Rick's Free Auto Repair Advice

How to buy a tire pressure gauge

Tire pressure gauge buying guide

by Alex

You can buy a mechanical or digital tire pressure gauge. Both have advantages and disadvantages, so we’ll explore the best choice for you.

Digital tire pressure gauge

Pros: A digital tire pressure gauge is much more accurate digital tire pressure gaugethan mechanical gauges. Plus, their accuracy isn’t quite as affected by temperature as a  mechanical gauge. That’s important to know if you’re someone like me who, leaves their gauge in their glove box.

Digital pressure gauges usually have a backlit display, making them much easier to read at night. Plus, they provide an affirmative reading of
the pressure, as opposed to mechanical pencil gauges that require you to count the number of lines  between the printed numbers to read the
pressure.

Some digital gauges come with a built-in flashlight to help you find the
tire valve and cap at night.

Cons: They’re more expensive than mechanical gauges, costing between $5 and $25.  They also require a battery, so they may let you down when you need it most.

Mechanical Tire Pressure gauge, also call a pencil tire gauge

Pros: Pencil gauges are the most common and least costly. mechanical pressure gaugeCost ranges from .99 to $3.00.
They come with a pocket clip, so traveling from tire to tire is easier to carry them around.
They also don’t require batteries so they’ll always work.

There are other styles of mechanical tire pressure gauges that have an analog dial, but those cost far more than the pencil gauge.

Cons: Their accuracy is affected by temperature. If you store it in a cold car, it will read differently than if you store it in a warm place. They’re harder to read comparatively to the digital gauge. You also, as previously mentioned, aren’t able to read them at night
unless you have a light already shining on the gauge.

how to read pressure gauge

Pencil gauges are harder to read because you often have to read between the lines.

©, 2019 Rick Muscoplat and Alex Steil

Posted on by Rick Muscoplat



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