Most accurate tire gauge?

i have multiple gauges, deflaters, and compressors. All seem to be a little inaccurate but the most accurate is my compressor.

What’s your most accurate source of gauging tire pressure, and when’s the best time to gauge/fill your tires?

Please list pics, models, or links of where to purchase

 

We get Snap-On Industrial Digital Aircraft Tire Pressure Gauge Kits sent in all the time for calibration verification. Damn good. Not junk.Cal'd them up in Anchorage too. Kits aren't cheap but you won't find anything better to use on your truck.Especially white ones..... Haha

 

I just use a "Slime" tire gauge that I picked up at Walmart.

 

Go ahead and forward one to me when you get a minute

 

I'd like to have a kit for myself too! Aircraft rated digital tire pressure gauges are pretty accurate and have great repeatability. Overkill for a truck? Nope. Back in the day your traditional pre digital aircraft tire pressure inflator gauges were verified every month. Digitals are checked yearly. (sometimes every 6 months).

 

Dewalt just came out with this. It's supposed to be shipping out in the next couple of weeks and is available for pre-order for $99. I've been waiting for this so I went ahead and snagged one:
https://www.dewalt.com/en-us/produc.../20v-max-cordedcordless-air-inflator/dcc020ib

If you buy it (click the link from the Dewalt page), Acme Tools has free shipping.

 

That seems pretty slick. I'm wondering how many tires it can inflate. For example, if you're out on a trail and need to reinflate after the run, or to inflate a flat that you plugged. How much air can it pass without overheating or shutting off

 

Dewalt is pretty stout. I would think it could handle all 4 plus any spares pretty easily.

 

I have this digital Intercomp gauge and have been happy with it. I send it to them once a year for calibration and they always tell me it is right on the money and no calibration needed.

https://www.intercompracing.com/9999-psi-digital-air-pressure-gauge-p-180.html

 

That thing is $300!!!!

 

Any bourdon tube gauge should be good enough. If you really felt like it you could spend quite a lot of money on a precision pressure gauge.

 

Yikes!!!!

 

The aircraft spec Snap-On's are even more! A 0.1 % bourdon tube Heise (the best) metrology grade mirrored pressure gauge can get quite spendy $$ real fast. A typical decent bourdon tube is 3/2/3 spec as in 3%/2%/3%. Digital gauges for everyday use like the Intercomp and Snap-On can meet 0.1% spec @ full scale and rarely need to be adjusted. Depends on use. By far bourdon tube design are still the go to gauge. We calibrate thousands of them each year compared to hundreds of digitals. The catch with bourdon tube type is they can go out of spec easily and can be a pain to adjust linearity and span into spec compared to digitals which are usually "right on" or broke and fairly easy to adjust into spec when needed. A big red flag is when a manufacturer claims their product never goes out of spec. Everything can go out of spec. Everything. We get new in box instruments from all kinds of test equipment mfrs and sometimes fail calibration right out of the box. Even $180,000 test sets.

 

That’s why you need to get us a couple with your “5 finger discount”

 

It wasn't that much when I bought mine about 10-15 years ago.

 

Jail sucks...Those Intercomps are nice. $300 isn't that bad actually. Tire pressure is critical on race tires. Maybe not so much for us but still a nice to have.

 

I have this one attached to my ARB Compressor.

 

This is my favorite gauge. Has a release valve on it for easy deflation to perfect psi.

Joes Racing 32307 (0-60) PSI Tire Pressure Gauge

$25 Joes Racing 32307 (0-60) PSI Tire Pressure Gauge

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00404WDUC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_J8txBb80BEB54

I also have the ARB analog inflator/guage. Use it most for filling up tires.

 

Exact one I’ve been using for a long time as well. Durable easy to read gauge. Doesn’t require batteries or technology. In some products the KISS principle is key and this is one of them. Plus they aren’t overly expensive so I don’t feel guilty using and abusing.

 

I got this one.

Joes Racing 32485 Quick Fill Tire Inflator with 60 PSI Gauge

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9FJMAO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Nice! I’ve been wanting that inflator for my powertank, I have the ARB inflator and it feels cheap, and I’ve already broken one. To be fair ARB did replace under warranty but I’m still not a big fan

 

This one is built to last.

 

Mayyyyyybe

 

you guys are crazy. I use an Accu-Gage RS60XA for $15 on Amazon

On a typical trip, I'll check street pressure, 40 front, 36 rear. When I get to the trail, I'll air down to the terrain. General trail, 22 front, 20 rear. If I hit rocks, I let out 2 psi. If I hit sand I go to 18 and 16. Air back up to street pressure to go home. If I'm at altitude, say 8k feet, I'll add 4 psi for when I get back to sea level.

I have no idea if its an accurate gauge. Who cares??? I know what the tires are supposed to look and feel like on the trail over different terrain and once I know what that is I just remember the number. As for street pressure, there is no way 2 or 3 psi is going to make a difference unless you are running super low volume tires like the low profile ones on my lexus.

But if you got the money to burn, then burn it

 

I couldn’t care less either but my truck is pulling right and have a bit of a shimmy in the wheel. It wasn’t doing it until I moved out of CO (11,000 was my house). I got to sea level and my low pressure light popped on. That wouldn’t have even bothered me except that I wasn’t low...I was over inflated (46+) all the way around. I dropped all 4 to “40” and that’s when it started. Now, I’ve jacked around with different pressure gauges, including my ARB deflator and it’s still doing it, with no ther variables to contend with. It’s not the end of the world and I’m certainly not gonna pay more than $30-50 to read my pressure but uneven wear sucks balls when I don’t wanna pay for new tires anytime soon due to overcompensating for the pull to the right

 

I understand. You certainly need to get the pressure correct on your tires. But a $15 gauge is good enough. It doesn't matter how inaccurate it is, it will read the same on the left and right tires so just make them the same to correct any pulling you might have due to air pressure.

Also, if you buy a dozen different gauges at all price points I highly doubt you will see more than a 2-3 psi spread in accuracy.

Also, the gauge I posted is a bourdon tube and has been initially calibrated to some ansi standard. No, its not as accurate as an expensive aircraft gauge, but its good enough

 

I've taken apart and adjusted thousands of bourdon tube gauges over the years. Cheap is cheap. Bourdon tubes are not all the same. Not all metallurgical processes are the same. Not even close. There are high quality tubes and poor quality tubes. What about dial assembly quality? The are some cheap worthless crap gauges out there. A customer recently sent in 25 no name Chinese 60psi pressure gauges bought off Amazon supposedly factory calibrated at +/- 3%. Hahahaha. 6 failed hysteresis check and 4 we couldn't get to pass linearity. One was reading 47psi at 55psi test point. Ah...-8psi low. This was a 40% failure rate. Customer wasn't happy. Chinese moral of the story...."cheap is cheap", "crap is crap"

And.....the most accurate doesn't necessarily mean the best..."for your use".

 

Not to thread jack but where are you living now and how are you liking it?

 

That is a decent gauge. If in cal every year then send in for cal every two. We adjust calibration intervals at times when a unit historically is in cal. Depends on end user and use.

 

Idatalink maestro, get my psi thru my headunit