Tire pressure gauges | GTAMotorcycle.com

Tire pressure gauges

Gaoler

Gaoler

Well-known member
What are the best, most accurate air pressure gauges available...
I've got three what I'd call "cheapies" and they all read different.... Like +/- 10 to 15 psi.
I'd like to know the trooth when it come to my tire pressure, but with the three gauges I have... I'm living in a world of lies.
 
I have a tire pressure gauge calibrator to check them. I don't bother getting the calibrator calibrated annually but it was calibrated before I installed it and it is mounted in my basement so it sees no abuse and minimal temperature changes. I check the gauges I use every year. Most are within 1-2 lbs. If one is way off, it goes to the trash.

Dill-8500-Certified-Gauge-Check-Station-1024x1024_5000x.jpg
 
TK4 said:
Pricey but worth it -

Motion Pro Professional Tire Pressure Gauge 2.5" 0-60 Psi - Motion Pro

Motion Pro - High quality cables, tools and controls for motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and personal watercraft.
www.motionpro.com www.motionpro.com
Click to expand...
I don't think I'd want a liquid filled gauge as a daily driver. Needing to vent and seal the gauge all the time isn't ideal and you get a little oil escaping. Some marketing wankery there too. New higher flow rate? All it has to do is equalize the pressure in about 15 ml of tubing. I guess it helps a little for the bleeder but meh. I'm not normally dumping a lot of tire pressure.
 
I've got the Motion Pro digital one if you're looking for garage jewellery. Total overkill for most, but the readout is in .1 PSI increments, it's allegedly not influenced by changes in altitude, and it's a pleasure to use.

As for accuracy, you either have to take their word for it or find a gauge calibrator. Or compare to other gauges that you trust, but as they say: "a man with two watches is never sure what time it is".

Digital Tire Pressure Gauge 60 psi - Motion Pro

Motion Pro - High quality cables, tools and controls for motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and personal watercraft.
www.motionpro.com www.motionpro.com
 
Ash said:
I've got the Motion Pro digital one if you're looking for garage jewellery. Total overkill for most, but the readout is in .1 PSI increments, it's allegedly not influenced by changes in altitude, and it's a pleasure to use.

As for accuracy, you either have to take their word for it or find a gauge calibrator. Or compare to other gauges that you trust, but as they say: "a man with two watches is never sure what time it is".

Digital Tire Pressure Gauge 60 psi - Motion Pro

Motion Pro - High quality cables, tools and controls for motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and personal watercraft.
www.motionpro.com www.motionpro.com
Click to expand...
Even with the calibrator, unless you keep it calibrated, it's just one more data point. It should be trusted slightly more than daily use gauges but you still have to keep your brain engaged. I grab all the stuff I want to calibrate and do it at one time. That makes it much easier to see if one is way off from the consensus.
 
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One of the nice things about the Motion Pro gauges is the chuck on them, which you can purchase separately if you want to graft it onto a cheaper gauge. When mine was new it seated perfectly every time. After a handful of years at the track it's getting a little harder to seat without leaking a little bit, so I might pull it apart this winter to clean and lubricate the sealing washer.

Pro Air™ Gauge Chuck - Motion Pro

Motion Pro - High quality cables, tools and controls for motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles and personal watercraft.
www.motionpro.com www.motionpro.com
 
Someone just asked the same question on GJ:

Digital tire pressure gauge that doesn't s@&k?

I feel like this should be a dumb question. Just looking for a simple digital tire pressure gauge that doesn't leak like a sieve when you put it on the valve stem. Should be an easy thing to find, but the market is just flooded with crummy ones.... that let 1-2psi out of the tire before I get...
www.garagejournal.com www.garagejournal.com

One of the responses included a video from ProjectFarm:
 
Relax said:
Someone just asked the same question on GJ:

Digital tire pressure gauge that doesn't s@&k?

I feel like this should be a dumb question. Just looking for a simple digital tire pressure gauge that doesn't leak like a sieve when you put it on the valve stem. Should be an easy thing to find, but the market is just flooded with crummy ones.... that let 1-2psi out of the tire before I get...
www.garagejournal.com www.garagejournal.com

One of the responses included a video from ProjectFarm:
Click to expand...
The video makes it pretty obvious that for many of the manufacturers, QC did not involve actual testing of gauges at a known pressure. Ship them all out and if someone is annoyed they can swap for a new one. Most buyers won't figure out the gauge is garbage until after the window has passed.
 
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I don't know if this will make sense or not but:
Accuracy isn't really a concern, check it against another gauge.
What IS important is repeatability.

I was at the track, with my VERY expensive/accurate air gauge (I didn't buy it), that the apprentice dropped about 10 minutes after I opened the box, and now it reads (IIRC) 4 lbs high, so I went over to the Goodyear tire truck to check my gauge against his gauge (you know... cuz they do this for a living, these guys are the tire EXPERTS... right?), and the Goodyear guy just laughed... he hands me the "company" pressure gauge and the thing is covered in notes: from 6-8lbs it's 1 lb high, 8-11 it's accurate, 12-16 low 2 lbs, 16-24 low 4 lbs and we LOL'ed
I used to laugh at guys that would borrow my gauge at the line (because they forgot theirs in the pit), so they set the pressure 4 lbs high... and then blow off their tires on launch cuz they were too hard.
If you want an accurate gauge: go buy a BIG fluid dampened pressure gauge, about $25, and mount a hose on it. You want the pressure you expect to measure to be in the middle of the range, and the smaller the range the more accurate it is... and be gentle with it, how it works is a diaphragm pushes against a teeny tiny spring, that doesn't like to be jarred
 
bitzz said:
and be gentle with it, how it works is a diaphragm pushes against a teeny tiny spring, that doesn't like to be jarred
Click to expand...
I thought most were bourdon tubes (spiral that expands when pressurized)? Your point is still very valid though.
 
And while I was standing around shooting the... with the Goodyear guy, a racer rushed in with his flat tire that he needs fixed NOW. The rubber shrader valve was leaking (rule books says all classes have to have metal shrader valves). It took me a minute but this guy is someone I was racing, so he was running sub 10 sec. And right about now I realize the tire he wants repaired is a Whippet... I don't know if you guys are old enough and cheap enough to know that Whippet tires were the cheapest tire sold by Canadian Tire in the mid '70s.
So we gots this guy doing less that 10 second, 145mph 1/4s, on 50 year old el' cheapo crappy tire tires.
COOL!
 
Gaoler said:
I don't have it, but I bet this kinda thing would drive any OCD types insane...
Click to expand...
Or anyone that wants their tire pressures set properly?

I'm not racing so within 2 psi is good enough for me, ideally within 1. Some of the gages project farm tested were so far out that they were useless (unless you tested them against a known good source, they didn't drift and you thought to think about any of the above).
 
I might suggest that for the street you set to recommended pressures with whatever gauge you have and look for no more than a 10% pressure rise between cold and hot.
Your opinion may vary, but that's going to put you pretty close. I carry a small stick gauge for just that purpose.
Racing is a whole different deal.
 
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