Community Forums

WeatherTodd · 03-29-2013, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coma

FWIW I use Accu-gage. Here is a comment about there accuracy and construction. I have found them to be consistent and durable.

until you send them off to a lab thats not affiliated with Accugage... then youll see its worth about $1. My pencil gauges have proven to be more accurate and reliable.

Mike Canter · 03-29-2013, 08:34 PM

So who do you think was off by 0.1 psi? Was it the independent calibration service or Longacre Racing? My guess is that Longacre Racing was right on considering who they build gauges for. My gauge matches my other $200 gauge that goes from 0 to 15 psi for adjusting our drag slicks which are at 5-6 psi.

sdennislee · 03-29-2013, 08:47 PM

When putting 95 to 115 psi in a tire would it really matter if the gauge was off by .5 psi?

bthomforde · 03-29-2013, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brockx

How do you or I know our gauges are accurate? I have several and on a given day they don't agree. Two of them are the tried and true Milton trucker gauges and they generally agree with each other. What would be a standard to calibrate a gauge to...........

Last year at the Escapees rally they had a booth there that you could check your tire gauges (for free). maybe other rallies have the same service.

WeatherTodd · 03-30-2013, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

So who do you think was off by 0.1 psi? Was it the independent calibration service or Longacre Racing? My guess is that Longacre Racing was right on considering who they build gauges for. My gauge matches my other $200 gauge that goes from 0 to 15 psi for adjusting our drag slicks which are at 5-6 psi.

it was an independent calibration lab. Im not complaining... as the other gauges I sent in were much further off. Even my old intercomp digital was .2 psi off. The accugage unit I sent was 3lbs off.

Now for a street vehicle exact pressures aren't as critical as on the racetrack.

WeatherTodd · 03-30-2013, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bthomforde

Last year at the Escapees rally they had a booth there that you could check your tire gauges (for free). maybe other rallies have the same service.

Most tire shops can check it for pressures under 60 psi. You want to check the guage at the pressures you will be using them. What suprised me about the longacre unit is how accurate it was at low and high pressures.

Mike Canter · 03-30-2013, 07:44 AM

Actually was pulling your leg(s) as been accurate to 0.1 psi at 100 psi. That is crazy accurate. At an average of 100 psi tire pressure one should be adding 5% anyhow for safety. It is far safer to be a little over than to be under. I don't know how much off you can be at 100 psi before it results in a change to the tires performance. One thing you have to be very careful of is a tire gauge that fails and gives an incorrect reading. Unless you become suspicious and check it with another device which includes TPMS you would never know. I will add that I have never had a tire store inflate all four tires correctly or even all at the same pressure. I not sure if it is always human error or mechanical error or employee just doesn't care. I am not sure I would ever let a tire store check the accuracy of my gauge. They are just going to check it against one they are using which is probably the one the used to incorrectly inflate my tires.

WeatherTodd · 03-30-2013, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

Actually was pulling your leg(s) as been accurate to 0.1 psi at 100 psi. That is crazy accurate. At an average of 100 psi tire pressure one should be adding 5% anyhow for safety. It is far safer to be a little over than to be under. I don't know how much off you can be at 100 psi before it results in a change to the tires performance. One thing you have to be very careful of is a tire gauge that fails and gives an incorrect reading. Unless you become suspicious and check it with another device which includes TPMS you would never know. I will add that I have never had a tire store inflate all four tires correctly or even all at the same pressure. I not sure if it is always human error or mechanical error or employee just doesn't care. I am not sure I would ever let a tire store check the accuracy of my gauge. They are just going to check it against one they are using which is probably the one the used to incorrectly inflate my tires.

I agree... the cream of the crop aint going to be employed at a tire shop but usually they have a quality machine(national chains) one could "bench mark" against in a pinch.

Coma · 03-30-2013, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

Told you that Longacre gauge is the Rolls Royce. I bet I have spent more than $132 in gauges that are inaccurate or break after a short time. That Longacre gauge is calibrated to within .5 psi and they will check the calibration anytime you want. It I a one time purchase that will go forever. On the drag slicks we run them at 6 psi and change pressures by .1 psi and the gauge has to be accurate. We use a different model but from the same company. It is so accurate that I use it to check other people's gauges. When you pay $4600+ for eight tires then $132 for a gauge to check them accurately is cheap.

I see they have one that will temperature compensate. Do you have any experience with that one?

Mike Canter · 03-30-2013, 08:42 AM

No I don't but I think that would get us into trouble because all our load inflation tables are based on ambient temperatures. If we started compensating for temperatures then what load inflation table would be correct for us. Maybe good for a NASCAR type car but I don't think it would be good for us.

Coma · 03-30-2013, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeatherTodd

The accugage unit I sent was 3lbs off.

Now for a street vehicle exact pressures aren't as critical as on the racetrack.

I agree and for $20 a gage that is 3% at 100psi seems ok.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

No I don't but I think that would get us into trouble because all our load inflation tables are based on ambient temperatures. If we started compensating for temperatures then what load inflation table would be correct for us. Maybe good for a NASCAR type car but I don't think it would be good for us.

Maybe I misunderstand how it's used. Often when I check pressures one side or the other has been in the sun. I have seen other sites say large tire pressures vary as much as 2 lbs per 10F. Measuring temps and press confirms that is close. So a tire that is 60F and is 114psi will measure 110psi at 40F. So if I set the tire pressure at 105psi per the inflation chart midday, in the morning it may be 100psi and under inflated because of the 25F temp change.

All this is measuring with a micrometer and cutting with an axe if the gauge is -+3psi. However I suspect that billions of miles have been driven without failure in tires that are within 3psi of correct pressure.

Mike Canter · 03-30-2013, 09:10 PM

That one tested gauge was within 3 psi but what accuracy is the next one. I will admit that the digital gauges have gotten a lot more accurate over the years which is more than I can say for the manual stick type. Their pressure readings are all over the place. I rounded up all my old manual stick gauges and checked them for accuracy and ended up throwing them all away. The problem is that most people that have one gauge have no idea if it is accurate or not and most believe it is accurate when it is really not. But then I have talked to mh owners that have no idea what their correct tire pressures should be so it does not make any difference if the gauge is accurate or not. The RVers that use forums are a very small percent.

I will not change tire pressures on a tire that has been sitting in the sun. I will only check them in the morning when it is cool out with no sun on them.