Tire pressure gauges

MarkB_MI · Jul 20, 2019

I have a 40 year old made-in-Germany Dräger dial type pressure gauge. It still works well and always agrees with the TPMS on my vehicles. I'm pretty sure these are no longer available new, although I see used ones for sale on eBay.

A few years ago I needed a cheap gauge to throw in my motorcycle tool kit. I picked up a Slime brand dial gauge at AutoZone, then checked it against my Dräger. It was off by 4 psi! Into the garbage.

I then bought a Victor brand dial gauge; it agrees with the Dräger. I've used it for many years now and it still works fine.

When I bought my 3/4 ton pickup, I needed a gauge that would read higher pressures; the Dräger only goes to 55 psi. So I picked up a Milton stick-style gauge. It is always within 1 psi of the TPMS reading on the truck.

Admittedly that's a small sample size, but I'd sure steer clear of the Slime-branded gauges. And I don't think you can go wrong with Milton.

Any other opinions on gauges, good or bad?

timcasbolt · Jul 20, 2019

I've seen good quality ones that were way off and el cheapo's that were right on. I've also seen good ones go bad overnight. My opinion is you need to check them against a known good one frequently.

jeffcat · Jul 20, 2019

I agree. Had a beautiful VDO gauge made in Germany till I made the mistake of
checking a loaded rear tractor tire. That was the end of a beautiful gauge.
Love the Milton DIAL type gauges and Ebay has some of the best prices. They are
not cheep! Three ranges that I have 0-15 for my lawn tractors. The 0- 60 is
for the Exception. And 0-150 for really big stuff.

Bob Harvey · Jul 20, 2019

I bought an 'el cheapo' (dial type) because my old stick type was not reliable. I think I got it for $10 or so. Had it for a few years. Just for S&G's , I took it to the tire shop a few weeks ago. The sucker was right on after 4 tries. Happy.

DR. EVIL · Jul 20, 2019

Autometer makes great tire pressure gauges, stainless steel braided hoses, pressure release valve on side of gauge. Summit Racing handles them. About $40. Big variety of pressure ranges too.
The old fashioned stick type gauges I find VERY inaccurate no matter what brand.

guido · Jul 20, 2019

Hello MarkB_MI,

Yep! Milton is what I have had for years 150# I think. Drager is an accurate one as well.

There are master gauges to check and see which one of you gauges is lying,

Guido.

Hello MarkB_MI,

There are master gauges to check gauges for accuracy. Picture of mine Drager is an excellent one. My go to is a Milton and it is close to my digital one.

Guido.

504 · Jul 20, 2019

Dad ran a garage and gas station and used Milton. All of the stations and tire shops I have been around(The ones that stayed in business) used Milton. At the tire shop everyone carried a pencil type,we checked them against each other often, we would have one go bad two or three times a year. We checked a lot of tire pressures

Steve@Advance · Jul 20, 2019

Tire Slime will do a number on one too!

Stephen Newell · Jul 20, 2019

It's just the times. Everyone is competing to make the cheapest junk they can.

grizz02 · Jul 20, 2019

and calcium, I have a dial type 40 years now

MarkB_MI · Jul 20, 2019

> Had a beautiful VDO gauge made in Germany till I made the mistake of checking a loaded rear tractor tire.

I used my Dräger a few times on ballasted tires before I thought about it. Surprisingly, chloride solution hasn't seemed to affect it.

Russ from MN · Jul 20, 2019

The SLIME gauges no doubt come from the land of almost right, within 4 lb. is pretty close for them! I have had the same frustration, I have an old Milton that I got when I worked in a gas station in 69, it's the most accurate.

JGayman · Jul 20, 2019

> Autometer makes great tire pressure gauges, stainless steel braided hoses, pressure release valve on side of gauge. Summit Racing handles them. About $40. Big variety of pressure ranges too. The old fashioned stick type gauges I find VERY inaccurate no matter what brand.

It's funny. I have two of the Milton larger stick type gauges. They are both well over 25 years old and the one has been through he-- and back and both of them are still dead on. Meanwhile, I have several newer dial-type that were all over the place. I say "were" because I saw a video on YouTube on how to calibrate the dial-type gauges so I took mine apart and now they are all pretty much dead-on as well. I was even able to calibrate an el-cheapo Harbor Freight dial-type gauge.

ss55 · Jul 21, 2019

Better measuring tools will state an accuracy range, something like +/-2 percent of full scale. On a 100 PSI gauge that means that when it was new it was checked to be within 2 PSI high or 2 PSI low anywhere along the scale of zero to 100 PSI. Any gauges the were outside of that allowable tolerance range would be rejected.

The cheap stick gauges can vary a lot. I've had very good luck with digital tire gauges, even the cheap $3 ones on ebay from the "land of almost right" are usually within a half PSI.

Fluid in tires, especially CaCl2 messes up many tire gauges.

MarkB_MI · Jul 21, 2019

> The SLIME gauges no doubt come from the land of almost right

It seems that Milton still makes its gauges in the US. But there are plenty of perfectly good products made in China and elsewhere. And if a company is willing to put its brand on an inferior product there are plenty of offshore companies who will make it for them for cheap.

rustred · Jul 21, 2019

other option... I make my own.

Mutt and Jeff · Jul 21, 2019

I got over having a favorite tire pressure gauge long ago.

Usually sooner rather than later a ding in a pencil type renders that one junk
a bit of crud or any amounts of sealant or ballast renders that one junk
the gaskets in the chuck renders that one junk
the hose on the gauge one gets old and fails renders that one junk

tire pressure gauges are expendalble consumables in day to day service in the industry

TPMS is about as much fun for me as sealant to others
problematic to program and costly to address
oh there are workarounds by clicking the radio knobs while honking the horn and holding the brakepedal to relearn the wheel position of the new tpms but in day to day it requires a advanced scan tool that can address the particular body computer and set things right

charlie n · Jul 21, 2019

30 years old and still and still dead on.

Crazy Horse · Jul 23, 2019

CHARLIE ...... Reads a perfect zero when sitting on a table .... and it still does it after 30 years. Now
THAT is a good tire gauge.

fixerupper · Jul 24, 2019

I have a digital tire gauge/inflator I got used from the local Cornwell guy. It seems accurate at very low pressures. My four wheeler tires take 8 PSI and if one tire is a pound or two off the four wheeler is squirrelly on the gravel road. This gauge seems to keep then even.

Tire pressure gauges

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