TYre inflators ??

[Clan]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

With 3 cars and 3 bicycles on the family fleet (plus 3 visiting relations cars) I find I have ample opportunity to check tyre pressures and pump up tyres. Back when I was a youth I would pump up my bicycle tyres by hand, I grew into a man with a car and pumped up tyres with a foot pump, technology advanced and I had an electric pump which plugged into the lighter socket, life was good. Unfortunately the nice 12v electric pump I had got dropped and works no more and its replacement is OK up to 25psi but then struggles to get to 35psi on a car tyre. With opportunities for use I thought a mains powered unit would be good but they seem few and far between, but I recently came across these two from Screwfix Scheppach-air-force and Scheppach-air-case, they look like the sort of thing I would use but they are not what I would call cheap. Does anyone have any experience with either of them, or any other Scheppach products from Screwfix, or any other similar powered tyre inflators.

I bought one of these is a Halfords sale .
As soon as i got home I tried it on 4 of my cars which are off the road and pumped up all 16 tyres from about 25 psi to 40 psi , no problem plenty of power left and fairly quick . Being self contained it is a big help , It is one of those things I should have bought many years ago instead of struggling with a foot pump :-)

[Laird Scooby]

No matter what you use to inflate your tyres, invest in a pressure gauge that is accurate and use this to check the pressures after using the inflator of your choice.

I have a small Ring compressor for emergency use, when a tyre is at 32psi according to my normal pressure gauge (which i have cross-referenced for accuracy many times over the years) the Ring unit shows 43psi so if i simply relied on the built-in gauge on the Ring unit, i would be running on seriously under-inflated tyres. Net result of that would be at best wobbly handling but also poor grip and excess drag.

Conversely i've had (in the past) similar units that only show 20psi when the real pressure is 32psi - that could lead to over-inflated tyres with very little grip or compliance. Also not forgetting some tyres have a maximum pressure as low as 40psi or thereabouts, using the same differential as above, if i'd pumped my tyres to 32psi indicated on the inflator, there's a high chance they would have really been in the region of about 45psi so could have been on the point of going bang.

[green van man]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

No matter what you use to inflate your tyres, invest in a pressure gauge that is accurate and use this to check the pressures after using the inflator of your choice.

I have a small Ring compressor for emergency use, when a tyre is at 32psi according to my normal pressure gauge (which i have cross-referenced for accuracy many times over the years) the Ring unit shows 43psi so if i simply relied on the built-in gauge on the Ring unit, i would be running on seriously under-inflated tyres. Net result of that would be at best wobbly handling but also poor grip and excess drag.

Conversely i've had (in the past) similar units that only show 20psi when the real pressure is 32psi - that could lead to over-inflated tyres with very little grip or compliance. Also not forgetting some tyres have a maximum pressure as low as 40psi or thereabouts, using the same differential as above, if i'd pumped my tyres to 32psi indicated on the inflator, there's a high chance they would have really been in the region of about 45psi so could have been on the point of going bang.

Agreed, to this end I use a PLC calibrated airline tyre gauge run from a compressor in the shed when at home and carry proven gauges in all cars and the caravan.
The 65psi the caravan and the works van run at is beyond the range of most car gauges so you need a commercial vehicle one, again I calibrate it against the calibrated PLC airline gauge.
I also have found the biult in gauge on plug in 12 compressors to be wildly inaccurate on both the Ring one in the volvo and the Tmax compressor in the land rover. As inflators they work well, especially the Tmax one, as a pressure gauge forget it..

Paul.

[baggy798]

Ring RAC630 owned since March 2012, still going strong. The inbuilt gauge is ok, not drastically out compared with a separate gauge.

[DaveNP]

Have to agree, pressure gauges is a whole other thing the 12V pump I had would show about 40psi for almost any pressure in the tyre. I have a pocket gauge which I use all the time and generally run my tyres slightly higher than recommended according to its reading, I reached this point by observing the tyre wear and adjusting accordingly. The Sheppach unit seems to be close to the pocket gauge values although I didn't spend too long on them when I did it the other day as it just started raining (albeit that's a disadvantage of a 240v unit). I have a new pocket gauge to put in the wife's car so may have a little comparison test - pump/old gauge/new gauge - soon.

[GMcL]

Why is no one recommending the one provided by Volvo ?
I get some of the cars are older than 2010 but the newer cars have compressors that must be able to inflate the space saver ???

[DaveNP]

Originally Posted by GMcL

Why is no one recommending the one provided by Volvo ?
I get some of the cars are older than 2010 but the newer cars have compressors that must be able to inflate the space saver ???

My Volvo is well before spacesavers and/or cans of snot, but my wife's new KIA has the snot and pump option, but then I read somewhere that those pumps have a life expectancy of one puncture
I'm on the lookout for a spare KIA alloy for the boot but being a recent car and having the top option pack alloys there's very few secondhand ones about.

[GMcL]

I've got the Volvo can of snot and pump which were replaced by a tyre and jack etc...

The pump is actually a decent bit of kit, maybe see if you can pick one up somewhere. The can of snot has a best before date but not the pump* as far as I am aware.

*If you use the can of snot through the pump then the pump is FUBAR'd.