Tire pressure gauge group buy?

signcrafter · Apr 28, 2016

I see a lot of threads on here about crappy tire pressure gauges. I've also had my share of them that are garbage or don't last long. Since they are something I'm sure everyone of us has the need for at least two to three of I was wondering if we picked a good one and had enough interest if we contacted a manufacturer if they would cut us a good deal? I know there have been a few group buys in the past, don't remember seeing one for a tire gauge.

So what do you guys say? Any suggestions on how to go about this? Would it be better to have the vendor ship individual orders or for one member to order them all and ship out individual orders?

But I guess first we would have to find and agree on which gauge to get and then contact that manufacturer and see if they are willing to do anything like this. Any advice on a good tire gauge? I don't know if we would have to pick one gauge or if we would be able to order from their whole product line so we could pick pencil style, dial gauge style, built into inflator, etc? Open to all suggestions on this. Just want to see first if there is enough interest and second which brand/model would be the best to do something like this for?

crguy · Apr 28, 2016

Forget it

signcrafter · Apr 28, 2016

crguy said:
Forget it

Any particular reason you say that so quick?

Homebody · Apr 28, 2016

crguy said:
Forget it

Agreed. It's a tire pressure gauge. Unless you're making laps around Daytona at 200mph as long as you're within a few lbs of mfg's specs you're good to go.

Don't overthink a tire pressure gauge.

theoldwizard1 · Apr 28, 2016

I came to that conclusion several years ago. I have 4 or 5 Accu-Gage dial. They have a lifetime warranty and I have used it.

signcrafter · Apr 28, 2016

Homebody said:
Agreed. It's a tire pressure gauge. Unless you're making laps around Daytona at 200mph as long as you're within a few lbs of mfg's specs you're good to go.

Don't overthink a tire pressure gauge.

I understand that tire pressure isn't rocket science but I have read two threads in the past couple of days that had many examples of pressure gauges being way more then a few lbs off.

pi_guy · Apr 28, 2016

Most people it is not going to matter.
I use a electronic pressure gauge that was over 100$ but it gives me options if I need to use it elsewhere as it good to 200psi
Very close when checked at Hoosier trailer.
I doubt many drivers can tell if there tires are a pound low. Worked with one or two racers that could.

Rewind97 · Apr 28, 2016

I'm in.........if only to save a few bucks on a good gauge.

lightning02 · Apr 28, 2016

rather have a group buy on a good 1/2 tq wrench or double box end wrenches or 500 other things that cost more then $50 bucks aka Tire pressure gauge LOL

good idea tho (we need more group buys around here i think). i have a joes racing gauge and love it.

pepi · Apr 28, 2016

lightning02 said:
rather have a group buy on a good 1/2 tq wrench or double box end wrenches or 500 other things that cost more then $50 bucks aka Tire pressure gauge LOL

good idea tho (we need more group buys around here i think). i have a joes racing gauge and love it.

Same here ...good gauge

JJThrasher · Apr 28, 2016

I think I paid ~$30 for my Snap On 10-120 gauge. Lifetime warranty and the guy comes around to the shop every week with a couple spares on his truck. I just had it warrantied earlier this week because the numbers were getting hard to read.

KM223 · Apr 28, 2016

Take a look at a Buxton Engineering gauge. Seriously awesome gauge. I use mine at home for the grocery getter and at the track for the track car.

bmwpowere36m3 · Apr 28, 2016

^ $400

Yeah, my $40-50 longacre works just fine and matches up with various other gauges with-in a couple pounds (close enough for daily stuff).

engineer2 · Jul 8, 2016

Take a look at a Buxton Engineering gauge

The gauge Buxton uses is made by Cecomp Electronics and is the same gauge used by NASCAR, Indy and Boeing. Cecomp is an industrial gauge manufacturer and they do not supply hoses and chucks. Racing teams use them because they can take a beating and hold calibration very well to ±0.25% accuracy which is critical for racing or aircraft tires. For street cars, ±0.5% or even ±1% is adequate.

slip knot · Jul 9, 2016

The Milton gauge I use is good enough for me.

Although I do stagger the air in my tires from morning to afternoon. Well the idjit at work believes it anyways. I had a nail in the right rear and was airing it up daily before leaving. The idjit asks why you let tha air out everyday? I told him I drive to work making right turns only and can get better cornering with a 15psi stagger on the right rear. going home I need more air in the tire cuz im turning left and need more pressure on the left rear. He nodded and said yeah that makes sense......

jeejay · Jul 9, 2016

In my experience, pressure gauges lose accuracy due to vibration, so a fluid filled gauge may be necessary to dampen that from being kept in a vehicle. The HF brand glycerin filled ones stay accurate, except that the "pour point" of glycerin is around 20 degrees F, so those get sluggish in cold weather. Better to use silicone fill, 1000cs viscosity (I've refilled one with that after pouring out the glycerin and rinsing it with alcohol). It doesn't make them shock proof by the way (but neither do those rubber boots you see on many pressure gauges, which are dry and vibration prone to begin with), so dropping one from high up would affect its accuracy... just don't drop it, or rather tape a thick layer of bubble wrap around the outside for better shock proofing.

M6erfan · Jul 9, 2016

I like my Longacre liquid filled gauge.

jeejay · Jul 9, 2016

I think those are glycerin filled too (pretty much anything that says fluid filled is, unless it specifies silicone). Some of the ones online even say something like "this is a general product description which may not match the one listed", in fine print where silicone is mentioned in large type (then they won't answer me when I ask what's in it), so it can be hard to find one that's actually prefilled with silicone oil (Ashcroft have dry fillable ones that are also mechanically dampened for that matter).

Just saying... I use them for trucks in all weather, so had to be more particular. The glycerin gauge would probably warm up pretty fast if you were **** retentive with it, literally.

PSYKO_Inc · Jul 9, 2016

Not as fancy as some of the other models mentioned, but I'd be interested in a group buy on something like the Astro 3018. Had that one in my Amazon wish list for a few months now.

Jim C. · Jul 9, 2016

I'm going to decline. I have a Milton that I'm very happy with.

Jim C.

pcmeiners · Jul 9, 2016

Happy with my $5 gauge, not racing on the Bonneville flats so it should be sufficient, not interest in wasting money on another.

engineer2 · Jul 9, 2016

so a fluid filled gauge may be necessary to dampen that from being kept in a vehicle.

Liquid filled gauges are good for vibration resistance, but are not accurate when temperatures deviate much from 70°F. Liquid-filled gauges were designed for pulsating pressures.

A mechanical gauge is good for street tires, but you should try to check it against a test gauge or high accuracy digital gauge to verify that it reads accurately. Some high end tire shops and some racing bodies offers a "test station" where tire gauges can be checked against a known standard. If you get a NASCAR pit pass, you might inquire about the tire gauge test station. For the average Joe, if your tires are wearing evenly (inside vs outside) and your car is handling OK, you are probably in the ballpark with your gauge. ±2 psi isn't going to make a huge difference on a street car as long as the gauge is consistent.

I know one track that had an engine vacuum rule and the "track standard" was challenged and found to be off by an inch of vacuum. Their false logic was "We've been using this gauge for ** years and it always worked fine, so we know it's accurate". Apparently they never had it checked.

jeejay · Jul 9, 2016

engineer2 said:
Liquid filled gauges are good for vibration resistance, but are not accurate when temperatures deviate much from 70°F. Liquid-filled gauges were designed for pulsating pressures.

They're also used outdoors in the oil industry, which is why silicone fill is an option. If they didn't work in the cold they wouldn't be available (that's the only advantage of using a more expensive silicone fill). My glycerin filled one is still accurate when sluggish, so it would work down toward zero degrees, but be extremely slow (as its viscosity increases immensely). The silicone fill goes to -40 or the same as a dry gauge (before that freezes up anyway).

engineer2 · Jul 9, 2016

I've seen where the liquid filled housing doesn't vent properly, which makes the pressure inside the housing change with temperature. This affects how the bourdon tube reads pressure. It's more of a problem with low pressure ranges. I've seen racers use a liquid-filled fuel pressure gauge (typically a 15 psi gauge) under the hood and wonder why the readings are way off.

jeejay · Jul 10, 2016

Right that's what the manual vent valve is for on top, to correct for liquid fill expansion, which doesn't happen constantly (about as often as you'd want to test any gauge I guess, it hasn't come up yet with mine, and I put metal tape over the valve so it wouldn't accidentally pop off). The accuracy with temperature range is to figure 0.5 percent of full scale for dry gauges at every 40 degree change in temp from 75 degrees and 1 percent for filled ones, which is what the gauge accuracy is rated at anyway, so for tires it won't be too significant I think (even if you don't figure it into the reading, as most gauges won't have 1psi increments or whatever). I'm working at or above 100psi most of the time, and that percentage still isn't much.

The point is, they won't be 10psi (or so) off like dry gauges will get in no time from going over speed bumps (or can be corrected, I think some dry gauges can be recalibrated, but have to be designed for that). I don't know about the electronic ones, except they can be extremely expensive if weatherproof and you need another power source besides air pressure to operate them.

jeejay · Jul 10, 2016

What affects accuracy more is proper scale selection, based on what I've read, and heard first hand talking to an industrial gauge tech. You want a psi range double that of what you're reading, where it is close to the middle of the scale. So if you have 50psi tires, go with a 100psi gauge.

This could get tricky for a group buy, unless everyone has the same type of vehicle...

disston · Jul 10, 2016

Offer a choice of which gauge anybody wants. Some will want a Milton. Some will want a fancy digital. Maybe there are others.

jeejay · Jul 10, 2016

I went through a few gauges before concluding it was a special problem for this use case scenario, well they were cheap but come on (it wasn't so obvious looking at what's on the shelf, all practically the same thing there). The gauges at service stations are just as likely off (from getting smacked against everything with a retractable hose), so they can be safely avoided, besides you might get hurt in a race against your spare change timing out.

Another way to test gauge accuracy without expensive equipment, if you have a compressor or plan on getting one, is to get a portable air tank that has the same pressure rating and fill it, then that should be what your gauge says (and it should agree with the gauges on those too, which are less likely to become inaccurate if they're not being moved around much, well my portable one is off now but I know where it maxes out with that compressor, and read it with another manifold to use portably, those should come with fluid filled gauges too, but yeah why not buy a new tank every week)... :headscrat

Alright, you don't really need an additional tank to the one on the compressor to check that, it's just good for testing in general, between two of them (taught myself a lot that way, like most of the air hoses used for filling through a tiny valve are larger than necessary, yet 3/8 ID is most popular while less efficient, go figure). Okay, you could use a bike pump and inner tube, even (it's actually funny, I found those are about twice as powerful as the average car battery driven tire inflator, and could couple two pumps to use both hands for some serious action, so then I was trying to picture an engine room full of people with connected bike pumps acting as one big compressor)...

Anyway, I've since been using one of these low end filled gauges around 30x per day for several months now without a problem (basically added a couple swivels, several inches of hose, and a chuck there, truck sized components). The silicone fill isn't necessary for breif periods out in the cold, just extended use (or cold storage). As with anything from that place though, some may be duds, so it's better to test them for accuracy first (and this won't work if you hook a quick coupler directly to the end, that's too close). I figure any gauge shipped individually could take too much of a beating in transit to remain accurate, versus ones shipped on a pallet, so I shop locally for those. Also got a nicer one to compare, and it's a little easier to read, the other scale is now dual and not as pictured, but I configured a few to test and haven't been able to wear one out, apart from dropping it (so like I'd mentioned, a drop test with bubble wrap solved that problem too, those little bubbles folded thickly and taped around the edge will make it bounce, until you drop it enough, or from really high up, to pop too many, and I think they absorb much more shock than those gimmicky rubber things... actually I haven't been using anything, just wanted to know what would work if I couldn't be careful with it). Configuring your own is typically better, because you can replace any one component on it with easy to find parts, and even the hardware store variety are more industrial than preconfigured stuff, in general (or those could cost much more, and may have to be replaced all together). For example I wouldn't buy any of the preconfigured tire gauges from where I got that more industrial part (again). I just like things that work, and too many of these things don't for very long (while most who make them have to know that, because I didn't make it up)... you can't make this stuff up!

engineer2 · Jul 10, 2016

I don't know about the electronic ones, except they can be extremely expensive if weatherproof and you need another power source besides air pressure to operate them.

Low end digital gauges usually have a pushbutton zero and some have no calibration at all. The better ones offer zero and full scale calibration. The more you pay the more calibration points you get. Yes, weatherproof costs more. Waterproof costs even more.

Battery life is usually on the order of 2000 hours for digital gauges. Backlighting the display cuts it down a bunch. No problems with battery life when spending 10 minutes checking tire pressure every couple of weeks or so. I change my gauge batteries every 3 years or so.

You want a psi range double that of what you're reading, where it is close to the middle of the scale.

True for mechanical gauges. For digital gauges the useful range is in the upper half of the scale.

There are many high-end gauges on ebay that sell for a fraction of what they cost new. It would be a good way to pick up a good industrial gauge to use for tire pressure. You have to research the specs and hope the seller is honest about the condition.

Dick in Wisconsin · Jul 10, 2016

I found these at O'Reilly's for $7.50 each.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...ap?ck=Search_N0176_-1_5003&pt=N0176&ppt=C0337

I need something to get the race car tires in the ball park at the track (18-22), get the race car tires to shop and trailer pressure (40-50), tires for the Suburban and trailer (55), cars (32-36) and motorhome (up to 110).

I bought one. Using all the other air gauges that I have I bench marked this little gauge against all my various tires. Much to my surprise, this little gauge is very accurate.

I like the size, easy to read, and price. I now own three or four of them.

jeejay · Jul 10, 2016

engineer2 said:
True for mechanical gauges. For digital gauges the useful range is in the upper half of the scale.

Ah, I guess for the analogs it's okay if their range is more than double what's being measured, maybe I'll try a lower pressure filled gauge on passenger wheels to compare the two (I've got lots of extra silicone, since I had to order a quart, AK1000 was reasonably priced). Researched alternative damping fluids too, was going to use castor oil if I couldn't find any silicone (it has the highest viscosity of plant-based oils and a below zero pour point, tested in the freezer, just that it's a little yellow, otherwise I think it would work pretty well for reducing vibration, but it thins out more in higher heat conditions, while silicone is most consistent throughout). Each of the three are soluble in alcohol, but not with each other (as I recall), so they can be switched out after rinsing with that. Of course it's best to get a dry/fillable one, if you want a different fluid in there. I've also read that some people use mineral oil (whatever that amounts to), usually the thick stuff is darkest though. There are venting and filling instructions online too, especially useful for that other gauge I mentioned, which is anyone's guess in the store as to what it's for (someone complained that there was a bubble in one of the reviews, not knowing they're supposed to be filled at 90-95 percent, according to a table in another technical brief, but it's not all that technical to operate industrial types), and at first I was wondering about the plug on top myself, but hey it's stainless... still kind of a starter gauge in that category I'd say, and I'm not totally borrowing all their info for a cheaper alternative, just the first type I tried (didn't come with instructions).

Anywho

I just had a little more to add than a casual opinion, because it was a big scavenger hunt for me to get a reliable gauge (which I use mostly at work, and in potentially extreme conditions, but that went back and forth with personal use for making the most of portable air tools or parts).

engineer2 · Jul 11, 2016

Someone gave me a liquid filled gauge, so I put in my compressor line in the garage. A couple of years ago I was sweeping the floor and found a small rubber plug and pretty sure I tossed it in a junk drawer. Last year I realized it was the liquid fill plug for the gauge. Still can't find it where I put it, LOL.

89MustangGX · Jul 12, 2016

engineer2 said:
The gauge Buxton uses is made by Cecomp Electronics and is the same gauge used by NASCAR, Indy and Boeing. Cecomp is an industrial gauge manufacturer and they do not supply hoses and chucks. Racing teams use them because they can take a beating and hold calibration very well to ±0.25% accuracy which is critical for racing or aircraft tires. For street cars, ±0.5% or even ±1% is adequate.

Never worked for NASCAR or Indy, but I can say for Boeing I have never seen a digital gauge used. All analog and recalibrated annually. Specs for are that the gauge be accurate ±0.5% and actual pressures are set ±5 PSI.

Adam

KMdef9 · Jul 12, 2016

I think for this idea to work, the OP needs to do some leg work and contact some MF's and tell people what kind of deal they're getting.

Maybe a couple different options.

89MustangGX · Jul 12, 2016

I forgot to add my input on the GB. My concern is mostly for consistency. If something is accurate to with a pound or two I'm thrilled, but I want it to be accurate like that every time I use it, mostly so I can get my tires all set the same.

Adam

engineer2 · Jul 12, 2016

but I can say for Boeing I have never seen a digital gauge used.

See Boeing Service Bulletin SL-737--32-178-A

OP needs to do some leg work and contact some MF's and tell people what kind of deal they're getting

The Astro Pneumatic digital inflator seems interesting.

Astro_Pneumatic_Tools · Jul 12, 2016

engineer2 said:
The Astro Pneumatic digital inflator seems interesting.

Unless OP is a tool warehouse and willing to buy w/ an opening PO of $10K and orders each month to follow- no dice

Honestly, the price you can find the 3018 online lately is insanely low. So no one would be saving that much money doing a direct buy with us anyhow - cut throat competition has already helped you guys out in that department.

89MustangGX · Jul 12, 2016

engineer2 said:
See Boeing Service Bulletin SL-737--32-178-A

Very cool- I was not familiar with that. I have not seen them at all, but at least I see they are approved for service now and maybe will come across. All that I have ever used are analog as described, and current factory training and manuals do not make mention of digital. Thanks for sharing that.

Adam

engineer2 · Jul 12, 2016

the price you can find the 3018 online lately is insanely low

very true!

djcslice · Jul 13, 2016

lightning02 said:
rather have a group buy on a good 1/2 tq wrench or double box end wrenches or 500 other things that cost more then $50 bucks aka Tire pressure gauge LOL

good idea tho (we need more group buys around here i think). i have a joes racing gauge and love it.

pepi said:
Same here ...good gauge

same,

great gauge at ~$20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00404WDUC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Tire pressure gauge group buy?

Would you be interested in a group buy tire pressure gauge?

Yes I would be interested depending on model and price.

Not interested.

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