For Pete's sake why couldn't you have chimed in a couple days ago? Lol. I already ordered a new gauge that came highly recommended by a mechanic friend but now I plan to also do as you say with now five gauges. Haha.

Seriously, thanks everyone for the suggestions.

 

Received my new gauge yesterday. Checked the tires this morning with the most expensive of the units I already had and had 32/31 front and 32/33 rear. Used the new gauge and had 31/31 front and 31/32 rear. Adjusted the other rear to 31. DIC showed 31/31 fr and 31/28 rear. Tossed the old four in the trash. My OCD is a little better now. LOL

Looks like the one TPMS may be getting tired though and will need replacement soon. I am estimating out new rims, sensors, and tires around Mar/Apr so hopefully it hangs on until then.

 

How in the world did we survive before TPMS?

 

IMHO, TPMS should not be used as your only means of tire pressure monitoring. After all, it is only active while driving and of course will vary with tire temps. It is very useful though in letting you know a tire is going down so you can get pulled over before it becomes an emergency. Especially useful if you are not using run flats.

 

I like a gauge with a nice big analog dial with 1 psi markings and a bleed valve. That way you can slightly over inflate the tires and then bleed them down to the exact pressure you want. Being analog you can see exactly when the needle is centered over the pressure you want. Better than any digital gauge even with 0.5 psi accuracy.

 

Hahaha, don't know where the valve stems are, change oil every other time the dic tells me to, fobs are dead, don't know what color my car is, leave it out in the sun and rain, never wash it, tires have 57k on them and are bald, and have a possum stuck in my wheel well from last year.
And I drive the **** out of it.

 

That is very similar to one I got. And for all the same reasons. Very happy with my new gauge. Hope it lasts a long while.

 

For those folks who talk about how inflation pressure increases as the tires warm up...check this out.

I set on a drive around town last week at 2:30 in the afternoon. It was 113 degrees. The TPMS read pressures of 29/30 all around. I drove for an hour. Can't imagine what the road temps were. My speeds varied, but generally doing 75 on the freeway. After an hour, the temps were 30/31. When I got home, I checked with my pencil gauge, and they were the same.

So, maybe, unless you are racing in Nascar at 190MPH and above, the tires don't increase that much in pressure during a hot drive....

jus' sayin'

 

I, personally have seen an eleven pound difference between when I started off in the morning in the rain in Kansas City in the rain, and Denver at a hundred degrees in the afternoon. And part of that was altitude change that affects the calibration of the TPMS.

Granted, that is an extreme example, but even driving locally, I regularly see a six to eight pound difference.

 

Same here.

And as I've noted before, I'm pretty sure the tire and auto manufacturers have all this figured out when they state what the cold pressure should be.

If a few pounds was really all that important, maybe they should have maps like the back of seed packets that tell you when to plant depending on what region you live in, only they would tell you what the pressure should be. Haha.

We really are bombarded by "too much information." The DIC is nice, but I find myself flipping through it even though I know it's a waste of time, not to mention distracting.

 

If your gauges are all 15 years old that might be your issue.

Buy a 20 dollar brand new one, that one might be more accurate than all of yours, or alternatively buy an expensive new one.

I'd be pretty pissed if 4 of mine gave different readings, pissed enough to buy an expensive one. It's not even about tires not being exact, it's about your tools working properly, that's worth more than having all your tires right.

Oh, and I'd trust a gauge you bought before the tires sensors, sometimes mine take a day or even week to adjust in readings...

 

Agree OWC6 and Bruze. My temps vary by as much as well from cold in the garage on Saturday morning to the end of a spirited drive in the afternoon heat. And there is a map of sorts for tire pressure selection. The Rim & Tire Association (RTA) is the governing body for tire pressure selection tires. They also work with manf. on determining the proper psi for a cars placard. I don't remember what the mean temp is that they use but think it is in the 70s. The recommendation is 1 psi for every 10 degree variance from that.

Yesterday when I got home it was 107. My DIC showed my previously set 31 pounds were now 36. For grins I checked again about 4 hours later and it still showed 34 on the DIC. I am consdering dropping my pressure to 28 or 29 cold during these hot summer months and adjusting accordingly in the winter.

 

Well how does one know if any certain tire shops gauges are accurate ??....

 

OK....i'll bite. So what does one do.....check each tire 4 times each time with a different gauge ? Or check each tire once with a different gauge ? Or check two tires with 2 different gauges ? Or check 3 tires with one different gauge....uh....oh heck.... Help me Mr. Wizard

 

Check each tire with all the gauges you can muster, write each number down, then average them all out.

If one tire comes, say, 3/4 of a pound short then blip a little air in and repeat the procedure until your average is 30.000. Repeat for each tire.

Obviously, you must do this each time you take your car out, even down to the corner for some milk/beer.

Some of the smarter engineers also recommend doing this even if you are going to sit in your car in the garage. Your weight will throw everything off if the tires aren't correct.

I'm sure Mrs. Ow will confirm all this.

Attachment 48336260

 

And what do the people that use nitrogen do ??.........

 

I have no clue. Maybe they will chime in and spill their proverbial guts.

 

I doubt most folks have nitrogen available to them at home or even within a reasonable driving distance. It does have some advantages but none that would make it worth buying and storing it at home. Here are some notes for you to ponder.

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/nitrogen-vs-air

On the other hand, for all the garage queens out there, nitrogen might make more sense.

 

LOL...understood. My post was tongue & cheek mostly. But it does always seem that any tire pressure thread will eventually let the S@#T flow by someone whom only uses nitrogen cause it will usually make their car go faster.....

 

LOL. I think most of this thread has been tongue in cheek.