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Tire pressure and cold weather

KingHeritage

KingHeritage

Junior Member
I checked my tire pressure today and both tires were low.Can you get an accurate pressure reading in cold weather?It's been in the 30s and 40s here in South Jersey and the bike is in an unheated garage.
 
Thanks Glider but I guess my question is can it be TOO COLD to get an accurate reading?Will I end up with too much pressure once the tires are at temp?
 
The way I see it is this. If it were say 20* and you inflated the tire to the 36Lbs it called for, you would still be riding in that 20* so how much do you think the tire would increase in pressure doing that?
The only exception to this would be if there was a large change in temp during a short period and you didn't recheck the pressure.
 
KingHeritage said:
Thanks Glider but I guess my question is can it be TOO COLD to get an accurate reading?Will I end up with too much pressure once the tires are at temp?
Click to expand...

That is the consequence of using air to inflate our tires. The expandable gas in our tires will cause the tire pressure to rise as the temperature increases. If the ambient temperature you are experiencing is regularly swinging 30-40*F every day, you might wait to check the tire pressure at a time when the air temp is about half way between the extremes. The tires should still be "cold" in that you should not have ridden the bike BEFORE checking the tire pressure. This is about the best you can do unless you are going to use straight nitrogen to inflate the tires.

As the daily mean air temperature changes here in Texas during the Spring, checking the tire pressure in the morning about weekly means I will usually be letting a bit of air OUT of the tires. I still try to stick to the recommended "cold" tire pressure as provided in the Owner's Manual (35 psi front and about 38 psi rear for my bike).

TQ

TQ
 
if you consider thst the tire pressure is differential pressure between outside pressure and the pressure inside the tyre as the outside barometric pressure changes then the differential pressure will be affected
so tyre pressure is affected by the weather ie high and low pressure weather

so if your barometric pressure changes day to day as it does here regular daily checking of pressure in the tyres is required or with experience you find a happy medium but the bike feels different from day to day

Brian
 
KingHeritage said:
I checked my tire pressure today and both tires were low.Can you get an accurate pressure reading in cold weather?It's been in the 30s and 40s here in South Jersey and the bike is in an unheated garage.
Click to expand...
I work on cars every day and check tire pressures all the time. The car maker has produced a bulliten stateing that (for every 10 deg. + or - your tire pressure will very 1-lb + or -) On a -10 deg. day I ran a car into the shop that was +65 deg. When I ran it in the check tires light was on and the the tire pressures were 24lbs. After a few hours of working on the car I check the tire pressures and they were at 32lbs. They even had nitrogen in them. When the temps change so does your tire pressure. I have found the 10 to 1 rule to be quite accurate.
 
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