Tyre Inflator

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

Soldato
Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
18,354
Location
Finchley, London
Hi guys. Can anyone recommend an accurate digital tyre inflator from Halfords or the rain forest? Perhaps even rechargeable which might make it less hassle than using the interior 12v socket. Thanks.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.
Quartz said:
To what PSI / BAR do you need? I have a Ring Automotive RAC610 which operates off the 12V and has trouble inflating over 35 PSI.
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Yeah, good point, I noticed that quite a few inflaters don't go above 35 PSI. Since I regularly load my car with stuff I inflate to 36 PSI on the rears.

MissChief said:

I have this one and it works well, but not rechargeable. It does have a wind up cord though so is easy to use and out away.
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Looks good. One for me to consider though I'm leaning more and more towards rechargeable.

Armageus said:
I got this one last year

It's ok but takes a while, and doesn't have enough charge to top up all the tyres on 2 cars if the need more than a couple of psi
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That looks really good with a nice price, I might buy it. I only need it for one car so I assume from what you said that it should do all four tyres. It's a compact and Rroff mentioned compacts can struggle. But I like that it's rechargeable. When you say it takes a while, how long roughly would it take to inflate a tyre from say 26 to 36 PSI?

EDIT: I just read one of the Amazon reviews which said:

"What sets the Upboost Eco apart is its remarkable efficiency. It surpassed my expectations by effortlessly inflating my van tyres from 28PSI to 46PSI in less than two minutes."

That sounds good enough for me!
 
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Armageus said:
I'd say it would probably be around 2 minutes - I think I'm probably just impatient from having used petrol station airlines for so long
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My local petrol station airline was out of order when I went the other day which motivated me to buy my own. I do find it quite tricky to see the PSI numbers clearly on the screen on those petrol station machines when crouched down at a tyre.
 
Hey guys, took me a while since making this thread to get around to buying an inflator but I've done so now and it arrives tomorrow. I like that it has a deflate button and that it can be used both cordless from the rechargeable battery and also with the 12v if the battery is dead.


I have a question. My car specifies 32psi all round. But for a load of five people, 36psi all round.

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I regularly put a drumkit in my car which takes up all the back space with the seats down. About nine pieces of kit. The heavy pieces are two long hardware cases full of metal stands, the big bass drum and a bag full of cymbals. I don't know the weight of my gear but would you say I should put it to 36 all round like it suggests for five people, or less? In fact, a friend suggested I leave the fronts at 32psi and just increase the rears to 35psi, but I don't know if he knows what's he's talking about. I want to look after these tyres as they're brand new and don't want to unnecessarily overinflate them and wear them out.
 
Armageus said:
I read that as 36 psi front and rear if you regularly go above 160km/h.

Five people reference is at both speed ratings - should be fine to run 32 psi front and rear.
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Thanks as I was confused on that. So are you saying I can leave it at 32 psi all round when loaded with my kit with no extra stress on the tyres? I certainly never get close to 160km/h! :D
 
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ianh said:
Yes


Yes, as long as you don't spend time at over 100mph you'll be fine at 32psi all around as the weight makes no difference, just the speed.
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Excellent, thanks. I'd put my previous tyres to 36 psi all year round but it's good to know I don't need to do that.

jpaul said:
.. you always want to deflate a bit , with your thumbnail, before you inflate/measure, to get any dust/muck out (even with caps)
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Thanks. I'll do that, especially as my new tyre inflator has a deflate button for me to play with. :D
 
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Scarfacé said:
Good choice, I got the RTC4000 back in November and it's brilliant. USB-C too :D I hated having to plug my old corded one into the 12V socket through the window, then pass it through the opposite window etc. So much easier/faster with a cordless one :)
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Yes, I used mine for the first time yesterday and it's excellent :) My tyres were all on about 35 psi so I deflated them to 30 and inflated back up to 32psi. Well actually, to 32.5 psi to compensate as a little air escapes when unscrewing the connector from the valve. It's very fast and not as noisy as I expected. It's the cheapest 'good' inflator I found which has both a deflate button and the duality of cordless and 12v. The deflate button is very useful, I used it a few times yesterday.

Did you by any chance check your tyre pressures from the Ring against a petrol station inflator machine and did you find it accurate? I'm going to drive to my local Tesco garage and pop 50p in to see if matches the pressures I put in from my RTC4000. I'm assuming petrol station machines are accurate but I don't really know to be honest.

Edit; just did that. Taking into account an increase in the pressure from the tyres being warmed up, at the petrol station my RTC4000 showed my pressures had gone up to 33, 34 offside and 33, 33 nearside. The petrol station machine read the same for the offside but 34, 34 nearside. I don't know which is more accurate but I guess it's close enough.
 
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BUDFORCE said:
I find them all much of the same really.

I had one from eBay that lasted aaaaaaages, maybe 10 years it finally gave up, replaced it with a ring one that didn't last at all, and this one.

I think the key is how long they last and only time will tell, think I've had this one about a year now.
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Hmm, hope mine doesn't break. In general how often do you use yours? Like once a week, fortnite or month?
 
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