Hey Guys:

I noticed a couple days ago that one of the tires on my 16valve has gone completely flat due to a slow leak. I've always refilled it with air, but due to Christmas, etc. I let it go by accident.

Is it okay to fill it up with a bike pump enough to limp slowly to a gas station?

Thanks!

I've inflated many a car tire with a bicycle pump. The foot operated ones are the easiest to use and don't take too long. No real need to take it to a gas station afterwards.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

As I recall, the rule-of-thumb is 50 strokes per PSI....

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

My girlfriend said that.....Oh you said "PSI" not "sigh"

Actually the major problem you may encounter is that some bike pumps have a differnt sized connector than do auto tire pumps. Other than that, it is just a lot of work.

Unless of course you are using American air on your German car....which has a different relative atmospheric pressure requirement than does German air. You will need to increase the pressure by 4.213524% to compensate... :p

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Thanks guys,

I'll give it a try with the bike pump and see what happens.

I did it once from almost flat to 30+ psi. It took a long while especially since the bike pump is so old, and it's leaking too.

After that I decided that those shade-tree (lots of them in Indonesia) tire repair 'stations' were the way to go. I mean 50cents later they were happy and so was I..

BTW, I never saw those free air at fuel stations back home... I wonder why actually. Maybe people are too afraid to fill up their own tires at fuel stations.

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2008 BMW 335i Coupe

Oh please.....lets not start THAT again! :p

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

they sell 12v 300psi air compressors at pepboys for less that $30 I believe.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Well, now I see a challenge to see if I can do it with a bike pump!

'Course we're looking at some lousy stuff coming out of the sky tonight through the morning, so I probably won't'even bother 'till it clears up. (One advantage to having three cars!)