Portable tire inflator recommendation?
For auto and trailer tires where the max PSI is 44 PSI or 60 PSI, what is a good, well built tire inflator that has a hose that screws onto the tire (I want it to screw onto the tire valve, because hu...
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Viair is as good as there is for a 12 volt portable and has a price tag to match. The Masterflow MV-50 gets a lot of good reviews but is a cheap(er) clone of Viair. This person took one apart to see the differences in construction. Of importance when looking at these besides max. psi is CFM and duty cycle. Note that a 100% duty means a lower CFM (at least with Viair) to reduce chances of the compressor overheating.
I bought a used Viair 300P which does 2.30 cfm @ 150 psi (with 33% duty cycle), their highest CFM of all their models. I modified it by installing a Viair pressure switch inside the end cover that is on @ 90 psi and off @ 120 psi. I installed a standard female quick connect fitting instead of the normal open-ended male fitting, a pressure gauge and a male trolling plug on the cord. Bought a 25' length of super-flexible poly air hose and added a thumb pressure relief valve. Mounted the trolling receptacle on the junction box in the A-frame (a new PVC water-tite box I installed). This compressor works great and is plenty fast for even the 80 psi truck tires even when I tested by letting about 1/2 the air out.
Viair makes excellent compressors but oddly, their tire inflator gauge is cheap junk. I returned the new one I bought. Don't waste your money on one. I was unable to find a good one without spending around $200-300 and just use a standard tire chuck & digital gauge. The pistol grip gun that Viair uses (lower left photo) is the same quality as $10 ones like at Harbor Freight and elsewhere. I also did not like the cheap recoil hose that came with the Viair gun and it went back with the inflator gun.
I bought a used Viair 300P which does 2.30 cfm @ 150 psi (with 33% duty cycle), their highest CFM of all their models. I modified it by installing a Viair pressure switch inside the end cover that is on @ 90 psi and off @ 120 psi. I installed a standard female quick connect fitting instead of the normal open-ended male fitting, a pressure gauge and a male trolling plug on the cord. Bought a 25' length of super-flexible poly air hose and added a thumb pressure relief valve. Mounted the trolling receptacle on the junction box in the A-frame (a new PVC water-tite box I installed). This compressor works great and is plenty fast for even the 80 psi truck tires even when I tested by letting about 1/2 the air out.
Viair makes excellent compressors but oddly, their tire inflator gauge is cheap junk. I returned the new one I bought. Don't waste your money on one. I was unable to find a good one without spending around $200-300 and just use a standard tire chuck & digital gauge. The pistol grip gun that Viair uses (lower left photo) is the same quality as $10 ones like at Harbor Freight and elsewhere. I also did not like the cheap recoil hose that came with the Viair gun and it went back with the inflator gun.
