I know this is not a very exciting topic but I have 3 gauges and all of them read differently. The spread is almost 5psi. With E rated tires that probably wouldn't be so critical but I have P rated tires with a 35psi Max, so 5psi is a pretty significant percentage. Is there a consensus "best" gauge out there somewhere? Or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

I have been using the digital guage from LongAcre. I bought it when I bought their tire pyrometer Kit years ago. Has been awesome over the years and never had an issue. Having an accurate guage at the track is imperative. This company was recommended to me by another guy on the paddock and you see a ton of guys using them at PCA & ACNA events.

Longacre Semi-Pro Digital Tire Pressure Gauge 53003

i went with a digital guage for that reason, all the ones i had would show different. with the digital guages i have they all show the same

I am currently building a low pressure gauge. right now im just using a cheap gauge I found on ebay, if it works out, then I may upgrade to a higher quality gauge later.


im using a 2" round gauge, with 1/4" npt fitting. then using an elbow connecting an air chuck head. I will be using a clip on chuck, but you could just as easily connect a momentary chuck.

I think going this route will allow you to use a much higher quality gauge, and configure it exactly how you want it, for less money.

If you really want to go anal, you could get an NIST-traceable calibrated digital pressure gauge from Omega Engineering ...

High Accuracy Digital Pressure Gauges with NIST Certification

Watch out, that part number is just for 5 psig max. You would probably want 0-60 psig. You might be able to find cheaper gauges on that site.

psig is pound per square inch guage, it reads 0 in air. psia is pounds per square inch absolute, it measures about 14.5 in air, that is the kind I happen to use because I need to do both vacuum and pressure.

I do testing on military alternators at work, and every thing that gives a number has to either be calibrated or have a "For Reference Only" and you better not use it in a report for a military product.

Cough, Cough....$499 for a tire pressure guage??? I bought my Bell tire pressure guage from Target, non-digital for $5.

The issue I have had with cheaper digital gauges is calibration. My parents bought some Husky ones from Costco and I found them to be upwards of 5psi off from my cheapo metal autoparts gauge I use in my vehicle.



That gauge is accurate to about 1psi in comparison with my Matco purchased air chuck:



Which is accurate when compared to our Hunter tire balancer's digital tire pressure readout. The funny thing? The TPMS sensors are always a bit off when I look at them via the Techstream, I've wondered if it means all 3 gauges are inaccurate (actually make that 4 since my co-worker bought a Bluepoint Digital Air Chuck due to a customer being SUPER anal about 1psi) or that the TPMS module converts them for conditions somehow automatically.

In any case, your gauge is only as accurate as you can compare to a standard. So far most of the cheapo metal cased tire gauges you buy from the autoparts stores tend to be fairly accurate with that metal spring from what I have found. The stuff in between that and the really expensive ($100+) gauges seems questionable from what I have found.

Just something to think about..., some of the digi gauges do NOT reset themselves when you stick them on another tire to measure the tire pressure. They seem to have some amount of time where they retain the pressure so that you can read it. Irritating as hell if you're trying to do a bunch of tires or you got a misread (like 17.3 lbs or something) and you want to re-read the tire and the *$&@^%# gauge won't reset itself.

Lots to be said for a good old-fashioned dial gauge.

I've used this exclusively in a professional racing application: 150 PSI DIGITAL AIR PRESSURE GAUGE - Intercomp Racing

Longacre Liquid Filled 2½" GID Tire Gauge 0-60 by ½ lb - 52002 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055EFU8I..._mog0ub099J6J3
I been using thus for a few years now, so far so good, very accurate for me, I have my tires at 39 psi and my bags at 25 psi.

I agree i use an intercomp 99.99 digital gauge on my T4R as well

I think I'll give that a try. It's in my price range I'm just looking for peace of mind knowing what the gauge is telling me is accurate.

here is what I ended up with.

excuse the crappy cell phone pics...

this is meant to be a clip on chuck, for use when airing down tires, but it could very easily have been made with a momentary chuck head. in fact, this one could be converted over simply by removing the lock.

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As I mentioned before the LongAcre stuff is good quality. I think you will have that guage for years, but please take care of it. I store mine in a padded pouch to avoid sharp knocks and hits.

A good way to confirm accuracy is to have a few cheap gauges around for comparison.

I recently pulled out a half dozen old cheap pencil gauges, along with a few other kinds accumulated over the years and tested them all against each other. I was impressed with the accuracy of the cheap pencil gauges but they make it a bit tough to get consistent readings from the valve fit. I threw away a couple of gauges that were way off and continue to use my digital gauge, even though it reads about 1.5psi higher than the average of the pencil gauges, because it gives a very reliable, consistent reading.