how do you folks personally set your tire pressures?

Agreed. This one is certified to be within 0.6 PSI which for any of us, is close enough. Came with a little certificate saying as such.

https://powertank.com/products/tire-pressure-gauge-60-psi-digital-with-2-foot-whip-from-power-tank


One important thing to note with analog pressure gauges. They're most accurate at the middle of their range and as you move away from that, the less accurate they'll be. a 0-60 gauge is perfect for us since we float in the mid-30s for street pressure.

 

Since we have 4x4, the goal is to get the rolling radius (hub to ground) about equal front and rear. On a stock truck with no payload, the front tires see ~400 lbs more weight, which causes the sidewalls to squish down more, so run the front pressures 2-3 psi higher than the rear. If you're carrying 400 lbs of accessories and/or gear in the back, then front and rear pressures should be equal.

When I had my GY Duratracs, when I set the front tire pressure above 30 psi, I would get a resonance in the skid plates, so I'd run the front tires at 30 psi and rears at 28 psi. I continue to do this with my Kendas, haven't experimented with higher or lower pressures.

 

Accuracy is good, but consistency is more important. If you're using multiple gauges then it's a good idea to have them be accurate and match each other. But, if you don't have the $$ for a super nice gauge then a cheap one that may not be accurate is fine as long as it's consistent. Your gauge could be off by a few psi and it wouldn't be a problem so long as you're setting your pressure based on something like a chalk test and not just a recommended number.

 

what should be the psi in my 31x10.5x15 ko2s be? I live in socal, it says max 50psi. Thx!

 

True, but how would you know it's consistent without a known accurate gauge to compare it against? I get what you're saying and in theory it's good, but no way to actually know if it's consistent when it says XYZ pressure.

 

Pretty easy to just take the measurement repeated times with a tire that is known not to be leaking. Also, I have both high and low quality gauges. A nice one for the garage and sometimes race track but I keep a lower quality, beater one that stays in the truck. I can't justify multiple expensive pressure gauges.

 

Why not? They cost less than a tank of quality fuel. Buy once, cry once (or twice).

There are times when lower quality tools are perfectly fine and then there are times when there really isn't any reason to skimp on quality. Tires are a consumable item, and consumption of said tire can be adversely affected just by tire pressure alone. Why not spend a few extra bucks to have a good quality guage on hand to reduce the odds of getting it "close enough"?

 

If you have no gauges, sure. But some of us already have what we have and there's no need to upgrade when what you have works more than adequately. For example, the Viair compressor I have came with a gauge. It works fine but it's not top notch. It's integrated into the compressor fitting that I use when filling my tires. I'm not going to waste my time by carrying a second gauge to check that gauge. The deflators I bought also came with a gauge - also not top notch but works just fine. There's no reason for me to buy yet another one. If I REALLY need it then I'll pull the expensive one out of my track tool box and use that. But for when I'm out on trails the others are more than adequate. My point was that people don't just need to run out and replace what they have if they work fine even if they aren't perfectly accurate.

I'm amazed with how much blow back my comments have gotten on this. Are you guys really this insane with your tire pressures needing them to be accurate to tenths of a PSI? This isn't rocket science or anything super critical down to that level of precision. Plus, your tire pressures will vary a decent amount just based on ambient temps anyway.

 

Fair enough. Sorry if you felt any blow back from me, as that certainly wasn't my intentions.

I've been guilty of using sub par gauges for years until recently. I was getting increasingly irritated with the crappy digital gauge that I always kept in my truck, so I got on it and ordered a high quality analog gauge just for the truck.

My main reason for not having a good quality gauge on board, was forgetfulness on my part. I get home and completely forget about it until I had to use it again. Finally ordered a new one immediately upon getting back in the truck after using said crappy old one for the last time. Can't say enough about how nice it is to have solid consistent accurate readings since.

Again, sorry if you felt shamed...my bad.