My Tire Guage is off...

[Super Dave]

Don't use the delete button, Don.  Step away from the computer.   

[dylanfan53]

Oooh ooh I found it.  Motorcycle Consumer News, November 2005.  Radio Shack ($10) rated higher than most and higher than the Intercomp liquid gauge I spent $40 for. 

And although it doesn't talk dirty, it is bilingual......

and for some of us that can be enough at times....

[Rick Beggs]

we tested 19 guages at daytona on Michelins big guage
11 misc dial guages, mostly expensive some liquid filled
and 8  digital guages, most looked cheap. one came free with a compressor
all 8 digital ones wewe acurate
only 3 dial guages wewe within 1 pound, most were within 2 pounds, some 3-4 off
i now ise digital ones, and i still ck them a lot, no problems so far

[tshort]

I just went through this gauge calibration exercise.  My tire guy out here offered to put my gauge on his tire gauge calibration machine.  It's specifically designed for this task.  Turns out my analog dial gauge was off 2 lbs.  Good news was it has a removable case cover, and a couple screws holding the dial plate on - in other words, it was designed to be calibrated and adjusted.  So I adjusted it.

The calibrator was unable to help me with my digital Accu Tire gauge, tho, due to instant reading.  The calibrator is hooked up to air, and set for a pressure (like, say, 30 lbs).  But as soon as you hit it with a gauge, the pressure falls off instantly, and takes a couple seconds to build back up to 30.  So with the dial gauge you just waited.  But the instant read gauge would hold the first reading it got - which was around 26, and wouldn't re-adjust its reading as the calibrator pressure came back up.  Answer: check it against a tire that has been set with the analog gauge. 

Man, that was geeky. ;-)

[stickboy274]

this would be an excellent "how-to" post.

It's not hard, but it takes some time. I just took one aprat and figured it out. I did two last weekend at RRR. I may pick up some more and get them sorted. I suppos I could set other peoples guages. The ACCU guages are easy to do. Just remember it takes a tiny little adjustment to go about 5 lbs. 

[Ducmarc]

went to VIR last year found my 10 yr old gauge was off borrowed a little digital gauge from the guys in the garage next to us it worked great. then my dumb ass was in the VIR store and bought a longacre whammie jammi  analog for $50.00 now it's +1 taped to it... go figure

[Kelly Ruby]

just finished reading this thread so i checked on the radio shack tire guage - looks like it's $3 now

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kw=tire&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032059&categoryId=2032059&kwCatId=2032059

[ccs207]

just finished reading this thread so i checked on the radio shack tire guage - looks like it's $3 now

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kw=tire&f=Taxonomy%2FRSK%2F2032059&categoryId=2032059&kwCatId=2032059

$3 what a deal! Mine was reading 2 lbs low, and then my 2 year got a hold of it and now i can't find it. Looks like i'm headed to the Shack.

[dylanfan53]

...and it's erotically bilingual!!