Anyone have any experience with Tire Minders? They're valve caps that indicate if the tire pressure is low, so you don't need to check as often with a gauge. The 32PSI set is supposed to show greeen above
28PSI, yellow between 22 and 28PSI and red below 22. There's other sets for different pressures, since I've read in a.a.subaru that a lot of people like to keep their tire pressure about 35-36.Are they worth $10 for four? Do they throw off the tire's balance?
TIA!
kl
IMO, they allow too great a range of pressures before reading yellow or red. 2-3 PSI can make a rather large difference in your tire life. If you find that you regularly let your tires go lower than 28, then they can't hurt - but I'd be checking with a gauge before then anyways. If your target is 32, then I'd consider 30 to be about as low as they should be allowed to get without you catching it.
Personally, I like a little firmer in my Impreza. I target
34-35 as an "optimum" tire pressure. Lower than 32 and they get topped up. (unless I measure on an exceptionally cold morning)
For $10 you could get yourself a decent analog tire gauge. Those ranges are a bit wide. I'd rather spend the $10 buying a tire gauge.
I saw a test of them on a car show or magazine (forget which) they're very inaccurate. They aren't worth the money. In the report they mentioned that they we're off an addition 2-3psi and one indicated a good pressure reading 7psi below rating.
I wouldn't buy them, like others said you can get a good analog guage or even a digital pressure guage cheaper and more realible.
Thanks to all for the input.
My motivation for looking at them is cold weather. I have a good dial gauge that I got a long time ago (17 years!) that still works well and proves that a good gauge is a good investment, as was suggested. But as the weather gets colder, and the tires and street get dirtier from salt & slush, naturally I tend to check the tires less often. Mixing this with lower tire pressure due to cold weather has resulted in a few February mornings with pressure in my tires 5 or 6 PSI low. This is what I'm trying to protect against.
If I decide to try them despite the convincing reasons not to (inaccuracy, wide deadband, potential leaks), I'll post how they work. At the very least I wouldn't trust them without keeping an eye on them for a while.
kl
kl wrote:
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