I am looking for a car tyre pump. I find the idea of using my car to power a pump unappealing.
Two pumps I am considering are the Michelin two cylinder foot pump and the Ring RAC750 mains powered pump.
One requirement is the ability to inflate a tyre which is nearly flat. Something the pump at my local Tesco petrol station won't do.
Anyone able to offer any comments on these pumps or suggest a better alternative?
I have a Michelin branded electrical pump, bought some yearsa go at Halford. It will inflate a totally flat tyre, which my "old fashioned" Dunlop foot pump would not.
I have used a Halford 12v supply unit to power it when pumping up airbeds, etc indoors away from the car.
I have a new Halfords one which is claimed to be 'rapid' and indeed it is quite fast. It's digital and checks out as accurate. It will do 60psi no bother. Of course it's 12V. Why don't you want to use the car power for the pump?
Bill
If by ' Michelin two cylinder foot pump' you mean this one:
I had one and it is utter carp. Because the foot part fits within the frame it only takes a slight skew while pumping for the bit you are pushing to collide with the frame and make pumping difficult.
I think I asked here to try to replace it but decent manual foot pumps seems to be non-existant now. My father had a brass 'kismet' that lasted forever but I could find nothing like that now - at any price.
Michael Chare scribbled...
A mains pump ain't gonna be of any use away from home. The Tesco pump would have problems if the tyre has fallen off the beads. Take it to a garage and get it inflated properly for a quid.
Why so?
They work, they're cheap and sufficiently reliable that I've never had a problem with one.
I often get one at Xmas or birthday time. I think I've got 3 now.
The tyres I was trying to inflate have tubes and were not completely flat. I suspect the Tesco pump is programmed not to work when the tyre pressure is low. 'They' tend not to like it if you try to inflate non car tyres.
That was last year's solution to the problem.
A bicycle track pump.
Typically, the modern "clever" pumps need to see some pressure to know they're connected and to start to pump. There's usually a "flat tyre" button on them, which bypasses that requirement.
I have no practical experience of car battery powered pumps. But I do know that the amount of power that can be drawn from a car is much less that that available from the mains!
I had a Michelin single barrel pump - the piston rod bent and I agree - POS.
Get a 12V electric pump - my VW supplied one recovered a total flat whilst the vehicle was sitting on it.
Well, be guided by those who have.
The amount of water in a bath is less than that in Ladybower, but if you only want a cupful...
Seriously, there's no problem with these 12V things. They're all a bit cheap and cheerful, but they do the job OK. I have a Halfords one that I dated 1999 and it's still OK. They seem to pull about 10A, which isn't a problem for the short time you use it. Your car battery would give you that easily for a couple of hours at least. I always extend the cable on these pumps because I find I often have to pump up other people's tyres (I have adult daughters, one of whom drove 26 miles down the M18 on a tyre containing, as it turned out, 11psi, so I would pump it up for her). If you do extend it use fairly stout cable or the voltage drop is severe.
Bill
Same manufacturer as one of your mains options, I have one of these, actually it's my second gave the first to my son, find them very good the Ring RAC600 this is one from Amazon, I supported my local car parts shop
It's car battery operated as this auto express review shows
and
Some of the 12v ones work and some don't. Some don't like inflating more than 1 tyre without a long cooling off period. I have three, two very old, 25yrs and one very new. These all work OK and will inflate more than 1 tyre without overheating. I have consigned another two more recent ones to the recycling as they overheated and emitted the magic smoke. One of the early ones needed the inflator tubing replaced as it perished. IME it is a matter of suck it and see, as they are all made in China and are inherently very variable.
Here's one I made earlier...
Michael Chare scribbled...
I was going to say get some new tubes, but I'm not sure you can buy them now.
I have one of these and it's the dogs whatsits
A bit more expensive than most and unfortunately showing as not available at the moment.
It will inflate a 3.5 ton van tyre from near flat to 65 psi in three or four minutes. Something which takes about 20 minutes of hard work with a big stirrup pump.
(I need a battery powered one because I keep a horsebox on a site with no mains, but I have several leisure batteries for lights and electric fencers. If you always have mains available the Ring is probably OK).
Not sure why you have problems at Tesco unless a bead had become unseated, in which case even a tyre fitters might need to use a Cheetah
I killed one of the early 12 V pumps when I got the Land Rover. There is *a lot* of air in 255/85R16 tyres compared to yer average car. I've now got a some what more heavier duty unit that has a fan to cool the motor and compressor.
They are available for a lot less than list.
Why? Plenty power in the battery for such tasks and if you.'really worried, start the engine!
Foot pumps are an abomination. Require a huge amount of effort and hard to find a solidly constructed one.
That'll be handy on the hard shoulder...
Have a word with Tesco about that. Never had a problem with too low pressure myself.
A 12V pump!
Tim
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