Using tyre air pumps at petrol stations

nicke20

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.

Oh dear more missinformation

As I have said before I run a petrol station
As a rule if you pay for your air then the machine is owned by an offsite company eg "airserve" what you are paying for is accuracy, and this is guaranteed by an audit trail. the parent company will service the air vend machine once a month and check the guage is accurate up to the max working preasure of the pump. They then issue a certificate stating the date, time of test, who tested and machine serial number.
Think logicaly, in these litigous times if you filled your tyres to 30 psi had a crash and found out it was because they where at 50psi you would take the petrol station to court! hence we farm out the air machine to a third party and have the mechanism in place to deliver accurate air preassure
job done

Stoke

12v compressor here too.

Essential piece of kit.

rexmedorum

do you drive somewhere else regularly (like work) that is closer to a petrol station?

ripplyuk

There is another one I could use that would involve less driving but the air pump seems to be out of order so often, I'm not sure I'd trust it.

I've ordered a pressure gauge so I'm going to try using that with my own compressor to see if I can get the pressure right myself. If not, I'll get a footpump.

Also ordered a tyre tread gauge. Don't know why I didn't have one before!

Norman_Castle

Unless your tyres are punctured they should only need a small increase. Easy with a footpump. I've got two compressors but always use a footpump as its easier and quicker.

lexington013

Aldi sell a 12v one for £5.99. Its been great, runs off the cigar lighter in the car.

societys_child

I think we're going a bit ott about a couple of psi, if you've 3 people sat in the back, luggage in the boot you should increase the rear tyre psi a bit (by how much?)
I've a one ton pick-up, recommended pressures:
Front: 28 psi
Rear: 30 psi - empty
. . . . .45 psi - half load
. . . . .65 psi - full load

Vast differences.

So if I go to the local builders yard for a ton of sand, do I drive there with 30 psi in the back and pump the tyres up to 65 before loading? Sounds like a lot of hard work lol

BillJones

Bollotom wrote: »

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That would mean you are driving not to manufacturers' spec and at times you could be driving with over-inflated tyres. I'm with the others. Footpump and pressure gauge. :cool:

But if you fill to precisely the recommended figure, then the second you drive off, you are slightly under. If you find that between fills you are dropping, for example, 4PSI, then it's best to overfill by 2, and then when you fill up again you are only under by two. Filling up to the recommended number, then waiting until it is 4 under means that you are on sub-optimal levels for more of the time.

philgr

Wouldn't the heat generated by use, friction etc, cause the air in the tyre to expand and the pressure increase? I would simply fill to spec and check regularly than try to be clever and start over inflating tyres by a pound or two

roddydogs

Foot pumps not hard work? If your as old as me they are.