look at several, even the same models and sometimes I find one that doesn't read like the others. Last time out of maybe 10 thermometers I was looking at, one was way off so I took one that read right in where most were, got home and it read the same as what I already have.
I bought several "Slime" digital gauges and was happy with them but after replacing three of them with about a year of service, I gave up on them and went back to the "Milton" gauge I bought maybe 35 years ago.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

I use a portable air tank, it has a Schrader valve and a pressure gauge on it, just release enough air down to 40 p.s.i., then just pop on the tire gauge and compare.

 

[mjoekingz28]

Use them like torque wrenches?

A 1-10 for atv tires
10-50 for cars
Up to 75 for trucks and spares
Up to 120 for tractor/trailer xombination