ShinyBiker

I read online that you can use a bike pump to inflate a car tire. Well, it worked, but now I have a sore back. It took a lot of strokes, but I did manage to get it up to the recommended PSI.

I was wondering, is there a floor mounted pump that will allow me to do this quicker? I'm using a cheap avenire pump that has a gauge built into it. Or, is it a question of physics and too much air area vs. the air area of a bike tire.

Shimagnolo

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-A.../dp/B000IE0YIQ

wphamilton

I keep this in the car for inflating bicycle tires, or car tires occasionally. It's $20 at autozone https://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=491905_0_0_

I don't understand using a floor pump or foot pump at home, unless it's just for the exercise.

CACycling

^^^ This ^^^ Bike pumps fall into two basic categories. Low volume/high pressure (road bike tires runiing 100+ psi) and high volume/low pressure (MTB tires running less than 70 or so PSI). However, even the "high volume" of a 26 x 2 MTB tire holds a fraction of the amount of air a car tire holds so you will be pumping for a long time to get any significant increase in your car's tire. 12V compressors are the way to go for cars and work great on bikes as well.

As a side note. I recently drove by the home of one of our city councilmen and saw him in the front of his house pumping up the tire on his Mercedes wagon with a bike pump. It was definately good for a laugh and I was tempted to video it but, as I was in a city vehicle, didn't think it would be a good career move.

Spld cyclist

I wanted to add a few psi to my car tires the other night and had no trouble with my bike pump. It took a couple minutes per tire. It's certainly not the best way if you need to add a significant amount of air, but if the pressure is just a little low it's way quicker than driving the car to a gas station. (And if you check your tires regularly, they shouldn't be more than a little low unless you have a leak).

Jim S.

Telly

I've tried inflating a car tire with a bicycle pump once and it did seem work but would take a really long time, probably destroying the pump in the process.

Not sure if you have the following types of pumps in the states, but here in Europe they're quite common, dirt cheap and the dual cylinder models will inflate a totally flat 15" 185/65 tire within a few minutes (been there, done that!)

roashru

this might be more than what you are looking for check out floor air pumps that are used for air rifles.
https://www.pyramydair.com/a/Accessor.../Hand_pumps/83

CB HI

That would be a waste of money since it would not pump up a car tire any better than a low end bicycle pump.

GriddleCakes

I've used a Joe Blow floor pump to inflate a car tire; go at with a will and it takes about 5 minutes. It doesn't make me sore, but I've got pretty solid core strength. The foot pump that Telly posted is probably a better idea; not as hard on the back and it allows you to use your whole body's weight.

It takes me about a minute to inflate a bike tire with a floor pump, and never have I been inflating a bike tire and wished that I had an air compressor; it just seems like overkill to me, like using a car to travel 2 miles or less. There's some satisfaction to be had from doing things by hand, and from accomplishing a task under your own power.

Given a reasonable amount of work to be done (e.g.- a half acre lawn, a 4 car driveway, a cord of firewood), I'd much rather use a reel mower than a power mower, a snow shovel over a snow blower, and an axe and maul over a hydraulic wood splitter (although I do prefer a chainsaw for bucking logs). I have a food processor, but it's noisy as heck and I much prefer my chef knife, which is both silent and lets me take pride in my knife skills.

CACycling

I have 7 bikes hanging in my garage. To run down the row with a 12V compressor takes 10 minutes. To take each bike down, pump with a floor pump and rehang would take a lot longer. Just easier to do them all and have them ready for whoever is riding whatever bike.

roashru

you missed the original post question. the question was how "quicker"... those air pumps i mentioned are tall high volume high pressure ones that will fill any tire faster than any common bicycle air pump.

fietsbob

get a powered air compressor.

Shimagnolo

Exactly.
I don't follow the desire for a manual pump, when the link I posted for a compressor costs less than many hand pumps, can easily go over 100psi, and automatically shuts of at the selected pressure.

Mattrek

$3 dollar can of WD40 and a 25 cent lighter.

https://youtu.be/_meTPTpdkZo

JeffS

Can't say I agree. Those pumps are high pressure, but certainly not high volume. I would expect one to take much longer to pump a car tire than a standard bike pump.

There are some higher volume pumps on the market that would technically be more suited to automotive use, but every one I see appears to be fairly low quality.


Why would someone want one? A quality product that always works, doesn't require power, and isn't one of those POS, made to break, electric things? I can't imagine why you would want anything else.

Shimagnolo

An Amish man could make the same argument for using a horse & buggy instead of a car.

wphamilton

I wouldn't recommend it if it were a POS made to break thing. While it's not my intention to plug any product, I've used that one for about a year, every day riding, with no issues. It just doesn't take that much air and operating time, compared to airing up a car tire, to top off bicycle tires so it's not that much wear and tear on it.

I've gone through about three floor pumps, two foot pumps and one 12-volt auto pump in the several years before buying that one at auto-zone. It also airs up car tires as OP requested although I wouldn't try to use it three times a week pumping up a slow leak.

ShinyBiker

Thanks for the replies. It appears that this one that JeffS is something along the lines that I was thinking:

https://www.amazon.com/Airpower-Ameri...-2147483553-20

I noticed that it is listed in the automotive section (that's good). But it seems to be cheaply made (the base separates from the top) and it doesn't have an air pressure gauge.

To the folks recommending those 12v pumps, my neighbor has one and I see him using it outside and pumping for what seems like an eternity to pump up his car tires. I've seen them at stores and they look and feel cheaply made.

I think for me it took me like 50-100 strokes to get from 25psi to 32 psi which was the recommended tire pressure. I have a stand up pump, not those foot pedal type ones.

MK313

+1 on the Black & Decker. I picked one up 2 years ago & haven't touched my floor pumps since. I can certainly pump up my car tires with the Topeak Joe Blow (or the specialized whatever pump that I also have) but the B&D is just so much faster & less effort. It's great for bikes & works fine on my cars too.

ThermionicScott 

+1 on "electricity is your friend".

seanile

if you didnt jack your car up in order to take the downward pressure off the tire, then i think that might have a lot of play with how difficult it will be to pump your car tire.

DrJerry

If you are at home, this is what you really need--> https://www.harborfreight.com/1-3-hp-...sor-97080.html FOr slightly more than a good bike pump.

Shimagnolo

That tops out at 90psi.
OK, for mtn & touring bikes.