Compact air compressors

[D'z Nutz]

Hey guys,

Any of you have any recommendations on small, compact air compressors I can use to top up my tires? I live in a condo and it's not always convenient or possible to hit up a gas station for air. I'd be nice to have something reliable that I can just keep in my storage room without taking too much space.

Thanks.

[J-hop]

I bought this when it went on sale for around $50 for filling up my tires, works great and saves me firing up the large compressor just to fill tires.

I also carry one of those air pumps you plug into your car's outlet in all my vehicles but after using one of them for a year on a tire that had a slow leak I can tell you i'd only suggest those for emergency uses, they take FOREVER to pump up a tire.

[FraserB]

How much do you want to spend? I have run the Canadian Tire one that plugs into the lighter, the MV-50 that clips to the battery and now run a hardmount ARB unit that will fill 4 33"-35" tires from flat to 35psi in under 20 minutes.

All three are small enough to keep in the car. For a budget I would go with the MV-50. Having something that is portable is great for camping as well, or rafting.

[D'z Nutz]

The one J-hop posted looks pretty appealing if it's at $50. Looks like I just missed it on sale too.

J-hop: Is it light enough to carry from storage to car pretty easily?

[J-hop]

Oh yea definitely, I can weigh it but it's gotta be under 10 pounds. It is quite small so you won't be able to run any tools off it but for tires and other small jobs it does the trick

[D'z Nutz]

Sounds perfect! Thanks for the recommendation. Now to wait for the next sale haha

[effingidiot]

I got this from crappy tire ~2-3 years ago. Don't remember the price, but I think it was around $20-30 and it's small enough to be in my car all the time. Only problem is: I think it's discontinued

[Ven]

I bought one at Crappy Tire 15 years ago for $9 and it still works awesome, although it's pretty beat now. The exact same one comes on sale there every year for $9 in the fall usually.

Looks like this one....

[MGCM]

Originally posted by J-hop
I bought this when it went on sale for around $50 for filling up my tires, works great and saves me firing up the large compressor just to fill tires.

I also carry one of those air pumps you plug into your car's outlet in all my vehicles but after using one of them for a year on a tire that had a slow leak I can tell you i'd only suggest those for emergency uses, they take FOREVER to pump up a tire.

Actually I bought a pump that is a bit smaller than the one u have but for my cars outlet, it does a decent job of pumping up tires, i wouldn't call it slow by any means. It's a crappy tire one as well, it has served me well for auto-x and rally-x and of course the occasional tire pressure adjustment between events. It's probably one of the best car outlet pumps u can get.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en


Air Tanks are also another great option

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

[FraserB]

Hate the first one, soooo slow for even passenger tires. As for a tank, you'll need something to fill it anyways.

I would grab an MV-50, ok price and its portable. Good speed for what it is.

[D'z Nutz]

FYI, the compressor J-hop recommended is on sale this week

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/pr...=1347293956098

For the (sale) price and my needs, it's a great pick up and I already put it to use a couple times this weekend already. The hose it comes with sucks, but fortunately I had an extra kicking around. Swap that in with a couple quick release connectors and I was good to go!

[btimbit]

Got that one a few days ago too, works great.

[Graham_A_M]

^ Yeah for $50, you cant beat that. Im not surprised the hose it came with sucks, seems typical on these really good deals.

[HuMz]

Picked up the portable TJM compressor for $150 last week at the gear shop and it performed awesome after our run yesterday. Filled all 4 tires from 16 to 36 psi in about 10 min.

[Graham_A_M]

Last year I bought a 1.3hp 4liter tank compressor at Princess for $100 IIRC, although it may have been $120. Its not bad for such a small little thing. It fills up the tires in no time, and decent enough for air tools under fairly consistent use. I use it for detailing my car all the time, but my only complaint is how loud it is if you're working right beside it. So I bought a different air filter & some (extending) 3/4" piping (all from Princess for $15 total) so its not nearly as loud.

Here it is, but it was on sale at the time.
http://www.princessauto.com/pal/prod...Air-Compressor

Then I got this from my work as they didn't use it anymore, but not exactly small enough to toss in a storage bay when you're not using it.
http://www.princessauto.com/pal/prod...-Special-Order

Best $35 I ever spent
Works like charm. If you cant run pneumatic tools off this, or fill up your tires... somethings the matter.

[flipstah]

Holy fuck, these compressors are huge now. The one I have in my Outlander is a portable one and while it takes a while to get my tire topped up, it doesn't weigh like a beast unlike these new ones.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

http://www.bon-aireindustries.com/pr....cfm?prodID=45

This one shows up at Costco for ~$35 every once in a while, I got mine a few years ago and it's been great.