How To Use A Tire Thumper

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RoadPro Tire Thumper

“What in the world is a tire thumper?” I couldn’t help but laugh as I heard a kid at the truck stop ask his mother. Her response, “I guess it thumps tires.” Good guess momma.

Actually, if you’ve been a truck stop attendee, you’ve likely seen the tire thumper a time or two; along with a bunch of other gadgets that make you scratch your head. The thumper has evolved over the years, starting back in the days with just about anything you can bang your tire with to the beautifully engineered tire thumper we have today.

RoadPro Tire Thumpers

RoadPro RPTT-1 Wooden Tire Thumper, 19-Inches, Assorted Dark or Light Wood

Although in the tire thumper is a novelty truck stop item, it does serve a purpose. With enough practice, you can quickly check your tire pressures. You can go through dozens of tires in a matter of a minute or two. Sure beats capping the valves.

How To Use Your Tire Thumper

Truck tires make a certain sound when they’re full as required. If the tire pressure is low, it makes a different sound, hence you know that particular tire will need air added. It takes some getting use to, but the tire thumper will save you time, money and effort.

You have to get use to the sound the thumper makes, it will take practice. You’ll find that learning how to use the tire thumper is easy. It just takes practice. There’s a number of good quality thumpers out there, the two in this post I personally recommend.

Here’s the simple steps.

  1. Use the tire thumper and listen to the sound it makes as you hit your tires.
  2. You do want it to be a pretty good lick, love taps don’t work. Hit it man.
  3. Pay attention to the sound it makes, compare when full and low
  4. Practice with a fully pressurized tire and a truck tire that is low, hear the difference.
  5. A fully inflated tire will cause the thumper to bounce back quick toward you.

ATAK Tire Thumper

ATAK Tire Thumper with Light, 16-Inch

There’s a number of different companies that produce tire thumpers. A few of the most well known include RoadPro, ATAK and Tire Boss.

Is It True Tire Thumpers Are Used As Weapons?

Wow, what a great question. Well, you be the judge. If your truck is getting robbed, is it possible you grab the tire thumper under the seat? You bet! Well, unless you have a 12 gauge or 45 – those would be much better options. I won’t point you in the right direction, I’ll leave you with your thoughts to find the answer. Somehow, I think you know the answer to that.

Best Tire Thumpers?

Three of my favorites tire thumpers are listed above. Bought them both from Amazon, not at the truck stop although I’ve bought a few here and there over the years. My favorite is the ATAK tire thumper. Sure, it cost a little more. I love the LED light that comes with it and after all my thumping, it still works. Not to mention I’ve dropped it a time or two, light still works. Solid piece of equipment.

The ATAK tire thumper is made from heavy duty aluminum, a great shell. Mine has took some beating as I’ve had it for some time now, still use it today. Works great.

The RoadPro RPTT-1 wooden tire thumper is built solid too. That would be the thumpers on top of this article. These are built with solid wood, strong as can be. 19 inches long. You can’t go wrong with either listed in the article. Among reviews, these 2 thumpers get the most and highest praised. Personally using both, I feel confident in my findings and recommendations.

The RoadPro RPTT2 weighted wood tire thumper is equally as good. RoadPro is a brand you can trust. There’s a lot of these products out there, I like to stick to what I know and what I personally use on the road. Hopefully this article will guide you as all 3 are well worth their asking price.

RoadPro RPTT2 18″ Weighted Wood Tire Thumper