Tire Pressure Monitor Vs. Tire Shop Gauge Reading

[Tallgeese179]

Yeah, when it comes to shops touching wheels and tires I generally don't trust wheel lug torque or tire pressures. BMW dealership, Discount Tire, you name it...they don't care as much as I do because it's not theirs.

This is why I end up doing my own work in most cases. I don't doubt their skill or competence (well...most of the time), but they're on the clock while I'm chasing perfection.

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[HaulingAss]

Yeah, when it comes to shops touching wheels and tires I generally don't trust wheel lug torque or tire pressures. BMW dealership, Discount Tire, you name it...they don't care as much as I do because it's not theirs.

This is why I end up doing my own work in most cases. I don't doubt their skill or competence (well...most of the time), but they're on the clock while I'm chasing perfection.

Exactly! I avoid tire shops for that very reason. I'm sure it varies from Service Center to Service Center but the consistently best tire shop I've found are the two closest Tesla Service Centers to my house. It all depends upon the quality of the training and of the employees, any tire shop can return bad service, incorrect pressures and torques, damage or dirty your vehicle, etc. This kind of stuff is surprisingly common at almost ALL service shops.

But you're correct, it's the car owner that has to deal with incorrect servicing, so it stands to reason that a competent and careful owner is going to do a better job, more consistently. That said, I have little patience with a car owner who suspects a tire pressure problem but doesn't care enough to take a stand alone gauge to each tire to figure out what's going on. You don't have to be very intelligent or knowledgeable to figure it out yourself, it ain't rocket science, you just have to care enough to check it out.