Sam Spade wrote:
Let's play a little what if:
What if.....you check the temps and one of the inside rear duals is 30 degrees hotter and the pressure is up maybe 5 psi. What will you do about that if there is no obvious sign of a physical problem with the tire ?? Substitute whatever numbers you want, for any one....or two....of the tires.
Higher temps can mean that there is a brake dragging or a bearing going bad but what if you check the rotor temps and the hub temps and they are not much different; then what ??
"What if's" are fun; I'll bite. I, too, use a temp gun to do a quick check of all tires when I stop for gas. Generally, the driver side tires run a bit hotter than the passenger side, and the inner duals run a bit hotter than the outers, but what I'm really looking for is significant differences, as you noted. So what if I find that? Then I start looking for the cause, and I don't continue until I FIND the cause. SOMETHING has caused the difference; to ignore an obvious problem just because the cause may be difficult to find is to ask for failure, perhaps even a dangerous failure. So what would YOU suggest; continue mindlessly down the highway?
Sam Spade wrote:
MANY years ago they stopped putting calibrated gauges on cars and most trucks.....and then went to "idiot lights" because too many "idiots" were seeing a slight change in the gauge and running right to the shop and insisting that something was wrong.....when there usually wasn't.
Sometimes you can be TOO careful.
That's not being TOO carefull, that's not knowing how to read gauges. So I'm not really sure of your point. And the real reason they went to idiot lights is because that's significantly cheaper than gauges, not because people were running to the shop insisting something was wrong; hell, today's idiots even ignore idiot lights, so...
In any case, I do monitor my gauges while driving (and know how to read them) and I don't ignore idiot lights. Would you prefer that people just drive and ignore the current operating conditions of the vehicle, both inside and out, until they are broken down in the middle of nowhere? Information is power, ignorance is NOT bliss.
Temp guns are a quick, easy, non-invasive way to monitor tires' current running conditions; just another tool that can be used, similar to a tire pressure gauge, a TPMS, or a tire "thumper". But like any tool, it's user must know HOW to use it and it's limitations.