Accuracy if tire Pressure gauges rant

[dlockhart]

Originally Posted by gary1101

I have a Joes Pro 0-60PSI with hold valve. Very rugged. $50

I have a Joe's pyrometer for tire temps, and it was one of the tools that told us something was up with my fancy longacre gage. And the pyrometer double checked with the tire guys stuff.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Forget how it's spelled..but "bourdon tube" is the key. Yes, the more expensive dial gauges have them.

I have an Accutire bourdon tube dial gauge that I dropped. After that it read 2 psi when the pressure was 0. I opened it up and saw that the linkage between the bourdon tube and the dial needle appeared to be designed to be adjusted by bending a link. I adjusted it to read 0 at 0 and "calibrated" it by comparing it to a couple of other gauges. All were in agreement within about 1 psi. (Edited from previous post.)

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tire-pressure-gauges/buying-guide/index.htm

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

with in 10% is OK for your Schwinn or a model T

Typo - it was supposed to read 1 psi.

[rusnak]

Ah. Rubbin's racin'. And racin' guys spend I would hope more than $70 on a tire gauge. It seems to me if you're going for tenths of a pound, then you are limiting yourself right off the bat to digital pressure gauges that have been tested. I mean it would seem logical to not reach for the old school free O'Reily's stick tire gauge and then be disappointed/ shocked.

[herr_oberst]

Just tested 3 of mine. I was not pleased with the results, but like many here have said, a man with more than one is never sure....

[pwd72s]

Maybe I should buy another, so I can become confused?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Just tested 3 of mine. I was not pleased with the results, but like many here have said, a man with more than one is never sure....

I hope that if you've got 3 or more, that you have a majority that agree, ie, 2:1 or something like that. Then you at least stand a better chance of the 2 being right or closer to right.

[RWebb]

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/994611

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by masraum

I hope that if you've got 3 or more, that you have a majority that agree, ie, 2:1 or something like that. Then you at least stand a better chance of the 2 being right or closer to right.

Nope, hence my disappointment, and 2 of the instruments are fairly expensive so I was expecting that they would be within a small percentage.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by 1990C4S

It is very unlikely that any measuring device you own is calibrated properly.

A cheap tire gauge? Nope.
An expensive tire gauge? Maybe. But not if it's old.
A sweep style meter? No.
Torque wrench? No.
Vernier? Probably okay.
Micrometer? Likely okay.
Ohmmeter? Likely no.

You should not be surprised.

Hence my issues with inflate-gate. They used an uncalibrated car type electric pump in a heated bathroom.

[afterburn 549]

To reiterate,-
I was quite shocked and surprised as my old stand-by which was over 30 bucks back in the day and the other five gauges could find no agreement.
None.
It may, in fact, be right..but compared to what when I get the new gauge?
Will I now have seven gauges that have dysentery derivative dysfunctional psychopathic skill set?
(sort of like those that came up here from the bowls to add their two cents of drool)
There seems to be just no way of calibrating without a 5000.00 dollar machine.
Something so simple sometimes just is not.

If I could find three or four that read close to the same perhaps they would be right...but that is just betting on an average and not a sure thing.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

If I could find three or four that read close to the same perhaps they would be right...but that is just betting on an average and not a sure thing.

True. That's usually good enough for me, but then I've apparently been lucky enough to get several that seemed pretty close.

Yeah, it certainly doesn't seem like an easy thing to fix if you want to get something calibrated.

Did you change your avatar? It seems different to me.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Hypothetically speaking, if you're traveling from NY to CA, would you lower the pressures on the left side to compensate for the sun?

silly I know, but a few laps on a track can change pressure by quite a few lbs... is the actual number that is critical?

I think the sun makes very, very little difference. Most of the heat in the tires comes from the deformation of the tire as it rolls down the road. Assuming you're going in a straight line on a good road with a relatively symmetric load side to side on the tires, they'll gain pressure pretty equally.

[unclebilly]

Gauge accuracy is usually 2-3% of full scale. A 100psi gauge would have 2-3 psi of error.

This was fun for me in my previous life. I invented a oilfield completion system that opened based on pressure down hole. Here are the variables... the accuracy of the gauge on the pressure truck they use to open these, the density of the fluid in the wellbore (is it fresh water, brine, KCl water, etc).

Regardless, this system has 30% market share in North America and even higher in Russia and other parts of the world...

[Rawknees'Turbo]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

TFSTTTT, right?

Exactly, ya' big ol' spanner!!!

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Hypothetically speaking, if you're traveling from NY to CA, would you lower the pressures on the left side to compensate for the sun?

silly I know, but a few laps on a track can change pressure by quite a few lbs... is the actual number that is critical?

Don't forget elevation changes. A curve like Turn 8, 8A and 9 at Laguna Seca can cause your tires to change psi and hence throw you off the gawdarn track!!

[wdfifteen]

Where would one get a pressure gauge calibrated? When I worked in the lab our load cells and torque wrenched were sent out to calibration every few months and before and after every big test program, but we never used air pressure gauges.

[dlockhart]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Where would one get a pressure gauge calibrated? When I worked in the lab our load cells and torque wrenched were sent out to calibration every few months and before and after every big test program, but we never used air pressure gauges.

Tire vendors at the track often have one set up for teams to use. In everyday life, I have no idea.

.

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by dlockhart

Tire vendors at the track often have one set up for teams to use. In everyday life, I have no idea.

.

Tire Rack also sells the Intercomp digital tire gauge that is supposedly calibrated and tested. Maybe Intercomp would test and re-calibrate it's gauges if they're sent back in?

[afterburn 549]

To sum it all up-compared the new to the old-I threw 4 away.
It is not scientific-law of averages.
I now have three that read the same.