If you pay for 5 minutes to inflate your tyres - how long would you expect to inflate them for?

Never had an issue with petrol station ones personally, other than the fact they usually under read pressure (at least compared to my cars sensors) I usually end up going about 3-5psi above what I actually want to get the correct pressure
 
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where i used to live two garages had tyre inflators free of charge for everyone and it took seconds to top up your tyre.

i have a little £15 machine in my car now that runs on the lighter socket and it works amazingly well.
 
I have a Michelin 12V one in the car that’s at least a decade old and a “pencil” pressure gauge to check it somewhere in a door bin that hasn’t been used is years as the inflator is spot on.
 
got a small pump i bought for £10 about 10 years ago , still going strong and still accurate (according to car sensors)
 
I've noticed with some of the portable ones they start to over-read when they get hot. A good guage alongside it is useful
 
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Jumped in the mini last week for a trip from Brum to Bristol, hadn't driven the mini in months, get on the dual carriageway and my tyre pressure light comes on.

Car felt fine but I pulled over to check and realised I'd left my electric pump in another car, however visually all wheels looked the same and they're runflats so chillin. "Probably just tread depth change or something" I thought...

Carried on, did my thing and drove back to Brum. At home the tyres all looked the same, however driving home I did start to feel a little hesitant wiggle from the rear left when changing lanes, so got the pump out to check - all wheels fine except for the back left reading 0.0 :eek:

I was shocked, checked the connection to make sure it was reading right. Stood over the tyre comparing it to the full one and could just see the tiniest of differences, the completely flat runflat's rim protector was protruding about half a cm max in comparison.

I guess being a rear wheel on a light, fwd car means it's nothing more than a castor lol.

Love runflats :D


Anyway, I would have used one of those garage pumps if it looked like it needed it.
 
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I use them, but it's £1 contactless since COVID. As said, position the car, caps off, inflate. Never had issue with time, mine normally take 10 seconds a wheel as they are rarely out much. Also have a digital guage, TPMS and a 12v inflator in the car. It's obnoxiously loud though
 
I’ve got a portable power bank with a built in compressor which is fine for car tyres. Saves mucking about at the garages. However it’s no good for van tyres which need to be inflated to c.55psi
 
Colleague had a flat tyre today, said slow puncture but it had gone from OK to 1.5 PSI over 9-10 hours, their battery inflator got it up to 7 PSI before the battery ran out because they'd not charged it since last use, then they found their plug in one wasn't working :s my battery one came in trumps LOL. Sadly it isn't available to buy any more :( want to get another one as a back up as it is surprisingly decent for a generic brand one but most of the similar style ones on Amazon have poor reviews.
 
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Feek said:
All our cars have one of these in the boot.

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I've got a similar one, I don't keep it in the car though as for my commute doesn't seem worth it (I realise there is the chance of coming out to a flat that is a slow puncture, but sensors are pretty good today). I've only got 1, so maybe I should buy a second for the mrs' car. They're not axactly expensive.

Someone above mentioned those pencil gauges, I always found them pretty **** and don't really rate them.
 
I’ve got a Draper double barrel foot pump and a Sakura digital pressure gauge. I check my Tyres every two weeks, firstly by getting current reading with Sakura digital pressure gauge then inflating with the double barrel foot pump.

Usually each tyre no more than 0.5 PSI down which requires five pumps on the foot pump to bring them up and sometimes no extra air is needed as they are still what I set them to two week’s previously. Occasionally if it’s got warmer over the two weeks they go up 0.5 PSI and I have to let a little out.

Also comes in handy after a service as you can see what they’ve set them to, which is usually above what I set them to. One way of telling that they’ve looked at the Tyres at least.

Also do mine when the Tyres are cold so will be most accurate.
 
nlel1975 said:
I’ve got a Draper double barrel foot pump and a Sakura digital pressure gauge. I check my Tyres every two weeks, firstly by getting current reading with Sakura digital pressure gauge then inflating with the double barrel foot pump.

Usually each tyre no more than 0.5 PSI down which requires five pumps on the foot pump to bring them up and sometimes no extra air is needed as they are still what I set them to two week’s previously. Occasionally if it’s got warmer over the two weeks they go up 0.5 PSI and I have to let a little out.

Also comes in handy after a service as you can see what they’ve set them to, which is usually above what I set them to. One way of telling that they’ve looked at the Tyres at least.

Also do mine when the Tyres are cold so will be most accurate.
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I hope you email the dealer to get before and after readings for each tyre.
 
Diddums said:
I hope you email the dealer to get before and after readings for each tyre.
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No I don’t I just correct them to my values the next day after they’ve cooled down. Who knows their values may be more accurate but it’s usually not more than 1 to 1.5 PSI above so not much to worry about.
 
nlel1975 said:
No I don’t I just correct them to my values the next day after they’ve cooled down. Who knows their values may be more accurate but it’s usually not more than 1 to 1.5 PSI above so not much to worry about.
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And do you email them this correction?
 
You're forgetting the margins of error for readings from a foot pump using environmental air, compared with the premium SMART air used by the dealers.
 
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