Finally, a good tire gauge at reasonable cost

[Hib Halverson]

Tire gauges are one of the tools we use to take care of our ZR1s which many take for granted.

I'll betcha there are some folks who buy a "pencil" type gauge because they're cheap. Or maybe they get one of the cheaper digital tire gauges that have saturated the market lately. For some reason a lot of folks equate "digital" with accuracy or durability.

Not.

A few years ago I tested a selection of popularly-priced digital tire gauges for a technical article about tire selection and care and, eventually, every one of those gauges ended up in the trash, either because they weren't accurate or they were not durable.

In my shop, for many years, I used a tire gauge I made myself from an air chuck, short section of air compressor hose, pressure relief valve and a 60-psi pressure gauge I bought at an industrial hardware store. Well, about nine months ago I dropped the thing on the floor and broke the gauge, so I began looking for something to replace it.

I found lots of cheap tire gauges: pencil gauges made of plastic at 7-11, cute little dial gauges sitting in boxes on the counter at Pep Boys, and at Walmart low cost digital gauges which go "beep" or have blinking numbers. I also found on the web some pretty expensive, high-end stuff intended for racing where half a pound pressure either way can win or loose a race. What took me a long time to find is a tire gauge that is accurate enough for use on my ZR1 and my other street driven hot rods, as well as, durable, easy to use and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

My search led me to the AutoMeter "Tire Pressure Gauge" (PN 2343). This unit has been on the market since early 2012, lists for 28 bucks but bargain hunters can find it for $20-25.

The AutoMeter 2343 meets all my specs. It's affordable. It's simple to use and easy to read. It's accurate–I've tested three of them and all three read within 1/4-psi of each other. Plus, I compared them to another gauge borrowed from a pal of mine who's on a race team and they read within a 1/3-psi of his expensive racing gauge. Auto Meter claims the accuracy of the 2343 is ±2% at the center scale and ±3% at the ends of the scale, certainly acceptable for a tire gauge priced at around $25. The AutoMeter seems pretty durable as, while kneeling and checking tires, I've dropped one on the floor with no ill-effects.

The AutoMeter gauge reads 0-60-psi which is good for use with Corvette tires along with those on most other cars and light trucks. It's air chuck is recessed properly so there's no fumbling around trying to get the air chuck aligned on the tire valve stem when taking a pressure measurement. The end of the gauge has a handy pin cast into metal housing on the end for deflating tires. The Auto Meter gauge's convenient size means it fits in the center console compartment, the glove compartment, in a door pocket or in your pants pocket.

In short, the AutoMeter Tire Gauge gets two thumbs-up. I have them stashed in two of my Corvettes and have the third in my tool box.

Want more info?
Visit http://www.autometer.com/