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Tire compressor recommendation
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My every-bike-ride-tire-pressure-check-OCD has extended to my cars now and I am powerless to stop it. The choices seem endless so can someone please rec to me a solid, smallish, relatively quiet, fast, accurate tire compressor that I will mainly use for our 2 cars? I am tired of relying on gas stations and like the idea of checking my car tire PSI on the 1st of every month so I can always ensure proper inflation (we have a set of 20's and 21's if that matters). I am not looking for a substantive piece of equipment in my garage, so even portable via cigarette lighter outlet is fine.

Thank you.
Last edited by: maninthearena: Aug 16, 19 8:01
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [maninthearena] [ In reply to ]
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are you looking for a pressure gauge or an air compressor?
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [mgreer] [ In reply to ]
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Both in 1 unit is preferred...unless the gauges in compressors are notoriously inaccurate??? Not sure about that one. If they are, I'm not against getting a very good gauge as a second item, but ideally if the compressor has a reliable gauge built in then that would be ideal. Extra credit if its digital.
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [maninthearena] [ In reply to ]
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maninthearena wrote:
Both in 1 unit is preferred...unless the gauges in compressors are notoriously inaccurate??? Not sure about that one. If they are, I'm not against getting a very good gauge as a second item, but ideally if the compressor has a reliable gauge built in then that would be ideal. Extra credit if its digital.

I"ve got some cheapo digital gauge that I just leave in the car all of the time. Pretty sure it's this one. It's certainly not a lab grade gauge, but I'm not too concerned about being 5psi off as long as it's consistent.

At home I just use the air compressor in the garage. Also some cheapo 2 gallon compressor that I picked up from the hardware store years ago to do some trim carpentry work with.
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [maninthearena] [ In reply to ]
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I have this one, and I'm happy with it: https://www.amazon.com/...dExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

It has an accurate gauge and plenty of battery capacity for car and bicycle tires.
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [maninthearena] [ In reply to ]
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If you are going to go full tire pressure OCD there are some rules:

1) You need a high accuracy tire pressure gage, one with less than a 1% deviation: Longacre 53006 2" Basic Digital Tire Gauge 0-60 PSI is my choice and available on Amazon

2) You need to have car rims that have two valve stems -1 for putting air in and 1 for measuring the pressure as you adjust the tire. Since I'm a Miata guy 949 is my choice, but you can get them for any car. Here is what I'm running: https://949racing.com/15x7-6UL.aspx

3) You need to read this article and understand the principles, then get some chalk and go to town: https://www.intercotire.com/...thod_determining_psi

Or you could just not care like the majority of motorist and rely on that little yellow light, like my wife does. :)

"...the street finds its own uses for things"
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [AutomaticJack] [ In reply to ]
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Bold. Thanks all.
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [maninthearena] [ In reply to ]
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I've got the older model gen version of this Kobalt air inflator:

https://www.lowes.com/...ource-Car/1000092575

It currently lives in the wife's emergency car kit in case of flats/low pressure. It's nice that it has both an AC and DC mode (plug for outlets and 12v for use while the car is running). Good space saver.

For just generally checking air pressure I used one of these:



Now these days when filling tires at home I just use my air compressor (20 gallon tank) with one of those combo gauges/schraeder valve inflator like so (decent accuracy as it is calibrated within 1% or 0.1 display resolution per the specs).


Last edited by: loxx0050: Aug 16, 19 10:49
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [loxx0050] [ In reply to ]
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This is awesome. I like the size and capabilities.
Appreciate the info.
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [RichardL] [ In reply to ]
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RichardL wrote:
I have this one, and I'm happy with it: https://www.amazon.com/...dExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

It has an accurate gauge and plenty of battery capacity for car and bicycle tires.

Does that include a presta head or do you use an adapter?
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [jstonebarger] [ In reply to ]
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I use a presta adapter, which comes with the air compressor.
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [maninthearena] [ In reply to ]
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I am very close to pulling the trigger on this Kobalt 12V and 120V Compressor
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [maninthearena] [ In reply to ]
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$100 compressor from a big box home store would work well. Mine is about one foot on each dimension. It's a little bit loud but I can get 100 PSI. it has a quick change on the hose so I can throw on a Schrader Chuck to do car tires and I set up a different presta using an old blow gun and an extra head from a broken pump. I use mine constantly it's also good for parts cleaning with a blowgun and very handy if you're going to run tubeless tires they can be difficult to set up with a hand pump. I have owned more serious air compressors so I could run a pneumatic impact wrench an angle grinder for car repairs but found it was easier and cheaper to just replace those tools with electric ones and use the cheaper smaller compressor. A pancake style compressor would also be fine for your needs.
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Re: Tire compressor recommendation [efernand] [ In reply to ]
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efernand wrote:
I am very close to pulling the trigger on this Kobalt 12V and 120V Compressor

Just my advice but get it directly from Lowe's instead. Kolbalt is the Lowe's brand in house tools. They sell it at their stores for $50 and you have a place to deal with any returns/exchanges just in case. In my post above I linked the Lowe's webpage direct link for reference.
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