Best Tire Air Pressure Gauge?

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Gebo

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I just bought a really expensive tire gauge, Tiretek. Been having some vibration issues on my 4Runner. Took it in to do a Hunter Elite Road Force balance. Tire tech said the first tire was at 20 lbs. I thought maybe I have a leak as I'm fairly religious about my stuff. Tire tech took off 2nd tire and said 20 lbs in that one. Exactly 20 lbs in all 4!!! Now, hang on a minute. I got this expensive air pressure gauge!


He put 30 lbs in each tire by his gauge. When I got home and did a check and I got exactly 40 lbs by my expensive gauge. DUH...

I kept blowing my wife off when she said, "It looks like my tires are low." To which I replied, "That's how radials do."

I got one of my cheap pencils gauges and it read 42 lbs.

What is the best tire gauge that can check up to 100 lbs (for the church van)?
 
Jaco makes a good dial guage. They are easily found on Amazon. I have had bad experiences with a couple of digital units.
 
I have had two tire shops say that the digital ones are garbage. I have several nice round face gauges and they all seem to read the same when checked on one tire.
 
I have yet to ruin a tire or not have enough air in my spares (60 PSI) using Accutire gauges. YMMV
 
You are smart to keep at least 2 pencil gauges around to compare to whatever the shop or your own gauges tell you! One could be off, but the majority opinion prevails. Your gauges were right, the shop's was wrong, but I'd try one more pencil gauge to be more conclusive.

Talking tire gauges are kind of cool. Digital and talking, great stuff.

Another discussion on this was https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4495673/Re:_good_tire_gauge?#Post4495673

https://www.amazon.com/Accutire-MS-4441GB-Talking-Digital-Pressure/dp/B0065J3368
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Accutire-MS-4...olored/46160597
It talks. Love mine.
60e367d0-4156-4651-8849-de3bdabc5831_1.60ac4c7b487ca15a3cc63a0c4b959958.jpeg


And, this is a very good inflator (love mine):
71n0w4xXEBL._SL1500_.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J8Y91GC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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I have a dial gauge that got dropped and went 5 psi out of spec. It's repeatable, though.

IDK how the digital ones can go bad.
 
Hold on a second- your note is confusing.
you said-
"Took it in to do a Hunter Elite Road Force balance. Tire tech said the first tire was at 20 lbs. "

Then he said all the other tires were 20 lbs. You then talk about tire pressure gauges.

Apples and Oranges ?? Based on the "road force balance" comment, you imply the tech is giving you the reading from the balance. The Elite Road Force balance, assuming its like a Hunter GSP 9700, gives its measurements in "lbs / pounds". This has little or no relation to the PSI in your tires, so its not really a reflection of low air pressure, but the accuracy of the balance, the trueness of the tires and wheels, and any tire tread or carcass imperfections. These imperfections can cause vibration problems that seem similar to regular balance problems, but cannot be corrected using weights alone. Adjusting the tire so that the tire imperfections counteract the wheel imperfections can improve the trueness of the tire-wheel combination, leading to a smoother ride with less vibration.

So are we talking about measuring tire PSI, or road force balance in lbs of force ? I am confused.
 
I have noticed that the shop ones go bad after so many years. I have found that the cheap ones are great, I have compared them to the ones in the shop that are brand new and arent off more than a pound. These are the cheap Slime branded ones.
 
My Dad (RIP) bought 2 "rubber clad" dial gauges with a 10" long, cloth covered extension tube at Brookstone (a mall toy store).

He kept one and gave one to me.

It has always jibed with any other pencil gauge I've compared it to and it matches its mate.


BOTTOM LINES:
THE characteristic you want is consistency. AND you want to maintain (check) your tire pressure fairly regularly.

Our family's tires wear straight and even all the time. I crank 'em up for highway travel and let 'em back down when I get home.

You've GOT to own a compressor or you'll neglect your tires.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
BOTTOM LINES: THE characteristic you want is consistency. AND you want to maintain (check) your tire pressure fairly regularly.

Notice somebody's post above where they talk about how their's went out of calibration due to a drop-shock. This could be a problem. I think you have to own a couple of different brands of cheap pencil gauges and compare what you've got. Take the average as the 'truth'. Do that calibration check once in a while, especially if dealing with an old gauge or one you just dropped, right?!

Originally Posted By: Kira
You've GOT to own a compressor or you'll neglect your tires.
I finally had to buy a good compressor. I do have decent free ones at gas stations and low-cost good ones close as well, but there is nothing like topping off once in a while with a GOOD home pump. See my Kensun post above; its not one of the cheap awful slow fragile ones.
 
Originally Posted By: rubberchicken
Hold on a second- your note is confusing. you said- "Took it in to do a Hunter Elite Road Force balance. Tire tech said the first tire was at 20 lbs. "
What does a Hunter Elite measure? Is it measuring +/- pounds vibration when its spinning at some fixed RPM? Sounds interesting, but I'm not sure what value is added over just spin balancing.
Edit: Looked it up. Maybe the tech was talking about tire side pull due to assymetrical conicity. http://www.hunter.com/wheel-balancers/road-force-elite
 
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I've got 2 digital gauges, a Craftsman one and a cheap no name off of amazon. Both show the exact same pressure which also corresponds with what the car says and what with 2 pencil gauges say. The no name one is made of metal and feels sturdy, while the craftsman one is made of cheap feeling plastic, but it has an easy to read gauge.

The Craftsman one (bought it around $15 a couple of months back)

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-programma...mp;blockType=G1

And the Amazon one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZUR5JEK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Originally Posted By: rubberchicken
Hold on a second- your note is confusing. you said- "Took it in to do a Hunter Elite Road Force balance. Tire tech said the first tire was at 20 lbs. "
What does a Hunter Elite measure? Is it measuring +/- pounds vibration when its spinning at some fixed RPM? Sounds interesting, but I'm not sure what value is added over just spin balancing.
Edit: Looked it up. Maybe the tech was talking about tire side pull due to assymetrical conicity. http://www.hunter.com/wheel-balancers/road-force-elite


Right- that is my point- I do not think the tech was talking about PSI or inflation pressure at all- I think he was talking about road force measurement.
 
I'm in the market for one now, my CH is 10 psi off. Used my dad's Blue Point today; he bought it from a Snap-On Truck 40 years ago. I wish he'd give it to me, since he has digital now. It's in excellent condition too. But it has sentimental value to him. I didn't really ask him for it; but I made it clear that I like it!!
 
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