Anyone run Tyredog pressure/temp monitors?
 

I realize that they only have an advertised accuracy of 1 PSI or degree C, but it seems like they would be great to give you a rough idea as to what is going on while on track. I'm assuming their temp measurement is just the air in the stem itself.. So it is only useful for comparisons between different tires, not for actual figures.

They are expensive through normal retailers, but they can be had for <50% of their advertised cost on a few factory direct chinese sites...

Is there anything else you have tried?

http://www.tyredog.com.au/store/4-wheel-wtpms/

Personally, I think these kinds of systems aren't really useful for track duty. What you really want is the temperature across the tire; you adjust the pressure of the air to adjust that distribution (and the temperature of the air is really a consideration for the calculations to get the pressure you want). To do this right you really need high precision pressure data and 1psi granularity isn't enough.

In terms of knowing what the temperature of the tire is while on track, there are two issues with this. The first is that the air temperature will lag behind the tire temperature. The second issue is that you can feel what the tire is doing so frankly this data isn't that useful while on track. For example, if you take a right turn and the tail slides out more than normal, you would be strongly suspecting something on the left rear tire.

Now data logging purposes could be another possible use, but the you have the time lag in the temperature and lack of across the tire readings which would make the utility somewhat limited.

This is probably a great idea for a towing vehicle and trailer though!

thermal imaging or go home


until they figure out to make a go-pro sized thermal camera for not too much money, any other "live" atlernatives just seem like too much of a headache to be worth it.


a buddy in the pits with a pyrometer is very effective for the average user, for both track and autocross.

I don't mean to be rude, but I get all that. The temp is largely useless, but the pressures are not. I'm just thinking it will save me time/work. In autocross when im at 10/10ths a half pound of air makes a difference, when lapping it does not. I guess there would just be no "suspecting" as you mentioned. I like trying different lines, and in doing so I quite often get changes in my pressures which affect what I think the line is like. If I can see what the pressures are in real-time, it eliminates that variable.

Thanks for your input though, other thoughts?

For autocross you have even more of an issue trying to use a system like this. The thermal mass of the tire + air is too much to really get a major temperature/pressure change in the air during the 60 seconds of an autocross run. At the same time, as you said, half a pound can make a huge difference but you said the device only does one psi resolution.

Frankly, I think you would be much, much better off investing in "friends with pyrometers" first and then tire blankets second over this thing if you are trying to maximize your performance.

Edit: delta temperature changes with delta pressure!

And that point is already getting much closer. There are now $200 USB thermal infrared cameras. I got one and a project I want to do this year is to install it in a wheel well and see how it does. If it works well then I'd like to get three more and get super awesome data logging on tire temps!

I get that, but in theory pressures should stabilize at some "hot" pressure at some point and stay there for the duration of the session. Right? Past that point this system doesn't really provide much value.

At a similar price point someone on here posted a system they made that provided tire temperatures (inside, center, outside) for all four tires. That would be a lot more valuable; instantaneous temperature tells you a lot about the state of the tires and what you're asking them to do, whereas tire pressure is more about getting the tire carcass in the right shape and tuning the balance of the car.

You'll notice the Formula 1 teams have live infrared cameras pointed at their tires, but they never talk pressures with their driver unless there's a puncture or a balance adjustment is needed.

Autocross runs shouldn't be long enough to reach an equilibrium temperature (unless you use blankets to start at about that temperature in the first place).

Each run on its own, no. But after 2 or 3 runs of 30ish seconds, my tires stabilize on pressure.


I was on a course once with a 360 degree circle about 25 ft in diameter. The left front tire on my GTI grew 4 pounds in one run on that course, so it can happen.

What I mean is that I would expect you can have even temps/pressures at the end of a series of runs, but you won't reach a steady state within the run.

I'm talking track days. Autocross is a totally different animal with respect to tire temps, and OP admitted this system wouldn't help much there.

Using active tire warmers is a no no in SCCA solo...but there are ways around that. Find a friend with an RV who can keep your wheels "out of the elements" until its time to run...

Track days you can reach an equilibrium temperature/pressure and this could help you to measure that. At the same time though, the delay due to the thermal mass would would be problematic and really you would want a finer resolution than 1 PSI.

I should also add that I think this system is really awesome for tow vehicles/trailers. With one of these you would stand a decent chance of dealing with a failing tire on a trailer before it blows out (bad bearings burning up or tires going bad or even stuck trailer brakes both would show up in temperature rise in the tire).