Why is it so hard to check your tyre pressures.

[Thankyou4calling]

Front drivers side looked a bit low so drove to the filling station, airline out of order, station two, no airline, station three, success, BUT, im behind a bloke carrying out a 12000 mile service, he does tyres, radiator, washers, oil cleans screen then goes to vacuum the interior! I've driven seven miles so I'm sticking with it. Finally get my turn, it's 20p and I don't have change, so I have to buy a mars bar to get change. Remove all the valve caps, set the meter to 32 and off I go. Does the airline reach all the tyres? Barely, can I see if the pressures are down? Nope, can't see the readout so I listen for the bell which you can barely hear. Then my 2 minutes of air runs out before I've done all four tyres omitting the suspect front! Can't be bothered to get another 20p so replace all valve caps but, as is the way, one is missing (nice alloy caps too) I just need to get out of this place. Head home and I've driven 14 miles and its taken an hour. Is it just me who hates this job?

[The Moose]

Simple answer is to buy yourself a gauge and pump for home use and not have to use the same ones as all the other plebs out there...

[kambites]

Have you thought of just buying a tyre pressure gauge? You can get one which will be at least as accurate as the petrol station ones for about a fiver.

[playalistic]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RAC610-Ana...

[HustleRussell]

A 12v tyre inflator (£30) and a decent quality tyre pressure gauge (£15) lives in a cubby hole in the back of my old beemer at all times. It is faster than driving to a petrol station and much more accurate.

[jimbobsimmonds]

Bought a dunlop tyre pressure and depth gauge for £8 inc delivery + a pump for £15. Over the course of a year of driving a 7 mile round trip it's bound to pay for itself in fuel alone!

[RobM77]

If you're driving the car to a garage just before you check the pressures it makes the whole operation pointless. The act of driving your car will create heat in the tyres and therefore heat the air in them, raising the pressure. This means a) the cold pressures given in the handbook won't apply and b) the heating will be uneven depending on the number of left and right bends, acceleration and braking. Ergo what you'll end up doing is having all of the pressures too low and they'll all be different - utterly pointless.

Get yourself a tyre pressure gauge and a pump and do it yourself when the car is sat cold and out of the sun; then you can enjoy the handling, economy and safety that was designed into your car in the first place. It'll take five minutes and it'll be done properly.

[mercfunder]

Anytime you get a 20p chuck it in the ashtray, ensures you don't need any more Mars Bars.

[Thankyou4calling]

I'm going to buy one, I just can't face going again.

[RizzoTheRat]

RobM77 said:

If you're driving the car to a garage just before you check the pressures it makes the whole operation pointless. The act of driving your car will create heat in the tyres and therefore heat the air in them, raising the pressure. This means a) the cold pressures given in the handbook won't apply and b) the heating will be uneven depending on the number of left and right bends, acceleration and braking. Ergo what you'll end up doing is having all of the pressures too low and they'll all be different - utterly pointless.

Not is he has to wait 20 mins for the bloke in front to finish

I keep a small 12v compressor in the boot, it doesn't take up a lot of space and means when I had a slow puncture a while back I could top the tyre up at work and leave changing it until I got home.

[Drive Blind]

lots of places near me are now charging 50p minimum for air

[Vipers]

As said, buy an inflator for the tyres and a tyre gauge.

Sunday, wash car, check all fluids, check tyre pressures including the spare, sorted.

[crmcatee]

Use your man maths and justify a compressor, flex airline and a tyre gauge.

[Barry38]

Might have just been a bad day.

[anonymous-user]

crmcatee said:

Use your man maths and justify a compressor, flex airline and a tyre gauge.

This. No garage is complete without air tools

edit. yes

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 7th August 16:12

[crmcatee]

yonex said:

This. No garage is complete without air tools

[ging84]

i've never had a problem
my local sainsburry's has 2 machines both free, one in the petrol station, one by the carwash which is separate to the petrol station
never had to wait more than a couple of minutes

[RobM77]

RizzoTheRat said:

RobM77 said:

If you're driving the car to a garage just before you check the pressures it makes the whole operation pointless. The act of driving your car will create heat in the tyres and therefore heat the air in them, raising the pressure. This means a) the cold pressures given in the handbook won't apply and b) the heating will be uneven depending on the number of left and right bends, acceleration and braking. Ergo what you'll end up doing is having all of the pressures too low and they'll all be different - utterly pointless.

Not is he has to wait 20 mins for the bloke in front to finish

I keep a small 12v compressor in the boot, it doesn't take up a lot of space and means when I had a slow puncture a while back I could top the tyre up at work and leave changing it until I got home.

Good point. You'd be looking at a lot longer than 20 minutes for the air in the tyres to be cold though, and therefore for the manufacturer's handbook recommendations to mean anything.

Tyre pressures have a really noticeable effect on how a car drives, and of course directly relate to safety and mpg. I've no idea why anyone would want to 'make do' with having a car with its pressures all over the place by driving to a garage to set them. It's so easy to do on a Sunday morning when you're washing the car or mowing the lawn etc. Far nicer than hanging round in a smelly petrol station forecourt as well!

[Bluebarge]

Get a foot pump with a pressure gauge - costs about £7-8.

[martinnitram]

RobM77 said:

RizzoTheRat said:

RobM77 said:

If you're driving the car to a garage just before you check the pressures it makes the whole operation pointless. The act of driving your car will create heat in the tyres and therefore heat the air in them, raising the pressure. This means a) the cold pressures given in the handbook won't apply and b) the heating will be uneven depending on the number of left and right bends, acceleration and braking. Ergo what you'll end up doing is having all of the pressures too low and they'll all be different - utterly pointless.

Not is he has to wait 20 mins for the bloke in front to finish

I keep a small 12v compressor in the boot, it doesn't take up a lot of space and means when I had a slow puncture a while back I could top the tyre up at work and leave changing it until I got home.

Good point. You'd be looking at a lot longer than 20 minutes for the air in the tyres to be cold though, and therefore for the manufacturer's handbook recommendations to mean anything.

Tyre pressures have a really noticeable effect on how a car drives, and of course directly relate to safety and mpg. I've no idea why anyone would want to 'make do' with having a car with its pressures all over the place by driving to a garage to set them. It's so easy to do on a Sunday morning when you're washing the car or mowing the lawn etc. Far nicer than hanging round in a smelly petrol station forecourt as well!

At what ambient temperature would you recommend taking tyre pressures?
Would you make an allowance for a hot summers day, there is no such thing as cold tyre's really is there.
I think if you had just done ten laps of Donnington you perhaps would have tyre's at a higher pressure, nipping to the garage and waiting half an hour to pump them up wouldn't have life threatening consequences on pressure.
IMO