tyre pumps

[david b]

I need to buy a new tyre pump, do I go for a foot pump, seen a Michelin twin barrel @ £17 95 looks good or is it better to go for a compresser ,the type that plugs into cigar lighter ,any ideas?

 

[Pietre]

To Sweat or Not To Sweat

I have both, the Michelin compressor type were on offer at Halfords. picturer this hot day would you rather pump up and down on a footpump or just plug into the cig lighter and cool off in the aircon, or the other scenario teeming down in rain ........... now you know why I have both, the twin barrell stays in the garage, the compressor is part of my roadside kit.

 

[R2D2]

Ditto Michelin compressor lives in the boot!

 

[Sp!ke]

ditto

 

[Goldfish11]

I have a £4.99 compressor, that plugs into the lighter socket. I also got a tyre pressure guage as the guage on it is rubbish. It fits snuggly next to the spare wheel so is out of the boot, nearly a perfect fit. I have had this for two years now and it works fine. So this is my Road side kit.

I also got given one of those torch/compressor/flashing things. This sits in the garage and is used when I cant be bothered to remove my boot liner.

Only problem is if you do sit in the car with the aircon on you may fall asleep and the little compressor will inflate your tyres to 260psi so you may hear a big bang


I used to spend loads on foot pumps and they always seem to break!

 

[R2D2]

Thanks or starting this thread! This morning I went out to the car and the front offside was completely flat with a large piece of metal straight through the middle of the tread. Got my compresser out, got the pressure back up to 30psi and drove cautiously to a nearby kwikfit who repair the puncture.

 

[GordonTarling]

Heard a good report of these - http://diytools.com/store/detail.asp?productid=63573 So I ordered one yesterday and it just arrived. Looks good so far, but the battery needs a full charge before I can give it a full workout.

 

[RichardM]

Heard a good report of these - http://diytools.com/store/detail.asp?productid=63573 So I ordered one yesterday and it just arrived. Looks good so far, but the battery needs a full charge before I can give it a full workout.

I wonder if the battery will go flat if left in your boot unused for a couple of months (like my Bosch cordless drill seems to!). That would be frustrating when you come to need it at the roadside!

 

[Satch]

I wonder if the battery will go flat if left in your boot unused for a couple of months (like my Bosch cordless drill seems to!). That would be frustrating when you come to need it at the roadside!

Nothing wrong with the concept nor the product, but alas the First Law of Sod (which is inviolable) dictates:

A: this must happen and

B: when it does it will be at the worst of all possible moments

 

[GordonTarling]

I have to admit that a flat battery is one of my concerns with this unit. However, I do have a cunning plan! In view of the fact that the unit is 12 Volts anyway, I am going to investigate the possibility of being able to make up some type of adaptor lead which replaces the clip-on battery and which would allow the unit to be run from the car battery if necessary. I used the pump in 'anger' for the first time this afternoon to top up the tyres on my wife's Saab - worked very well and it was nice not having to trail a cord as I worked my way round the vehicle. Only VERY slight snag that I've found is that the true tyre pressure is only indicated a second or so after you turn the pump off. Whilst pumping, it seems to over-read by about 1.5 psi, but it was so easy to allow for this factor that it ceased to be an issue at all after I'd done a couple of tyres. Overall, a very useful piece of kit and well worth the money, I feel.