anyone have a oil less compressor? are they any good? just need one for tires, maybe 3 coin opp in town

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

I had one of those harbor freight pancake compressor. Worked good no issues for a while. Bought a bigger higher cfm compressor for impact tools so gave it away to the neighbor

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1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero

Take a look at Viair 88P approx. $65. The hose is long and threads onto the valve stem, I didn't like that at first but realized it doesn't leak nor fly off. Carry one in the RV.

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

I check my tires every two or three weeks, or before/after a day on the road. I use a high-quality hand pump, and I carry one when I'm on road trips. If you need to use your spare tire, it's probably going to be low on pressure.

Topeak's "Joe Blow" line of bicycle hand pumps are great. They make some that are high-volume/low-pressure for mountain bikes and fat tire bikes that also work better for cars. My current low-volume/high-pressure Topeak pump is about 15 years old and working fine. I might treat myself to a low-pressure/high-volume model though.

https://www.topeak.com/us/en/products/41-Floor-Pumps/845-JOEBLOW-DUALIE

Most of Topeak's stuff is made in Taiwan, but some is made in China.

I have to pull my cars out of my cramped garage to check the tire pressures. I do this early in the mornings when the cars are cooled off and before sunlight can hit the tires (heating them up and increasing the pressure).

A bunch of the (other) geezers in Bubba Estates are out early getting in their 10,000 steps before it gets too hot. They always ask me "Do you have a flat tire?"

Using a separate high-quality gauge, I set the pressures so the gauge needle is right on a one-PSI hash mark. If one tire's pressure is significantly less than that of the other tire on the axle, I go looking for an embedded nail or screw and I always find one. I've caught a lot of slow leaks from embedded nails or screws this way, and I catch them when and where it's easier to deal with them.

Tire pressures go up or down about one PSI for every ten degrees F (Ideal Gas Law). I adjust the pressures to their "baseline" based on the average forecast low temperatures for the next ten days. If the average forecast daily low temperature is 65 degrees F and it's 75 degrees F the morning I check and adjust pressures, I and an extra one PSI.

I check tires more often in the second half of the calendar years, since the outside temperatures are decreasing. In the spring, I often have to bleed air out instead of adding it.

I bought a 12v air compressor to carry in the car and found the thin cord dropped so much voltage the pump practically quit by time the tire was inflated. Replaced with heavy cable and ran much better.

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Tony H
W111 280SE 3.5 Coupe
Manual transmission

Past cars:
Porsche 914 2.0
'64 Jaguar XKE Roadster
'57 Oval Window VW
'71 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck-Dad bought new
'73 Toyota Celica GT

? You don't have any tire shops nearby ? .

When I'm away from the *one* gas station near me that has 'free' air, I just stop into any tire shop and ask .

I went to a COSTCO in TEXAS that sold tires, they wouldn't let me touch their air hose but took some time to adjust theirs to the 40 PSI I needed .

Remember : few tires are ever even close to properly inflated .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

free air is over here for 26 years. punk's cut hose's can't even have a coin op carwash

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

Free air? Lol I think those days are long gone especially in crackhead California

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1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero

The nearest place that sells tires, Walmart, is seven miles from my house. I wouldn't let them touch my Chevy Cobalt.

I like owning and using tools. The rate-of-return on tools is huge.

I've turned tire maintenance into one of my "efficiency" or "outcome manipulation" games. Through a process I call "tire whispering," I'll get at least 60k miles out of the original tires on Frau Putzer's X3. I got 40k miles out of the high-performance tires on my 535i. My top five mileage records for a set of four tires are: 79k, 74k, 70k, 70k, and 68k miles. But, those were wearing them down to 2/32". I'm more risk averse in my old age. So, now I replace tires when they've worn down to 3/32".

The X3's tires might age out (six years of being installed) before the tread's down to 3/32". That's our primary vehicle since it gets the best MPG (better than the Chevy Cobalt), the new car warranty will expire due to time before due to mileage, and it has tires that might age out before being worn out.

The Cobalt got rear ended years ago. The insurance adjuster had a checklist for determining the value of the car. One of them was tire tread depths. Near the end of the tires' life, the depths of all the circumferential channels on all four tires were well within 1/32" of each other. The adjuster said "I've never seen that before."

Not a $50 compressor unless you already use the Ryobi tool line but I find this compressor to be the "bee's knees".

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ONE-18V-Dual-Function-Inflator-Deflator-Tool-Only-P747/308746324

Set the pressure and walk away. Auto shut-off at desired P.S.I.. I put it in the trunk for any long trips.

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“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

Jeeze......

I know Bakersfield is a rough town but damn .

I find that tires usually age out and begin having sidewall leaks before I wear them out .

Of course, unlike most I take the time to properly inflate my tires and keep the vehicles in proper alignment .

Most manufacturer's suggested inflation pressure are far too low to give a soft & cushy ride .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Ya TN is so backwards, and churched. Kids have nothing to do but mischeif. We had free drag racing on weekends, but greed ruined that even. Kids have nothing to do,rather see them build ricer's than buy drugs. But no where to race. this area has maybe .02 black or minority population. But it's the white's talking black talk,and booming car's. Funny as heck. They be beat up in compton.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

The US DOT mandated TPMS was because people are bad about keeping air in their tires. TPMS costs several hundred dollars, and the sensors don't last life of the car, adding more to the total cost of ownership. In contrast, "flat tire monitor" (FTM) costs about $1/car (the cost of an indicator light and a reset button). The rest is using the existing ABS sensors and some software.

A lot of BMW's have a <100 MPH recommended pressures and >100 MPH pressures. For Frau Putzer's X3 <100 MPH, the recommended pressures are 32 PSI front and 35 PSI rear. For >100 MPH, they're 35 PSI front and 45 PSI rear.

The low recommended pressures keep the tires sticking to the pavement when there's a discontinuity in the pavement (expansion jointz, efc.) Also, BMW and M-B are trying to get the cars to ride better on those miserable run-flat tires.

I maintain the same pressures for an entire rotation stint. Then I measure the depths and calculate wear in the circumferential channels. Comparing the two side channels' wear to the two middle channels' assesses the pressures. Based on the wear patterns, I change then the pressures for the next rotation stint if necessary. For the X3, 39 PSI all around gives me almost perfectly equal side wear vs. middle wear. The front tires still wear a little more on the sides (under-inflation), and the rear tires wear a little more in the middle (over-inflation). But, with rotation it all evens out.

Comparing the inside channel's wear to the outside channel's wear assesses alignment. I can catch a misalignment before it causes real damage to the tires. Alignments are cheap compared to tires.

For all this to work, I need a high-resolution (0.001"), digital tread depth gauge. The old mechanical, plunger gauges don't cut it.

BMW passenger cars tend to wear the inner half of the rear tires more, due to a high negative camber of the rear wheels. BMW SUV's tend to wear the outer half of all four tires more, due to less rear camber, higher center of mass causing more body roll and more weight transfer to the outside tires in a turn, and higher aspect ratio tires causing more tire deformation in turns.

The X3's non-run-flat, all-season Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS's are symmetric. After 29k miles, the two inner channels have worn down about 0.5/32" more than the two outer channels. So, at their half life (~32k miles) I'll have the tires flipped on the rims. That will make the tires last another ~7k miles or so.

I put protectant (Meguiar's Endurance) on the outside sidewalls when they start turning brown, and I put it on the inside sidewalls when I rotate the tires. I'm still on my second bottle of Endurance after maybe twenty years. I had to throw away the first bottle because the bottle cracked.

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I paint across the tread with water soluble paint. Drive around a bit and check. Center of tire worn, high pressure. Outer edges, low pressure. One edge, alignment issue.

...What Dubyagee said ! .

This is an extremely simple no cost thing anyone can do and if you're not sure, try it again ~ the paint (or plain chalk) wears off pretty soon so each time you make a stripe across the tread and then drive, you'll be able to test the actual tire contact pattern, believe me, a single pond of pressure can make a HUGE difference and help your work truck handle better as well as your old 4,000 # Mercedes or that 1,200 # Import.....

Nate, I've seen those 12 volt inflators that plug into the cigarette lighter for $20 at the local computer repair store ~ they almost always have other Chinese crap for sale .

I have one I got for free at my favorite junkyard and several years in it still works fine ~ it gets as hot as a two dollar pistol but still works fine, I only use it out on the road , not for daily leaky tire inflation .

I went by Pep Boys to - day and they said "sure ! it'll just take a second, O.K. ? ." .

Yes, that will be fine .
THIRTY FIVE MINUETS LATER I gave up and left, the tire store two blocks away not only filled all four tires to my specified 40 #, they said they can do a proper (caster, camber and toe - in) alignment while I wait for $120 ~ that's not cheap but few do it properly these days .

I need to replace the loose end tie rods thn take it back, I just ordered in the new OEM tie rods from the M-B Classic Center .

Don't get hosed for $50 just to top off your tires occasionally, there's gotta be a cheap one in your local pawn shop or on craigslist etc... .

I hear you about unhappy bored teenagers, same deal here, why I have everything locked up and nailed down tight 24/7 .

When I'm in the great state of TEXAS I always head to the COSTCO to get free air ~ they won't let me touch their hose but they always ask me what pressure I want .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better