Do you pay for air?

[WillitFit]

I'm very much a look after the pennies kind of person. I know cancelling Netflix and stopping the daily coffee, buying fewer designer tshirts isn't going to buy a house, but it can buy a holiday, for example.

DS1 very much has an attitude of "it's only a couple of quid/a fiver/£20" and to my mind fritters away a lot of his money. Which is fine, it's his money afterall, but it makes me feel like I've failed in his financial education.

I asked him this morning if he knows how to put air in his tyres because I needed to do mine and would show him "I go to the garage ,it's only 50p for 5 mins".

I need to give up! Paying for air when we have perfectly good easy to use equipment to do it for free!

You should be checking your tyre pressures at least once a month and before long journeys.

You should be checking your PSI regularly, and definitely before a long journey. It's not something you do once in a blue moon (or shouldn't be).

If you don't notice you need air until you're a long way from home, you are spending a fair amount of time driving a car with unsafe tyres!

Having your tyres at the wrong PSI is a safety issue.

@Octomore That depends on your normal driving, if half your driving is long distance it's fairly reasonable. Besides I didn't say I was a long way from home, but if I'm out and feel they need doing, I do them, otherwise I forget. It's easier to tell they need doing on well surfaced roads.
They get done regularly anyway, at least everytime I need a new tyre, which is quite a lot.

This! They're brilliant. More convenient than driving to fuel stations with a flat tyre.

If half your driving is long distance, you should be checking your pressures more regularly.

Maybe if you checked them more then you wouldn’t need new tyres as often!

I take a trundle to the local tyre fitter. He does it for me for free. I must be the laziest person on this thread.

I never said once in a blue moon , I said it’s not a daily or weekly occurrence. Paying £1 every month or so it’s hardly a cost worth saving imo

When I checked mine today the one that was replaced a few weeks ago was seriously over inflated by the "expert".

I'm pretty sure the punctures are due to driving over sharp things. Like I said, it depends what driving you do. I'm confident my tyres have the air they need though.

I’m so confused about having to pay to pump up your car tyres. Is it not free at all service stations (place where you buy fuel)? Fill your tank, clean your windscreen with the free squeegee and bucket of water, and then drive a few metres to the free air compressor? After that if you need a wee you go in and ask for the toilet key, which will of course be attached to some sort of large piece of wood in order to discourage stealing it and to make you remember to go return it to the servo attendant.

When did cars come with included air compressors? Do you not have a proper spare tyre in the boot? Or even a shitty little space saving spare tyre that’s only good for less than 100km?

So confused. Come visit Australia. The air is free here.

It used to be free, water too, if you filled up. They started charging maybe 20 years ago. Because they could, and that's how capitalism works. Maybe that's when OPs dh bought the pump?

Never had squeegee and bucket, that would just get nicked, unless that's also attached to a large bit of wood.

I had no idea you could buy pumps you can use at home - I hate doing mine at the garage. This is going on my Christmas list! Thank you OP!

I got my pump in Aldi for less than a tenner. You plug it into the cigarette lighter and off it goes. Not really about the money it's more being prepared if you develop a slow puncture. Which happened to me, went to work popped to Aldi came out and realised tyre was nearly flat, pumped it up and off I went.

Better to be prepared imo

For those of you with tyre inflators, do they read the current pressure then inflate to your set pressure, or do you have to read the pressures first and set the amount to inflate? Asking as I bought an inflator years ago and it's to faffy - have to read the pressures manually then set the machine to add, e.g. 4psi.
If you do have a super-whizzy all-automatic one, what is it?

It's a digital one I have . I think it defaults to 31.5 and which you can increase or decrease then set and it starts. I can not walk away though I have to watch. No maths involved.

I'm confident my tyres have the air they need though
Just by looking?
If so I thought the same until I was proved horribly wrong. I do them monthly now more if I'm going on a big car journey and I nearly always need to add a little to get optimum psi. Much safer and saves on wear and tear.

Don’t most modern cars tell you when the tires need inflating? Our last couple have?

My car has a warning light that comes on if I get a puncture or if the tyres are really low - it doesn't warn you if they are only slightly low (other cars might be different). I've got into the habit of checking them monthly with a portable digital inflater that cost me £20 years ago. Keeping your tyres properly inflated makes for safer driving and prolongs the life of your tyres.

I do it at the garage, only do it when the tyre light comes on which is once in a blue moon anyways. I do have a machine but would only use it in an emergency, I last used it during the first lockdown as the garage was closed off.

I'm pretty sure the punctures are due to driving over sharp things

Low tyre pressure will make the edges of the tyre wear out prematurely. It also makes the tyre run hotter so more likely to blow out at speed.

DH bought one of the home ones and it broke the second time it was used, so we’re back to the petrol station for tyre inflation. We also have a foot pump that can be used in an emergency, but that is a serious workout.

Most cars now have tyre pressure monitoring that will tell you if your tyres are below a certain level of pressure, so weekly checking has gone out with the dipstick for checking oil levels.

it reads it for you. You can then get it to inflate to a set psi. Its very easy to do. I got ours from argos.

I have a tiny and very basic spec 3 YO car and it has tyre pressure sensors.

They seem quite sensitive and alert to even small pressure drops.