gas station air pump POLL

inspired by it taking me literally 30-60 minutes to find a working one every month that it's time to air up.

wondering how regional this is. today it took 5 tries.

in Oregon we go to Les Schwab Tire Center locations and they do this for free, A+ recommended

the Prius constantly pulls this shit

Voted “bought my own” but really my partner bought it

last time i was out in the burbs, it took 3 and i was like WHY EVEN HAVE THEM IF THEYRE NEVER WORKING

but my immediate innercity local is usually working

i hate these things, the slime pumps sold everywhere are not expensive and do the job in the comfort of your driveway or wherever you happen to be parked

All free ones broken at the end of the hose, quarter machines usually haven’t functioned since the Clinton Presidency, RaceTrac always works but it’s like $1.50 on a credit card for 60 seconds of air.

Bought a little electric one.

The one in the nearest gas station to me works pretty consistently.

the Prius constantly pulls this shit

Ours just started this on one tire in particular, but the set has 30,000 miles on them and are entering the dicey phase of life.

Depressing how many times I've waited for someone to air up all four of their tires only to pull up and find out there's no nipple on the hose at all. They went around to all four tires just putting the open hose over the tire stem I guess.

There's one near us that works every time we go there (I say "we" because I don't drive but my wife does); there's a backup machine a few blocks away that's always good, too. What's annoying to me is that the sensor on our car is broken. It stays lit up constantly no matter what we do — it lit up after about a half mile of driving after we'd just put four brand-new tires on the car (earlier this year).

I had a broken sensor in my old car, the fucked thing was it came on during a 9 hour trip and I couldn't tell if it detected a puncture or something or if was a sensor problem. I kept pulling over and re-checking the air.

Bought one that plugs into the 12v space where the cigarette lighter used to be in ancient times. Completely worth it for similar Prius antics.

When I lived in a Maryland exurb there was one great free one with a digital readout a few minutes away from my home. Now I live inside the DC beltway and the one closes to me makes you pay in fistfuls of quarters and has that awful turkey thermometer thing.

I parsed this as "how many tires do you need to fill before you find the one that's low" and laughed at "5" being an option. like you'd be filling the spare tire

in Oregon we go to Les Schwab Tire Center locations and they do this for free, A+ recommended

you'd be filling the spare tire

and this is laughable how? before I drive on really bad logging roads where I might need my spare I tend to make sure it isn't nearly flat.

I seem to have really good luck with these things, I can't recall any not functioning for a long time. Perhaps I only frequent posh service stations? Also, there was a tire shop near my place in Minneapolis that had free air all the time.

If you're in the area and need air, here you go: https://bobbyandstevesautoworld.com/columbia-heights/

the Prius constantly pulls this shit

― sleeve, Friday, December 30, 2022 8:27 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Mine too. I go to https://www.macstireservice.com/, and hope that Union Market hipsters don't force this place out of business.

I kinda want to blame pure greed for the air pump demise, but I think there is probably just as much to blame for petty thievery and stupid destructiveness.

What's annoying to me is that the sensor on our car is broken. It stays lit up constantly no matter what we do — it lit up after about a half mile of driving after we'd just put four brand-new tires on the car (earlier this year).

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, December 30, 2022 8:50 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglin

does your wife drive a Subaru, by chance? I've had two and this has happened with both of them. I've been told it has something to do with temperature changes. The sensor is also very sensitive, so if one of your tires is off by a single PSI, the light will come on. I've learned to just ignore it.

In Atlanta, we have QT every few miles. It usually takes a visit to a couple to find a working air pump.

Other stations have coin-operated ones, which I'm willing to use in a pinch, but often the coin slots in those are broken as well.

does your wife drive a Subaru, by chance?

Nissan Versa.

The sensor on my old car (2000 Toyota) would stayed no matter what, so I learned to ignore it. The one on my current car (2013 Honda) is very accurate. I haven't gotten a flat, but after the first cold night of the year one or more tires will lose pressure, and the sensor helpfully alerts me to that. Fortunately, I live very close to a gas station whose pump 1) takes credit cards, and 2) works. But I always carry my own tire pressure gauge, because the ones on pumps are either unreadable or don't work.

and this is laughable how? before I drive on really bad logging roads where I might need my spare I tend to make sure it isn't nearly flat.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, December 30, 2022 10:30 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i mean the idea that you'd fill the spare before actually guessing the correct tire

the slime pumps sold everywhere are not expensive and do the job in the comfort of your driveway or wherever you happen to be parked

― call all destroyer, Friday, December 30, 2022 8:39 PM

Yes! A slime kit is just $30 including the electric-powered inflator (plugs into the "cigarette lighter" outlet thingie) which you can use on its own (without injecting slime). I learned the hard way that you should keep the engine running when inflating. Once when inflating just one tire, even though my battery was relatively new and charged, it drained enough so that I couldn't start my engine. So after that, I got one of those battery pack jump starters (I think mine was around $50) which already paid for itself. Mine keeps its charge very well - I check it every 3 months just to be safe, but after one year without re-charging it, I swear it was still at 98% capacity.

TLDR: get a slime kit, and get a battery pack jump starter now!

Hearing “gas station air pump” in Andy Gill’s voice from “Ether”. Or to the tune of “Armalite Rifle”.

can't remember the last time I've needed to put air in the tire ... usually I get a puncture that requires patching or getting a new tire before they get low enough to require air. ... it's weird to me to think about how in many parts of the country, they actually have decent, well-maintained roads?

srsly buy a tire inflator (and a battery starter too, or a combo) -- most worthwhile car-related purchase I ever made.

xp of you live in a part of the country that is prone to sudden large drops in temperature you will need to fill your tires due to weather-related pressure changes

yeah I get the tire pressure light multiple times every winter, plus at least a couple of times I have been able to put enough air in a slow leaking tire to get me to a service station

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