Tyre inflaters and pressure guages

[Mickydripin]

Hi all

 

I have a Michelin tyre inflator which is very good on inflation but it keeps changing from PSI to Bars or KPH when in use even though I have set it on PSI I think this is a fault with them as I have changed it once and now it is doing the same on the new one

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This can be very dangerous as when you look at the pressure you think that it is very low and keep on pumping air in my questions are.

 

Do you have one of these and have you had this problem

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What type of gauge or inflater do you use that is accurate to check your tyre pressure, My stick metal one only goes up to 50PSI and as you all know there are not many motorhome tyres that are under that pressure and you can not rely on garage forcourt inflaters

 

Mike

 

 

 

[mike 202]

I had a Michelin digital tyre pressure gauge, bought it from Halfords and chose the Michelin one over Halfords own make because I thought (wrongly) that it would be better and it was all singing and dancing.

 

It went wrong after two tyres had been checked. So back to Halfords who offered an immediate exchange, However I declined their offer and they agreed thet I could exchange for their own make and even gave a price difference refund.

 

The new Halfords one has performed faultlessly over the last 2 years - So well done Halfords on 2 accounts.

 

Mike

[Derek Uzzell]

This earlier thread has a lot of additional links that you may find useful:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=24716&posts=28

 

As I've said several times before, if the requirement is for a 12V-powered pump suitable for motorhome usage, the best readily-available choice would be Ring's RAC900 inflator (About £65 on-line). A potential downside of this product is that (due to its high current demand) it will normally need to be powered directly from the vehicle's battery, not through a dashboard 12V socket, but, otherwise, it's got everything going for it.

 

Historically, many gauges fitted to tyre inflators have proved to be hopelessly inaccurate and the one on my own inflator is a joke!

 

I have 3 pressure gauges, any of which will handle the pressures I use on my Transit-based Hobby, but they all provide slightly different readouts. Received wisdom is that (at least for dial-type gauges) for best accuracy a gauge's 'range' should well exceed the pressure normally used in your vehicle's tyres. So, for motorhome tyres, a gauge should be capable of measuring at least 100psi (or 7 bar).

 

AutoExpress tested tyre-pressure gauges in March 2010

 

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/249793/tyre_pressure_gauges_tested.html

 

Motorhomes are not competition vehicles and any gauge that's accurate to a couple of psi should be good enough. The pressure in a motorhome tyre will vary significantly according to the ambient temperature, so there's no point costantly fiddling about with tyre pressures. Regular checking will confirm that there's no unusual loss of pressure in a tyre (normally a symptom of a puncture), which is the important thing to be watching out for.

[lennyhb]

I never trust the gauges on pumps I always use one of these Metal Tyre Pressure Gauge to check the pressure.

[fjmike]

When installing Puncturesafe I always use my inflator that I bought from Aldis. OK its 240 volt but I usually have my genny but the up side is its very quick. The gauge is very similar to garage forecourts ie. taken with a pinch of salt, so I make sure buy using a gauge similar to the link in a previous post.

[Derek Uzzell]

I have two of the type of dial gauge shown on lennyhb's link. One (an elderly and originally expensive German-made product that nowadays over-reads by about 5psi at 30psi, but is not far out at 60psi) and the second (a much younger cheap and poorly-finished unbranded look-alike) that's fairly accurate across its full range.

 

I also have a Michelin key-chain digital gauge as shown in the 3rd photo of the AutoExpress test report.

 

Dial gauges are normally easier to use than the digital variety (and there's no battery to go flat), but no gauge will respond well to rough treatment. Having obtained a gauge, it's a good idea to confirm its accuracy at a friendly tyre-fitting outlet if you have the opportunity.

 

If I were buying a gauge today I'd probably choose the Draper 69924 product. This has a pressure-range suitable for motorhome tyres and is available on-line for an all-in price of around a tenner.