Digital temperature gun FYI

Since they have Costco in Canada see what they have. I picked up, here in the US, a temp gun and moisture detector combo for $30. I know their stock changes frequently but it's worth looking.

I have the cheap on from Harbor Freight and have tested it against the expensive, calibrated one here at work, and I have to say I'm impressed. It's right there with the expensive model. Not to say they all are. There's probably a pretty high rate of failure amongst the cheap ones.

Another note to add, which I apparently am tasked to do repeatedly, is to point out that each IR gun has a specific dot size to distance ratio, most are 8:1. Meaning, the reading beam is shaped like a cone which gets larger the farther from the object. 1" at 8", 2" at 16", etc. If you want a specific temp from a specific part, you need to be right on top of it. Farther away will yield and averge reading of a larger area. The laser is simply for aiming purposes, it does not indicate the area total area being read. FYI.

Is there some sort of guide line that says what tire temps should not exceed......ambient temp. plus how many degrees after running at high way speeds are acceptable temps?

I bought this this IR Temp gun at Amazon in April. It's worked well for me and verified the accuracy several times with my BBQ. The temp on the gun was always within a couple degrees of what the Grill's thermometer read. Close enough for my needs.

-Michael

charlie good time wrote:
Ah Cheaper way is use your hand an touch each wheel at same place.You will learn what is different or over heated Having said that i do use a heat gun when no one is around as i think someone might think i am holding a real gun!

Yep, the hand method has proven to be effective enough. Though, I would have ZERO worry over whether or not other people think I'm holding a gun.

Either with your hand or IR gun, you can tell the difference between tire/wheel temps from one to another. But just because 1 or 2 of them is higher than the others, that's not an indication that they're going to be a problem. It might be 20-30 degrees hotter (or more), but does that really mean its too hot? For some folks, this only adds unnecessary nervousness to their travels. Now, if you shoot a tire and it comes back as 100 degrees more than the others, then you may have a problem...which you can easily determine with your touch. Or, what if all tires/wheels are running at that high temp? None of them are different than the others, so does that mean you're OK?

Kinda like taking your temperature without knowing what the normal body temp is supposed to be. Or like buying tires from the first place you see without knowing whether you can get them for less at the store next door. Without knowing a baseline, the measure of specifics is useless.

Ah Cheaper way is use your hand an touch each wheel at same place.You will learn what is different or over heated Having said that i do use a heat gun when no one is around as i think someone might think i am holding a real gun!

Sport45 wrote:
The cheap IR guns are great for letting you know if something is warmer or colder than it was last time you checked. Just don't count on the reported temperature to be accurate. Reported temperature is a function of surface emmissivity (for all IR measuring devices) and the cheap guns don't let you adjust for this.

That said, I have a couple of the cheap ones from HF that I use frequently.

Tires & brakes (via wheels)

Checked the HF items against a friend's more expensive brand, found
the HF reported temp to be *very* accurate.

However, don't know if his had adjustable emmissivity - :R - or not.

~

I use mine to find any outlier. Either a tire or a hub. I'm not looking to find exact temps - just find the one that sticks out. That one will be the problem.

I have twin axles and if the two tires and hubs on each side are close to each other in temp, then I'm a happy guy.

There's often talk about using an IR gun on tires/wheels, but rarely have I ever seen an answer/explanation as to what the safe temperature range should be. Is it a cool novelty? Perhaps. Is it necessarily useful? Probably not.

Here in south, in the summer, the tires on the "sun side" will be hotter.

I use ours at every stop. Get other RVers who come over and ask what I'm doing. When I explain, I'm amazed on how many say "Hey, that's good idea."