I started out on a 130 mile day of driving, and before long, the tire pressure light came on. Ordinarily, I carry a box with a tire pump, patch kit, and first aid kit in the car. I had removed that emergency box the day before when I had to fold down the seats to carry a load.

So, was one tire just a bit lower than the others, or was it something serious? With a lot of high speed driving ahead of me, I decided to buy a pump. I could have paid $1.50 to pump up the low tire, but I didn't want to keep looking for pumps all day. I went to a local hardware store and bought a pump for $25. I think I have five pumps now. One tire was down to 22 psi. I pumped it up, reset the warning light, and drove the rest of the day without trouble. I have another big day of driving, so if the tire is low, I'll put on the new ones that are in the shed. These are the originals, with about 4/32" of tread left.

No matter how prepared you think you might be, stuff happens. : (

 

I'm really surprised that a tire would be down 10+ pounds unless it's been a long, long, time since it was last checked. Colder weather could account for a bit of shrinkage but certainly not that much.

I have one good pump. I threw away two older pumps when I bought this one (I'm trying to minimize clutter). There's actually a gas station with air pump about 100 ft away from my garage but I don't like paying for air so I never use it.

 

1psi change for 10F ambient change.

amazon has these tiny air pumps by Slime. i have them in 3 of my cars, compact and powerful enough. it runs off your 12v power socket. make sure your car is running while using the pump not to drain the battery. i mounted heavy duty velcro and just stick to the trunk floor carpeting.

at home i have an old black&decker air pump that runs off 120v.

 

Which Model Slime did you purchase ?

 

I've used a 12 volt pump to add 3 psi to each of 4 tires and 20 psi to the spare. After 3 psi in each of 4 tires the pump felt rather hot, almost painfully hot; so I let it cool for about 15 minutes before doing the spare. I've got into the habit of hooking the pump directly to the battery because in my last car the 12 volt socket in the dash didn't meat the amperage requirement of the pump - 150 watt maximum - and the Fit has only 1/2 an amp leeway. 15 amps; 180 watts. It's a Viair model 85P pump rated as drawing 14.5 amps maximum.

Yes I've been neglecting to put an inline fuse in the adapter cable I made, using just a few feet of 16 gauge lamp cord. Remind me to install one.

Anyway, I don't run the engine while pumping, but I have not yet had a problem starting the engine. Always starts right up.

 

The more expensive Slime pumps are better. I had the least-expensive one and it took too long to pump up a tire. When it broke I got a more expensive one.


Not so bad for the Fit but I had a friend with a big SUV and all her tires were way low (like 25 lbs when the proper pressure was 55). Took me about a half-hour to pump up all four tires. Made me wish I'd gotten the even more expensive one. The difference is maybe $10.

 

Yes, I was surprised it was that low because the TPMS lets me know if one loses significant air. I've driven a couple of hundred miles since then, and it's fine. My emergency kit is back in the car, and I have four more pumps on the shelf in the garage. : )

 

I think the one in my emergency kit is Slime.

 

yah, i use the slime on occasion but run mostly my 120v one in my garage for maintaining my cars.


Slime COMP02

 

I keep a slime pump in all our cars. When you need air there isn't always a place to get it. Best to pump your own.

 

I have a Slime pump as well, model unknown...set the desired pressure and it shuts off automatically...fairly accurate when compared to an actual gauge reading, it seems...lives in the back of the Fit, and yeah, 1 psi loss for every 10 degrees of temp drop sounds correct

 

^^ that's cool. my black&decker has that too and is very convenient when doing multiple cars cause i can be working on another car while it's pumping. as you, i fine tune the psi at the very end using my digital pressure gauge.

 

many thank you‘s for the update

 

no problem. happy pumping

 

I have of these in the garage, but it's not very portable. : )

 

As long as you flip those magical seats up you're golden. ;-)

 

is dat like for ur blowup doll? lol

 

And the trailer hitch would let me tow a trailer carrying a generator to power the compressor./ : )

 

Let me think of a witty reply...

 

that sounds like a bumper sticker! nicely done.

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