Almost blew my tires today.
 

I was checking my air pressure today at a gas station and was shocked to see my PSI drop to 26psi from the 46 that I had inflated them to a few weeks ago, so decided to do something about it. I start adding air, and was surprised that it was taking a while. It wasn't until I got to the last tire that I realized that somethind was rotten in the state of Denmark, so I got my own pressure guage out and did a comparison. According to the guage on the air machine, I was at about 45 psi, but my own guage read over 80! My tires are old, and it's time for new ones, but that impressed me. I was thinking for a moment of driving with the tires like that before decideing that it was a really stupid idea, and deflated them back to 46. Scary **** though that an air pressure guage could be so far off when so many people use them. Do the gas companies install bad equipment, or was this just some freak wrong reading?

Occam's Razor postulates that the more likely explanation is that it was some freak wrong reading. This freak wrong reading is possibly a consequence of damaged or poorly maintained equipment.

Do you use a digital tire pressure gauge? in my opinion, i'ts the only way to go.

On an unrelated note, my car's ride was becoming more and more bouncy as time went on and I could not figure it out what it was from.

Then one day I noticed a large bulge sticking out of the tire. On the way home I discovered the ride got smoother the faster I went, haha. Not being a rocket scientist in the common sense department, I decided the best way to save the suspension from damage, I would cruise along at 85 mph. All was fine for a while when BLAMO!! my tire blew out. I quickly pulled over on the side of the road to inspect the damage. I notice the tire has a hole in it about a foot in diameter! That's when a trooper pulls up behind me; I was sure I was getting a ticket. Luckily the trooper had even less common sense than me! he saw me with the jack on the side of the car, and told me I should stay on the other side of the car for safety.

Nope, no digital one, but the one that I keep in my glove box is clsoe enough for me.

The Battle of the Bulge
 

Despite the pressure, the bulge is simply a broken steel belt which can wreak havoc as you experienced.

Now with the cheap-*** gas-station pumps, is it even possible to inflate a tire to a dangerous level...

...and besides that, I've heard of tires blowing out due to under-inflation, but almost never for over.

So what exactly would happen if we ran 80 psi in our tires? (I know it's a dumb question, but I need a mental picture).

RH77

...not particularly eager to find out the hard way. I assume that over 80 PSI on a car in bad need of new tires is dangerous overinflation. I was surprised that the tires could handle it as it was. That was the point where it stopped going in though. That was what made me realize that something was wrong.

I am more concerned with how easily the steering it moving at 10,000 miles now - hope the higher pressure isn't jolting the suspension too much.

I have a couple of gauges - one digital good for up to 50psi in 0.1psi resolution and just a pistttts of air while checking the tire can drop the pressure 0.1psi. I have another one the I bought when I got my first car back in 1972 that is still within 1psi when checked with the digital gauge. The third gauge goes up to 100psi for checking the spare (60psi) and other higher pressure tires like my scooter and bikes. Then the gauges on my two air tanks and the one on my pressure regulator.

Steel belts are in the tread area only - polymer belts are in the side walls and tread areas.

I don't trust the gas station air compressors. My craftsman air compressor does a better job and it will work off my cigarrete lighter. I keep it at home and pump my tires every 2 weeks. I use a digital tire gauge instrument and it never let me down, except when the batteries died.

I should look into one of those compressors. How high is it good for PSI wise?

I have my tires at 55psi. The compressor only costs $30.