Oil-immersed Tire Pressure Gauge

The oil filling is the feature in the name and the reason to choose this pattern. The dial mechanism sits in oil, which damps the needle so it settles immediately instead of bouncing, and which cushions the movement against the knocks a gauge takes rolling around a workshop or a vehicle. A dry gauge that has been dropped a few times reads wrong and gives no sign of it — and a gauge you cannot trust is worse than none, because you act on what it tells you.

The body is aluminium alloy with a brass nozzle. Brass at the nozzle is the correct choice: it is soft enough not to damage the valve stem and it does not corrode where moisture collects, which is exactly what happens at the point that meets a wet wheel.

The scale runs 0-200psi, which covers car and three-wheeler pressures at the bottom, light commercial and van pressures through the middle, and truck and trailer pressures at the top.

Why it matters is worth stating plainly. An under-inflated tyre flexes more in the sidewall, builds heat, wears its outer edges and uses more fuel — and at speed, heat is what causes a blowout. An over-inflated tyre wears its centre, grips less and rides badly. Neither is visible by looking: a radial tyre can be twenty per cent low and appear normal.

Check pressures cold, before the vehicle has been driven any distance, because a hot tyre reads several psi higher and adjusting to spec while hot leaves it under-inflated when it cools. Check the spare while you are there — that is the one that is always flat when it is finally needed.

The buyers are tyre shops, garages and service stations, taxi and three-wheeler operators, fleet and delivery vehicles, truck and bus workshops, and drivers who look after their own vehicles.

We stock wheel wrenches and torque wrenches for the rest of the job. Message us on WhatsApp and we will price them together, delivered island-wide.