dont pay for air

Arklight

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Our local Sainsburys is free but more often than not, out of order, Tesco is 50p, to be honest I don't mind paying 50p, a decent electric pump that won't fall apart after a couple of uses is £40 ish and I ain't going to buy another car that comes with a repair kit just to pump up the tyres on my car.

In my experience the supermarket £1 a go pumps are unreliable at best. Three different ones will give you three different pressure readings. The Tesco one didn't fill my tyres at alI (it was happy to take my £1 though).

I have a foot pump. It gives reliable readings, is good exercise, and isn't going to go wrong anytime soon.

oldagetraveller

prowla wrote: »

I have a foot pump, so I can do my tyres without having to drive the car anywhere.


I get a mini step-aerobics workout whilst doing it.


The pump wasn't free to buy, but it's free to use.

And the more pedantic of us would suggest it isn't free to use. You need to expend energy to do the "mini step-aerobics workout" which isn't free and is converted from the food you buy and eat.:p

giraffe69

Seems completely clear to have a portable compressor. The outlay has already proven worthwhile. Yes, you save 50p or £1 each time you check and you also have more flexibility. I have been able to pump up a slowly puncturing tyre whilst still some way from a garage and it got me home so I could have it checked out the next day. Not sure I would have got home or to a garage if I had not had one. In my part of the world, in addition, many garages are closed after about 8p.m.

I would certainly never be prepared to rely on the goo and would expect a ruined tyre if I did have to use it.

[Deleted User]

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

I think the whokle free air concept was doomed when garages changed from a place that sold petrol and serviced cars into a corner shop that just happened to sell petrol. Now they've morphed again into supermarkets that have a few pumps outside and how very dare you want to pay for your petrol at the till.

All the local Shells and BPs etc round here won't install pay@pump because they want you to go into the shop where they can push their over priced chocolate and snacks on you.

NaughtiusMaximus

I'm amazed anyone pays to use these things, surely it's a complete no brainer that a stand alone compressor works out cheaper and has the added advantage that you can use it anywhere.

[Deleted User]

NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »

I'm amazed anyone pays to use these things, surely it's a complete no brainer that a stand alone compressor works out cheaper and has the added advantage that you can use it anywhere.

ASDA only charge 20p which I'm happy to pay and it gives more than enough time to do all tyres. I agree though that I wouldn't pay £1 unless it was a real emergency e.g puncture on the forecourt.

takman

I'm surprised that so many Tesco seem to charge £1 to simply top up your tyres; the one localish to me charges 20p for air and £1 for screenwash/air.

But at the very least people should have a digital pressure gauge to atleast check the tyres and then only have to top them up if they get low, which shouldn't be very often at all.