Something to watch out for...

[Bill Douglas]

I got a couple of new tires (Bridgestone Potenza GIII) on the back of the SC then drove to the closest gas station to do the tire presures. It was one of those electronic ones where you enter the tire presure in on the numeric keypad and if gives a digital readout of what you want. Well it did it's beep BEEP BEEP beep etc and you never really know if it's adding air or what it's up to, but it seemed ok.

Well, the car was driving like a pig, and seemed to be wandering around alot on the road. At first I thought it was the new tires and they just didn't suit the car. Then I thought tie rods, wheel alignment, corner balancing - all those things.

Then I thought I'd check the presures again at my local gas station. Each tire took a lot of air to get it up to the normal (factory recommendation) presure, AND the car is driving beautifully again!

So the moral of the story is don't trust the calibration of gas stations air pumps, and maybe don't trust the calibration of little hand held tire presure gauges either. To be sure call into a tire center that has their one reguarly calibrated.

[pwd72s]

I still prefer an analog gauge over the new digital ones. The digitals may be accurate, but it just kind of bugs me to buy a battery for something that shouldn't need one. My carry gauge of choice is blue point brand, bought from my local snap on man. I especially like it's bleed down feature...I just pump them all up to 40 or so by the gas station gauge, or the gauge on my 12V air pump. (I've never found these pump gauges to be accurate.) Then I use my good gauge to bleed the tires down to the pressure I want. IMHO, a tire pressure gauge is something you don't want to scrimp on. A good one will work for your lifetime, so why not spend the $ for a really good one?

[Fishcop]

Yep, ditto Paul.

Bill, go and buy a quality brand analogue guage and keep it in the glove box. Rely on it rather than the station's.

Getting cold there yet?

[pwd72s]

John, would you think of paying $2.98 for your SCUBA air pressure gauge? It's possible that a proper tire gauge could also be a life saver.

[nostatic]

another thing to remember is to be sure and taste the air in the tires...that is the onlyh sure way to know what's going on inside.

[Doug Zielke]

Originally posted by Bill Douglas
To be sure call into a tire center that has their one reguarly calibrated.

Heh, heh, heh....that's a good one, Bill!

When I bought my new AVS Sports recently, the losers in the tire store sent me out on the road with *different* pressures in the right and left rear tires! They may have had "calibrated" gauges, but I *know* their brains were not!

[911pcars]

I don't think he meant "life saver" as in perforated hard candy in a roll or spare tire-like.

On a less serious note, European Car mag had a survey on consumer tire pressure gauges (digital and analog) and found them all to be fairly accurate. An el cheapo, analog dial type (about $6) was the most accurate. However, the longevity factor was not an issue. A Consumer Report study, I believe, revealed many built-in gas station gauges to be inaccurate, but I guess you know this already.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[Fishcop]

Todd's right, taste is very important.

Damn, where do I get your air!?

[bigchillcar]

[QUOTE]Todd's right, taste is very important.

Damn! I bit into my tire tonight in the garage. It blew up right in my face...now I have no tire...now what?! Why didn't someone warn me to take a small bite??

Ryan

[Robert Coats]

Originally posted by nostatic
another thing to remember is to be sure and taste the air in the tires...that is the onlyh sure way to know what's going on inside.

...and be sure to rotate the air in your tires every 3,000 miles
...and always check your headlight fluid
...and be sure the muffler belt is tight

[nostatic]

but if the muffler belt is too tight, you could fry your muffler bearing, so be careful out there!

[HawgRyder]

You forgot to check the high-speed muffler bearings....and the flint ignition module!! LOL
BTW....do you guys normally put racing air in the tires?? or just regular road air?
Bob

[nostatic]

Originally posted by Fishcop
Damn, where do I get your air!?

I use a proprietary mix of noble gases (mostly xenon and krypton, with a splash of radon) for the front tires. In the rear, I use a 50/50 mix of nitrous and sarin. That way if necessary I can kill people *and* put a smile on their face.

And nobigchillcar, my mom always told me my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Or don't bite off more than I could chew. Or stop peeing in public. I get those three mixed up...

[sammyg2]

My prefered gas for tires is roughly 70% nitrogen, around 21% oxygen, a little helium, hydrogen, CO2, and a bunch of other gasses in very small percentages

[pwd72s]

Beware guys...I think fishcop will agree with me on this...you can't taste carbon monoxide. It's a gas that may be fine for car tires. You don't want it in your SCUBA tank. Nor do you want to run 15 pounds of tire air pressure while thinking it's 32.

[rcwaldo]

anyone ever try R compound air in the tires?

[Fishcop]

Paul's right Todd, it might be a better choice over the sarin

[nostatic]

oh I guess if you want to be *subtle* or something.

But is that a better choice for tires or scuba tanks? I prefer VX in my scuba applications...

[Fishcop]

Ricin! Now THEN you're talking!

[nostatic]

well if you're going to venture into the non-gas world, then we can have all sorts of fun. DIFP (diisopropylflourophosphate) is a personal favorite.