Can you read the tire gauge?

[Skippy]

I have never really understood how to read the tire pressure gauge. I know when my tires are low and I take my car to the garage I bought the tires from and they rotate, balance and inflate them if they need it. Can you read a pressure gauge?

 

[Lamboguy]

I have a BP gas station near me with a free air pump. It has a built in pressure gauge and I think the thing is clear as day to read. I'm not sure what kind of gauge you are using.

 

[jason]

I have this one here. http://www.amazon.com/Michelin-MN-4410B-Pistol-Grip-Gauge/dp/B001VJZO2S/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1316442690&sr=8-7 My brother has a nice one that tells you the pressure also beside a digital screen.

 

[Donald]

I don't check the pressure in my tires very often, but I probably should. I had a blowout once and it wasn't fun. The product Jason posted looks pretty good, I might look into getting something like that.

 

[Skippy]

Lambo, I didn't mean that I couldn't actually read it, I meant that I don't really get how you tell where you should be on the gauge to tell you your tires are full. I have something like this but I like the one Jason posted. It would probably help me out.

 

[MaximumSpeed]

We always used ones like you have, Skippy. I always thought the number on the tire was what you needed, but according to Car Talk, I was wrong. The number is printed in your car somewhere.

How do you determine the correct tire pressure for your car's tires?


If the specs aren't on any door post, check inside the glove compartment (pictured), under the center console cover or in the owner's manual.

A lot of people check the pressure listed on the tires themselves, but that's actually the wrong place to look. The number on the tire is the maximum allowable air pressure — not the recommended pressure for that tire when used on your vehicle.

The recommended tire pressure is almost always lower than the maximum tire pressure. Check your owner's manual to find out where to look on your vehicle to find the recommended measurement. This number usually is indicated either on the driver's door pillar, the glove compartment door or sometimes on the gas filler door.

(see http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/tirepressure.html - there are pictures.)

 

[Skippy]

Max, that was very helpful. I always thought it was somewhere on the tires too. I will probably just keep taking it in but it is always good to know just in case.

 

[Hotrod25]

I don't use one... thankfully my husband can read one. He has one that is not digital. He just sticks it on the tire plug and this thing pushes out to show what the pressure is (so technical I know). Good thing I'm not in charge of this.

 

[vroombaby]

My husband bought me some tool targeted to woman who can not read, and sometimes even when its English I can misread something. It works pretty good, the only issue I have is sometimes wondering if I filled the tire "too much".

 

[Alexus]

I am pretty bad about that, too. I usually put in a little air when I think they look low or if I think they might need it.

 

[Gomera]

I wish I could, but the truth is that I do not even have a tire gauge. I tend to stay away from any kind of car monitoring and leave it to the professionals.

 

[AWOL]

I always look on the inside of the passenger rear door. There is a sticker that tells you what the pressure should be for the front and the rears because on a lot of vehicles the number is different.

 

[FiveSpeed]

Thankfully, that's something my dad taught me how to do when I first started driving. It's just your everyday, run-of-the-mill guage (the kind that's shaped like a pen). I even drew a line around the correct p.s.i. for my car on the part that tells the pressure, so I know at a glance whether it needs air or not :heh: .

 

[SpeedyG]

I use an old fashioned tire gauge that you put on the tire air valve and the little stick with numbers that shoots out. The last number before it ends is the psi of air in your tire. You know whether you need to add more air by looking at the tire for the max psi.