One of these should be in every trunk, and now’s a great time to score yours.
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I’ve been carrying a VIAIR compressor in my cars for the past 15 years or so. When I was doing instrumented vehicle testing, before any car turned a wheel in anger, we’d get corner weights, torque the lugnuts, and do a quick safety once-over, which included setting the tire pressures to factory specs. Part of our test kit included a VIAIR compressor that had been mounted inside into a metal toolbox. That setup used alligator clamps that attached to a car battery, which we also carried with us, but for my personal cars I use the type that plugs into a 12V socket.
VIAIR makes all different sizes and types of compressors. Some are made for smaller car tires, while others provide enough pressure and airflow for big offroad tires. There are even kits with tanks that can be used to run air tools for short amounts of time, and these are even common among the airbag suspension crowd. (Yes, I’ve been there, done that, wouldn’t recommend it.)
For my personal use, I have an 85P that plugs into a 12V socket. My tires aren’t that big, I’m not after a huge duty cycle, and when I use it, I’m OK with monitoring heat. I know a few guys who have larger units, like TLC Pro kits (not on sale), mounted and hardwired into their trunks for use when they go cycling. These bigger units have extra tanks to seat tubeless tires. The one we had for testing was used on several cars a couple of days a week, and outlasted most of the editors at the magazine. My own compressor gets used maybe once a month, and it’s coming up on a decade old.
