Using tyre air pumps at petrol stations

GabbaGabbaHey

The other advantage of having your own gauge is that you can calibrate it.

The pumps on most petrol garage forecourts are often scarily inaccurate. I certainly wouldn't rely on one.

ripplyuk

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

The other advantage of having your own gauge is that you can calibrate it.

The pumps on most petrol garage forecourts are often scarily inaccurate. I certainly wouldn't rely on one.

Calibrate? I'm worried now, Are these things technical to use? I thought I just pushed in into the tyre valve and it would tell me the psi.

I didn't realise the garage pumps are often inaccurate. I had thought that since they charge 20p each time, they'd have it maintained.

agrinnall

The charge is for the air not for the check on your tyre pressure. Even if you use a garage pump you should still check the pressure yourself. And also do it when the car has been in for a service, my experience is that mechanics often just set all the tyres to the same pressure, which is rarely what you actually want. And while you're buying a pressure gauge, get yourself a tread depth measure so you can check for yourself how much tread you have left.

Ebe_Scrooge

I wouldn't get too hung up about it. Even the cheapest "DIY" type gauge is going to be more accurate than either the one on the footpump or the garage airline, and is certainly going to be near enough for ordinary use. Of course, if you're the boss of an F1 team where tenths of seconds count, and the pressure has got to correct down to the last fraction of a PSI, then that's a different matter !

pogofish

maninthestreet wrote: »

Buy a foot pump, and get a decent, accurate pressure gauge.

This - A lot of the guages on cheap pumps and garage units are awfully inaccurate.

Also get to know the correct pressures for your different driving situations, it will help save on tyre wear and fuel consumption in the long run.

shaun_from_Africa

A few years old now but I bet it's still the same with many garages.
http://www.network.mag-uk.org/oct05p5.html

A check of tyre pressure gauges on 53 petrol forecourts and motorway service areas - mostly on holiday routes - found that 40 per cent were inaccurate.

More than one in seven (15 per cent) was more than 10 per cent adrift

arcon5

agrinnall wrote: »

The charge is for the air not for the check on your tyre pressure. Even if you use a garage pump you should still check the pressure yourself. And also do it when the car has been in for a service, my experience is that mechanics often just set all the tyres to the same pressure, which is rarely what you actually want. And while you're buying a pressure gauge, get yourself a tread depth measure so you can check for yourself how much tread you have left.

:rotfl:

Ye, and if I buy a tin of beans it's okay if they tip them in a paperbag when I buy them, after all i'm buying the beans and not the tin.

On a more serious note, when I use a machine they charge me to use I expect the gauge to be reasonably accurate. And I highly suspect any reasonable person would also expect this, seeing it as a service, not just some 'air'

neilmcl

ripplyuk wrote: »

The foot pumps are certainly cheap. Is it as easy to read as a digital one? Are they difficult to actually pump? I'm not overly heavy and don't want to look ridiculous trying to do it!

Alternatively, my car manual recommends 29psi for front and 26psi for the back, assuming I've no passengers so I was thinking if I filled them to 31 and 28 at the petrol station, would that be enough to compensate for them being warm?

With a tyre pressure gauge simply measure the tyres cold, at home, then again at the petrol station, then adjust the recommended tyre pressure accordingly.

londonTiger

a durable double barrel footpump is the way to go. Dont buy cheap because they don't last very long after using them to inflate car tyres. I bought one for fiver (single barrell) and the bottom plate got sheared from being rubbed by the pipe that moves up and down.

OnanTheBarbarian

Put some wind in at the garage, maybe resulting in a bit of over-inflation. Get a decent pressure gauge, they don't cost much and then just check the pressures at home when it is cold. Unless you stick something daft like 60psi in the tyres, driving home with them slightly over-inflated in the mid-high 30's is not going to do any harm.

If you have an inflator already at home then just use that, but buy a separate pressure gauge and then you are self-sufficient.