Tire Check device

I recently purchased Tire Check for my Vespa. These are tire replacement caps that are supposed to give you at a glance indication if the tire has lost any air. They show green on the clear plastic cap if the pressure is good, or red if the pressure drop is 2-3 psi below the pressure when you installed the cap. I installed them on the Vespa a few months ago, and thought I was happy not having to put a gauge on the tire before every ride, now all I had to do was glance at the cap and if green I was good to go, but … I go on this Vespa blog, and happened to mention this new time and energy device, and

the blog lights up with guys saying how unreliable and down right dangerous these devices were, ad infinitum.

So I took them off. Are these caps as unsafe as I am hearing or is the Vespa blogosphere a little whacky? The product is from Kleen Wheels Corp. Thanks! 2wheels

Don’t know about dangerous, but I bought a set of similar devices several years ago, for my wife’s Subaru, and was very disappoined in the accuracy of them, compared to my reasonably accurate tire gauge. Didn’t use them very long.

I’ve heard a lot of people complain that they leak.

In my experience, these devices don’t stay accurate for very long and can actually freeze in one position under certain circumstances. I would also never recommend anyone rely on any one device to monitor tire pressure in the event of failure of a device. It stinks, but even with TPMS sensors, it’s still a good idea to invest in a dial-style tire gauge.