Tyre Inflator
Tyre Inflator
Last december I bought one of Halfords Automatic tyre inflators. You know the one with the preset the pressure and it stops when it reaches it, and can do pressure in PSI Bar or KPI.
Anyway after using it for about six times it suddenly packed up for no reason on Thursday. LED's game on, preset worked, it just would not Pump.
I took it back to Halfords and although I didn't have the original reciept, I took a bank detail showing I had paid it to halfords. they didn't really bother with my "proof" but immeadiately offered a replacement.
I was concerned that a replacement of same would perhaps let me down again so asked if I could upgrade and pay the difference. This was no problem, so I picked the Michelin preset model with the screw on adapter and valve to reduce the pressure.
I tried it out yesterday and believe me for the extra £10 I paid was well worth the upgrade. I did my wife and my car again and found the old model was reading low whereas the new model was spot on. I use a seperate guage to check the pressures.
I just wondered if anyone else on here had any problems with their tyre Pumps.
Anyway after using it for about six times it suddenly packed up for no reason on Thursday. LED's game on, preset worked, it just would not Pump.
I took it back to Halfords and although I didn't have the original reciept, I took a bank detail showing I had paid it to halfords. they didn't really bother with my "proof" but immeadiately offered a replacement.
I was concerned that a replacement of same would perhaps let me down again so asked if I could upgrade and pay the difference. This was no problem, so I picked the Michelin preset model with the screw on adapter and valve to reduce the pressure.
I tried it out yesterday and believe me for the extra £10 I paid was well worth the upgrade. I did my wife and my car again and found the old model was reading low whereas the new model was spot on. I use a seperate guage to check the pressures.
I just wondered if anyone else on here had any problems with their tyre Pumps.
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- Joined: Fri 19 Jun, 2009 10:27
- Posts: 2093
- Location: Daglan, France
Tyre Pumps
I can never understand why anyone wants an electric tyre pump - except that today's people cannot understand that a surplus of electronics is not necessary for mundane tasks such as inflating a tyre.
Why not save yourself all the aggro of failed electrics/electronics and cheap compressors, and just buy a good quality foot pump? I have been using a Halford's brass-bodied foot pump for about twenty years, and it still works fine. I bet it works faster than a tiny electric compressor, too.
Why not save yourself all the aggro of failed electrics/electronics and cheap compressors, and just buy a good quality foot pump? I have been using a Halford's brass-bodied foot pump for about twenty years, and it still works fine. I bet it works faster than a tiny electric compressor, too.
Park it the other way around if the lead won't reachTitanTim wrote:I use an old Dunlop footpump from 50's which does fine for the rear tyres, I still use an electric pump for the fronts
Tim.
I use one that I got for £10 off eBay, auto stop, presets and emergency lights. I checked with an accurate gauge and is spot on. Not the most robust (cheap plastic job) but for £10 it has been great. Manual pumps are great for "top ups" but I recently put puncturesafe into my tyres so had to totally deflate / inflate and was a godsend (I didn't fancy standing there for 15 minutes inflating each tyre manually).
I have a Michelin one which is powered from the lighter socket. Not automatic, but is has a removable pressure gauge and some white LEDs so you can see what you are doing in the dark. Only slight PITA is that the cable is only long enough to reach to one side of the car at a time, so you need to swap over to do the other side.
IIRC it takes around 7A, so I can't use it with Froggy, as I only rated his lighter socket at 5A. Instead I power it from the Z3 parked alongside, but it became a real pain having to turn the car round to do the other side, so I bought a nice long lighter socket extension lead which allows me to both cars without having to move either.
Oh, and Mike, some of us would struggle with a foot pump, as our bodies are not quite as fit as they once were.
Cheers R.
IIRC it takes around 7A, so I can't use it with Froggy, as I only rated his lighter socket at 5A. Instead I power it from the Z3 parked alongside, but it became a real pain having to turn the car round to do the other side, so I bought a nice long lighter socket extension lead which allows me to both cars without having to move either.
Oh, and Mike, some of us would struggle with a foot pump, as our bodies are not quite as fit as they once were.
Cheers R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc
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- Joined: Fri 19 Jun, 2009 10:27
- Posts: 2093
- Location: Daglan, France
Exercise1
Look at it like this - a foot pump gives you a bit of exercise, a compressor gives you none! I will be an old age pensioner in six weeks time, and I can work a foot pump easily enough - don't under-rate your tired old bodies!
Sorry to hijack the topic but how did you find the Puncturesafe? Thinking about having this done, they are only 25 miles away in Exeter.Jonttt wrote:I recently put puncturesafe into my tyres so had to totally deflate / inflate and was a godsend (I didn't fancy standing there for 15 minutes inflating each tyre manually).
Probably a silly question perhaps but........
I am likely to ditch my runflats in favour of Falkens in the near future. Given that the car has no spare wheel I guess I should follow advice and carry a can of tyre weld and a compressor just in case. Will a foot pump do the same job as a compressor when using tyre weld?
I am likely to ditch my runflats in favour of Falkens in the near future. Given that the car has no spare wheel I guess I should follow advice and carry a can of tyre weld and a compressor just in case. Will a foot pump do the same job as a compressor when using tyre weld?
I bought one of those Michellin inflators from Halfords. Cost £44. It didn't seem to register the starting pressure correctly. So for example there might be 30psi to start with but it set itself to zero psi. So if I set it to pump up & stop at 30psi it would go to 30 psi plus the 30 psi pressure already there = 60 psi !!!!!
I took it back before I wound up with an exploded tyre.
I tried twp others of the same model. Carefully read the instructions & the same happened. So got I got a refund.
Just shows they are capable of causing a dangerous situation.
I was pretty disgusted to be honest that an expensive branded product could cause result in a safety hazard such as wrong tyre pressures or potentially exploding tyres !
I took it back before I wound up with an exploded tyre.
I tried twp others of the same model. Carefully read the instructions & the same happened. So got I got a refund.
Just shows they are capable of causing a dangerous situation.
I was pretty disgusted to be honest that an expensive branded product could cause result in a safety hazard such as wrong tyre pressures or potentially exploding tyres !
'High G' motoring enthusiast
Robin, I have seen mine do what you describe, as it zeros itself when it starts up. Connect it to the power first and make sure you get a reasonable reading before starting to inflate. Works just fine if you do.
Mine does seem to read high whilst inflating, so I have learned to inflate to 1 psi over and then stop and take a proper reading with the compressor off.
Cheers R.
Mine does seem to read high whilst inflating, so I have learned to inflate to 1 psi over and then stop and take a proper reading with the compressor off.
Cheers R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc