How do you thump your tires?

Thumping is just good for a quick check to see if something is flat.
I check with gauge once a week. If you have a problem child that keeps slowly bleeding air, you have a slow leak, nail or other object, bad valve stem ( maybe just the needle in stem ), I doubt a bad bead, but is possible.
If you don't check your tires with gauge at least weekly, you will have problems.

 

always keep face clear from bounce back of fish beater. Sounds funny but I seen guys get an egg lump on the fourhead. Also check for debree between tires...

 

Generally duals should sound the same when they match psi. And experience will lend a hand in knowing under inflated tires. When you thump several times a day you can notice changes quickly. Keep a guage handy to verify.

An 80 psi on a tire will not sound the same as 90 or 100. So if both tandems are low on psi, they could be deceiving.

Running on low tire pressure can blow a tire faster than you can imagine. So stop and fix or replace before it's too late.

Stay safe and be smart.

 

What? They had pressure guage for steam engines way before trucks....

 

Now THAT would be a SUPER TRUCKER...
Check your tires with a gauge when you do your pretrip, before the wheels start turning. You aren't going to have enough of a pressure difference to matter, between gauging your tires in Phoenix, or in Coeur d'Alene, due to ambient temperature.

 

Lol. Then clearly my suggestion to this thread is mindless and wasted.

 

I've known driver's that say they can tell the difference in 5 lbs. IDK, I think that's a crock. I never used the "thump" method, and more the "kick" method. You can tell how it wiggles if it's low, then get the gauge. I think the best way is to have those gauges where the 2 tires come into one gauge. A quick look tells you right away. ( and saves on your shoes)

 

Tire pressure is posted as cold psi...what if it is zero outside. Would you need to adjust the psi to adequate pressure ?

 

No. As I said the ambient temperature is not going to make much difference. Some perhaps, but not enough to "adjust" your air pressure, unless you have an obvious low tire.

 

We've been using auto inflate wheels for years....and I still thump them.
Found one flat and wouldn't have not known it by looking at it.