Infa red temperature gun.

[mattnoss]

As per above, any recommendations (based on real experience) of an affordable gun to measure tyre temps please.

[Steve H]

These are good, haven’t tried it for imaging across a tyre but should do the trick.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLIR-TG165-Spot-Thermal...

[mattnoss]

Steve H said:

These are good, haven’t tried it for imaging across a tyre but should do the trick.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLIR-TG165-Spot-Thermal...

Affordable?

[Steve H]

[thebraketester]

The laser type are good. How accurate do you need it to be?

[randlemarcus]

Middle of Lidl has some IR ones at £15 at the moment.

[anonymous-user]

Waste of time to measure absolute tyre temp, my race engineer refuses to use one, as he wants core temp.
As a tool to look at comparison between two wheels great, but as you are not relying on if the measure is correct in absolute terms any one will do providing the range is big enough.

[DanTVR]

I have experience of an expensive one (fluke) and a cheap ebay jobbie. They all do the same job. The Fluke one is quicker to take the temperature but the cheap version gives the same readings. I think I paid about £30 for it a few years ago.

The best way to measure is a probe as this gives a more accurate idea of temperature of the carcass itself. Surface temperature varies alot more so can be a bit more of a pain to work with. Although if you only ever do one method your results will be comparable and give a clear enough idea of what is going on with the tyre.

Edited to add any of the cheap knock off ones will suffice. Pretty sure the one I have is branded as a Sealey.

Edited by DanTVR on Tuesday 18th May 08:24

[mattnoss]

That’s for the replies. We only really want it to compare left to right, front to rear and across the width of the tyre, not really fussed if the readings a few degrees out as long as it is reliable and more importantly consistent.

[EddyP]

I use a fluke one, it's pretty good. It's also useful for checking other temperatures, headers, brakes, diff, driver etc

This is identical to mine

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353463210317?hash=item5...

[TimCrighton]

We have an expensive Intercomp one and a cheap Amazon £30 quid job. The AMZ one reads consistently 2 degrees cooler, but its always the same.

Given you are looking for temperature differential and it probably doesn't matter if your brakes are 200 or 210 its more about are they in the right range then I'd buy the £30 again and spend the balance on something else for the car instead!

[944 Man]

The Lidl one will be more than adequate. It is a mature technology and theyre all much of a muchness.

I have used them for tyre temperatures as well as tread temps in different bands and brake disc and wheel hub temperature checking. Also great for intercoolers and particularly for radiators.

Of course, thermal cameras are far better for the last two and probably better for seeing heat across the tread too. You can spend £15 and get a very useful tool, but if you spend £150 more then you will get more still.

[carl_w]

I've also got the Lidl one -- £15 I think but the labels on the buttons bear no relation to their function. Fortunately there are only 3 of them.

[Dave.]

PH budget creep, but....

https://store-uk.vboxmotorsport.co.uk/index.php?ro...

[sabid]

mattnoss said:

That’s for the replies. We only really want it to compare left to right, front to rear and across the width of the tyre, not really fussed if the readings a few degrees out as long as it is reliable and more importantly consistent.

Tyre temps (even surface temps) give you such great information about how your car is working on track you're definitely doing the right thing to look into this. Knowing at what level to invest at for these IR guns is also not that clear. Personally I use a £30 one I got from Amazon a few years ago - I had a quick look for you but its not listed anymore. Given covid though, there are loads and loads more available now - and I do think you will be fine with any of them.

The nice thing about the IR guns are that they are quick and - I feel - accurate and consistent enough to help you with setting tyre pressures and camber angles.

There is a debate about the value of taking a tyre surface temperature, verse the "bulk" temperature. Personally I think its important to know about that but not to let it stop you from getting going easily with some kind of tyre temp recording.

You probably also know that you can also data log your tyre temps and pressures when you are actually going around on track ... again the argument for this is that you actually can see the tyre temps whilst your in action - rather than some arbitrary time after the event (i.e. when you can get to the car in the pit lane.) For me though, these are refinements, next steps and not essential to get you going from zero. Do what you can to make sure that you are taking temperatures as consistently as possible and you'll be on the right track - for example,
- always take the tyre temperatures in the same place in the pit lane,
- get the driver to keep up some pace on the in lap (so they don't cool too much)
- work around the car, recording the temps, in the same direction,
- have someone to help you writing the numbers down (if possible) and
- check the tyre pressures at the same time.

Don't get me wrong, the logged data is great and it is nice to be able to plot on a chart, say peak lateral acceleration verses tyre temps or pressures. Or to know the exact surface temperature spread on your outside wheel on a corner you are prioritising for maximum grip ... but ... getting going with taking the temps in the pits with an IR gun is 100x more valuable than not taking any tyre temps at all!

I've actually written up a bit more depth about your choices and their impact at the link below but in the end the conclusion is start with something because the insights it can give you on your cars setup can be really helpful.

https://www.yourdatadriven.com/ways-to-measure-rac...