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How to Weigh a Car

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JamesWilson

JamesWilson

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Too many variables probably make it very inaccurate. I usually just find a truck scale at a local company. Sometimes they leave them on over the weekend and make it very easy....
 
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Can't see the video, but should I guess this is the old bathroom scale and lever arm trick? Gets you in the ballpark, but not much closer.
 
Wouldn't it just be easier to pick up the car and step on the scale? You just take the total weight, subtract out your own weight, and you get the car's weight. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
Steve_Lawrence said:
Wouldn't it just be easier to pick up the car and step on the scale? You just take the total weight, subtract out your own weight, and you get the car's weight. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
Click to expand...

Yeah but then I'd have to admit how much I weigh /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shocked.gif
 
foxtrapper said:
Can't see the video, but should I guess this is the old bathroom scale and lever arm trick? Gets you in the ballpark, but not much closer.
Click to expand...

Its not that.

The video has you inflate the tires to a normal pressure. Then take a set of measurements of the tire "footprints"- how much area each covers on the ground. Each tire's contact area is multiplied by the pressure to give a weight supported on each tire. These are then added to get the total.
 
Oh yuck! Way too much noise with that footprint method to get anything particularly usefull out of it. At least imo.

It's one of those things that "in theory" should work. But in practice, won't.
 
foxtrapper said:
It's one of those things that "in theory" should work. But in practice, won't.
Click to expand...

And the last thing in the video is something to the effect of, "If you got within 10%, you done good!"

That might work for some people's checkbooks, but not for my cars, or even the trucks when figuring max gross weight, payloads, etc. (like, "How heavy can the cab-over camper be on the big truck?")

Tim
 
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