Tyre Pressures - which gauge to trust?

J

JamesJ

Member
I have recently had some work done to correct a skittish front end, bushes replaced and a full geometry done on a hunter machine. The car now has no movement in the front end and is set up perfect. The front end is better but still not very good considering it's no longer on run flats.

So I was told to mess around with tyre pressures, and here comes my problem. My footpump has a gauge but being old I thought this might not be very accurate so ordered a draper analogue one off ebay. Now both gauges show different readings and when the front tyres are set at about 30-32psi on the draper gauge, which should be a good pressure the car still handled awfully! So I decided to get a digital one from halfords and see what it said, it thinks the fronts are about 37psi, so which gauge do I trust? The foot pumps gauge reads in the middle of these, which doesn't help!
 
The only way to really know is to use a calibrated gauge. With the variance you have I couldn't trust any of them.
 
JamesJ said:
They all say they are accurate to .5 psi, but as they are so different that can't be the case.
Click to expand...

Yes they do but this doesn't take into account how they are used.
 
With have gauges at work for a high pressure air system (3000psi) that all read diffrent to each other because they are not calibrated. A gague we use for setting safety vavles is very accurate but it is calibrated and costs silly money

Just use one gague for all four tires and set them to that


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000VZ8S26/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3RR83O5CUB4PO

About the best you can get without spending silly money
 
Our Draper digital agrees with the 2 inflation pumps and an old style shooty ou the end device. I think you must have been quite unlucky in your purchasing. If it is any help I have ours set to 34 all round and it seems fine
 
I would take the readings from any gauge that isn't calibrated with a pinch of salt, and would say it is a guide or an indication only.

Of the 3 you have, if you are that worried take the middle reading and use that, as long as neither go above the MAWP of the tyre!
 
sometimes the same gauge can give different readings depending on how you get the connection, so it's worth giving it a few goes.
 
They're all designed to be out of calibration from the start. It's an industry collusion with tyre manufacturers, so they always get to blame improper pressure for your irregular wear issues! :roll:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom