For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By nallen
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1837036
Some years ago a biker mag tested a load of gauges and determined that the cheap pencil gauges were the most accurate.

There's also a differential method: measure the tyres hot and cold and aim for a 4psi* difference. That way the absolute accuracy of the gauge is less important.

*as far as I remember!
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1837301
Rob P wrote:
Paul_Sengupta wrote: However I find that my tyres still wear more at the edges. How does that work?


When did you last have the geometry checked and adjusted?


It's not just one car, it seems to be all cars, at least the ones with wider tyres. If I inflate them any more, the ride becomes too hard and the handling, er, interesting (and a bit bouncy).
By Spooky
#1837318
Bill McCarthy wrote:There isn’t a speed bump in the county, but weren’t these things supposed to be dismantled due to vehicles slowing down then speeding up after crossing them thereby causing more air pollution/fuel waste ?


I wish they were dismantled. I dislocated my leg during martial arts a number of years ago - they had bloody speed bumps at the hospital which were wonderful to bounce over on the way to A&E :|
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1837335
Charles Hunt wrote:Runflats, 18", 19" and 20" wheels are to be avoided like the plague.


Well I guess Im half condemned then... 20s on the front & 21s on the back...
#1837345
Spooky wrote:
Bill McCarthy wrote:There isn’t a speed bump in the county, but weren’t these things supposed to be dismantled due to vehicles slowing down then speeding up after crossing them thereby causing more air pollution/fuel waste ?


I wish they were dismantled. I dislocated my leg during martial arts a number of years ago - they had bloody speed bumps at the hospital which were wonderful to bounce over on the way to A&E :|


I had a similar experience (multiple fractures) in the ambulance to A&E and then a friends car with firm (factory fitted) suspension for the transportation home from A&E.

Every speed bump, every pothole, every sunken/raised manhole cover....
#1837348
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
Rob P wrote:
Paul_Sengupta wrote: However I find that my tyres still wear more at the edges. How does that work?


When did you last have the geometry checked and adjusted?


It's not just one car, it seems to be all cars, at least the ones with wider tyres. If I inflate them any more, the ride becomes too hard and the handling, er, interesting (and a bit bouncy).


For one of those cars in your fleet for many years there has been very little choice for the rear wheel size.
The budget option is a no-no as will end up in a ditch. The premium option is eye watering. The mid-range option sometimes went out of production and there was one production run where the sidewalls had too much flex so they were worse for cornering or powering through corners - the quick fix was to increase the tyre pressures but not too much otherwise it would skip/slide over very bumpy surfaces on corners or on some of the bigger camber changes in the dry and obviously worse in the rain.

There was one time there was no mid-range option so I tried the premium option. The premium tyres on the rear let go in the corners before the narrower mid-range option on the front!
Next time the rears needed replacing I was very pleased the mid-range option was available, financially and for improving the performance.
#1837359
skydriller wrote:
Charles Hunt wrote:Runflats, 18", 19" and 20" wheels are to be avoided like the plague.


Well I guess Im half condemned then... 20s on the front & 21s on the back...


It's OK for you, you're still a youngster.
#1837531
If you're willing to spend a little more, my latest car investment was a cordless one (SKEY 150psi off Amazon, just over £55). Not cheap, but after a couple of uses I wouldn't think about going back to the many corded ones I've had before. Enough grunt to inflate and seat the bead on new tyres, enough battery life for several tyres from flat although I wouldn't want to test the claims of a full 30 mins running time. Does take a few hours to recharge from a USB socket, but can sit plugged in in the car to be ready. Preset so start and forget. Etc.
#1837786
Panasonic Eneloop Pro.

Pricey but excellent. I have just two sets of AA for the Lightspeed. One set in use, the other set spare, but recharged once the headset starts to warn the batteries are on the way out, or before a continental expedition.

Four years on now.

Rob P