Compressor

[Hightower]

Each time I go out and play I have to swap my wheels over  :(

As I'm getting older and lazier, can anyone recommend a decent, but resonably priced, compressor so that I can just whip the nuts off and on with the least amount of effort, a la Kwikfit?

Thanks for any help.

[Paul]

Aldi had one in last week when I went in, 60 ish quid
Also Makro have them from time to time,
I got mine from Screwfix last year 150 quid and
it's the same as the one in Aldi...

Plenty of air storage / output for changing a set of wheels  

[Bush Tucker Man]

Unless you actually require a compressor/receiver why not just buy one of those 12v impact guns (Argos/Machine Mart)

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=1751&productId=93817&Trail=C$cip=12641>C$cip=12693>C$cip=12698&categoryId=12698

I know a compressor would come in handy for inflating tyres, but it's not quite the thing to take with you on your 'jaunts'

[Xtremeteam]

dont buy 1 o the 12v impact guns as they are crap,after its taken you 10 min to do 1 wheel you'le wish u had bought a compressor & air gun

[Hightower]

I have to say that I'm a bit wary of the 12v things.  Not sure if they would have enough ooomph - not too worries about it being portable either.

The 240v mains driven wrenches may be an alternative tho  :?

[robbie]

I bought the Aldi compressor mainly for the DIY jobs, never thought of fixing it in the car for the wheel removal and air tools :)

If it is fixed in well, it should be fine. Or leave it in a support vehicle if there is one

[kevinf]

be very wary of buying cheap compressors to run air tools.
as all rotating tools,impact wrenches,drills,grinders etc need a high delivery of air pressure which isnt related to the receiver size,i found out
the hard way when i bought one from macro(25lt receiver,1.5hp motor)
to operate my air tools left over from my days on the spanners,wouldnt
pull the wheel bolts off a ford orion!

hows about some feed back from people who have compressors any way
they may be some thing cheap/small enough on the market now

cheers kevin :)

[hobbit]

Some of the tyre centres now use cordless drill type units for nut removal, these are good, but very expensive being professional tools.

People like snap on etc produce them....at a price :?
mind you they are handy for other jobs as they take standard 1/2 inch sockets
kev

[Hightower]

After much debate I have made a decision.

I am going to buy a 240v impact wrench.  Found a good deal on eBay (unbranded version of the pro tools that you find for £200+) so will let you know how it goes.

[karloss]

Bit of info on compressors for anyone who’s interested. When looking for a compressor, what you need to look for is not the size of the receiver (storage tank), although the larger the better it’s not the be all and end all. Nor do you want to look for the size of motor. The magic figure is the FAD (free air delivery) this is usually given in CFM (cubic feet per minute) basically this figure needs to as big as possible.
For example, a run of the mill “hobby” compressor will typically have the following spec,
Motor HP 1.5
Max pressure 116 psi
Piston displacement 7.3 CFM
FAD 3.95
Receiver 25ltrs

Now the max pressure means nothing, typically most air tools will give their best performance at around 90 PSI. Any higher than this and they just wear out quicker.  The motor size is also irrelevant. You’ll notice that the piston displacement looks much healthier than the FAD. This is where you need to be careful, because some dealers will try to sell this compressor as a 7.3CFM machine, which it isn’t.  If you look at a basic air tool, such as the whirly gun that started this thread off, a ½ “ drive impact wrench requires a FAD of 21 CFM when in continuous use. Or, at a duty cycle of 50%, ie when you’re changing your wheels to go off roading, 10.5 CFM. Now, spot the problem when using your “hobby” compressor. Now this isn’t to say you can’t do it, you can. But, you will have to wait for your compressor to build up pressure in between wheels.  :( I could harp on even more and really bore you stupid (what with being a pneumatics engineer and all) but suffice to say, my compressor runs a 200-litre tank and a FAD of 16CFM, and I don’t struggle to take the odd wheel off.