Mark Lue

Canadian Tire stores now sells this neat little Digital Temperarure Reader (57-5445-4) that you point at an object and it reads the temperature of the object. I picked it up on sale at CTC for $59.99 today, I guess you can use it for checking the temperature of just about anything but I always wanted one after seeing race teams use one to check tire temperatures with it when the cars came of the track. Aparently you can tell if the camber settings are correct by checking the temperature at edges and the middle of the tire thread.

Anyway if you are interested in getting one there is still time to get one before they run out.

old man neri

I use to use one in diagnosing HVAC problems in buildings, just shoot it at the air duct.

Turbodan

I got one in spring from princess auto on sale for $28.00 ...loads of fun especially at track checking tires.

Mark Lue

$28... wow too bad I already dumped the packaging. Any way I'm happy and finding lotsa things to use it for.

BTW you should know that somebody PMed me to let me know that this tools is used by shops to troubleshoot burnt out CATs, apparently if the CAT is burnout it doesn't get hot enough so if you have the tool you can run the car then "shoot" the CAT and exhaust pipes to establish a baseline so you can cross check later if you suspect a problem.

Turbodan

It's also fun to walk around home and office and shoot it at specific points (heating vent, skyiight etc.) and check the tempurature. at the track it is interesting how the inside and outside temps on a tire can vary so much.

AllanJ

Just a note about checking tire temps with an IR temp reader:

(From the Longacre Racing web site)
http://www.longacreracing.com/articles/art.asp?ARTID=16

G. IR Versus Probe

Probe type pyrometers are better for use on tires if used properly. Infrared type pyrometers measure only the tire surface and do not get inside the rubber to find the true results. The rubber down at the cord is insulated away from the outside elements providing for more accurate readings. Rubber at the cord is also heated due to elastic stretching of the rubber. Probes can reach in and see this heat.

Infrared pyrometers measure only the surface. The surface will be cooler as heat is dissipated off the surface very quickly due to the outside air cooling and simply rolling across the cooler track temperature. Typically the surface temperature is 20-40 degrees cooler than temperatures taken with a probe. Infrared temperatures will also be affected by artificial brake heat and engine heat.

You can use the infrared pyrometer for tire temperatures but it is a compromise. Your camber temperature curves will not be shown with as much clarity. Temperature differentials will be more dramatic with a probe allowing you to be more precise in your camber adjustments.

Infrared pyrometers do work well for surface temperatures such as track temperature, cockpit temps, header temps, brake temps, and the like. Probe type pyrometers do not work well for surface temperatures.

Mark Lue

Good to know Allan, but a little too advanced for me at this point. I had spoken to several Grand Am cup mechanics and they comfirm that for the tinkering and checking that I do for DE and lapping days the IR temperature reader is perfect to do the intended checks after all they use it as well to check things.

I guess I'm just bored... now that I have the digital temperature reader I have thoughts of tinkering with the alignment on my car this summer, maybe a little more than I normal. To do this I will need a camber gage of my own for sure, I had posted a thread asking if anyone had a camber gage to borrow but no one replied... I guess everyone goes to a shop to get there alignments done. I think tomorrow I will make a camber gage based on the manual ones that I have been using to do my own alignments, they are not that difficult conceptually or to make and the pieces are available it's only a matter of getting the parts and putting it togeather... so stay tuned I will make another toy to use with the digital temperature reader.

Mark Lue

Dan, can you guess what I've being doing all day the one I have has a built-in laser pointer to mark what you are shooting... quite alot of fun.

theiceman

I got mine on sale at P A also , has the laser pointer and you can switch between C an F . I used it to diagnose a heater core problem in the Audi and use it regularly on the 911 when checking calibration of oil temp guage. great little tool .

Imo000

I have one too. Used it with great sucess to locate a non running cylinder. The car had aftermarket tubular headers so the one that was cooler than the others was the missfiring one. I got mine at a pawn shop in northen AB.


One thing you can not measure is the temperature of a flame. There is no solid surface area so it can't read it. Go ahead and try it on a candle.

theiceman

man we just don't have enough to do ... my wife uses it show how cheap I am when things in the house read 65 F and wants the heat turned up.

911 Rod

Or you can point it at the wife and see if you should go to bed at the same time as her or stay up and watch the rest of the hockey game.

Sputter

heheh

theiceman

oh yeah , that'd go over well. point it at her and say " I'm calibrating for frigid " .. may as well stay up and watch the rest of the season ..

LAT

I have one a small Micro Temp MT100 IR temp sensor I picked up track side at Rennsport III for $30 and have been having a ton of fun with it but;

I had to show my other half this thread,

You guys makes me look more normal......