Air lines | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Mon 29 Mar 2010 20:24

Air lines - Spospe

Is it my imagination, or have garage air lines got worse?

There is a Texaco filling station near me and the air line has been out of order for over a year. Our local Morrisons has what might kindly be described as an 'eccentic' line (it forgets the set pressure after every tyre and charges 10p per minute for the pleasure).

Correct tyre pressure are important, wheel trims make valves dirty and difficult to reach, foot pumps have connectors that both leak and let lots of air out on connecting / disconnecting, so anything that encourages maintaining correct pressures is to be applauded; right?

So why are garage air lines so rubbish???

I just wanted to air my irritations .........

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Mon 29 Mar 2010 20:40

Air lines - Diamond

I've never used a garage air line with any of my cars.

I always use my footpump with a proper BSI rated pressure gauge.

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Mon 29 Mar 2010 20:51

Air lines - Armstrong Sid

So why are garage air lines so rubbish???

One of the reasons is that they get attacked by young morons who use them to try to inflate their bike tyres/footballs/whatever.

When the bike tyre won't inflate correctly, the kids just throw the air line around on the floor and leave it.

And the physical location of many of them is such that they are often in an obscure corner of the garage forecourt, which almost encourages morons to see what they can do with them

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Mon 29 Mar 2010 22:08

Air lines - oilrag

I gave up about 10yrs ago and bought a battery powered unit. It used to be much easier though didn`t it, when you could just pull in and use one of those hand held garage air pumps.
I don`t know why they moved over to the more complex units - perhaps they had to, to charge for use with a token.

I reckon it`s due to a gradual debasement of parts of society though. My wife asked to use the toilet at our local Shell garage where we have both been fueling our cars for fourteen years. "No, not for customers"

Of course it was easy for her to walk across the road to the Jet garage and use theirs - despite having just paid for a full tank of Shell.

There must be a good reason for the first garage to decline though and I reckon it will be a growing trend in some areas.

It would be good to be more upbeat about it, but you see self centred behaviour all around and I suspect tyre pressure devices get the brunt of it after use.

Incidentally - if you ever get to Meadowhall shopping centre - stand outside Samuels and watch the populace passing the girls trying to sell them cosmetics at the bottom of the stairs.
Decent girls from somewhere in eastern Europe, perhaps - smiling and approaching people.
The public walk past, noses held high and just ignore them.

it comes easy for me to smile and say `no thanks`, I think most of us did at one time - but it`s sure not `normal` behaviour anymore in 2010.

The tyre pump out on it`s own, on the forecourt has no chance with this lot after they have used it. That`s why you find them dropped to the ground, lying in puddles.

Yours,

Disgusted of South Leeds ;-)

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Mon 29 Mar 2010 22:30

Air lines - Spospe

Oilrag makes a fair point, especially when the air is 'free'. However, the two places that I mentioned charge for the air and the pump unit is in full view, not hidden away.

I have an electric tyre inflator and it does not connect, or disconnect easily from the tyre without loosing pressure.

I want to be able to use a clean, reliable, accurate airline and I don't mind paying for it, so why are they almost impossible to find?

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Mon 29 Mar 2010 22:40

Air lines - oilrag

Maybe the simplest reasons are the most likely, Spospe.

Maybe no one cares anymore - I know very few people who even think about tyre pressures these days. If the demand for a better experience is not there -- why would garages bother to keep repairing and upkeeping a `quality` airline?

Maybe there would be a small enthusiasts market for a better connector on cig lighter pumps? I would like one, although I hadn`t thought of it before this thread.

Edited by oilrag on 29/03/2010 at 22:45

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Tue 30 Mar 2010 09:06

Air lines - piston power

Those cheap supermarkets around have a 25ltrs compressors for £40.00 one of these will be perfect and you get a air line all you need it the tyre inflator and do it yourself there on wheels.

Why should you? because as above oilrag is quite correct im also in south leeds and it's just not here there not bothered it's just easier to do it yourself.

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Tue 30 Mar 2010 09:38

Air lines - hbosken

Nothing more annoying than inserting your 20p for a minute's air only to find the connector at the end of the hose is broken. Almost as bad is going to check rear tyres, when the hose sticks - by the time you unstick it, your 20p has run out. So you go to put in another 20p, the hose springs back into the machine, so you drag it out again, only for it to stick again and by the time you free it up your 20p is finished again.

Not wanting to name and shame but "evevy little" doesn't help!

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Tue 30 Mar 2010 09:41

Air lines - Cliff Pope

Connectors on most DIY pumps are pathetic. They seem to rely on compressing a flaky bit of rubber, which then sticks on the threaded portion of the valve guaranteeing that lots of air is lost as one struggles to free it.

Old fashioned pumps from long ago had lovely threaded and knurled brass connectors.

It's tempting to try and swap one over, but it seems impossible to get an airtight connection at the pipe once broken. They are too small for any known size of jubillee clip to work, so one resorts to twisting wire with pliars, which never seems to work properly either.

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Tue 30 Mar 2010 09:51

Air lines - piston power

Sealey make the classic tyre inflator with the brass fitting at £35.00 a time these just get dropped on the floor so many times and need calibrating it pays just to fit a cheaper option.

Mine just requires a drop of oil now and again it works a treat but these garages won't do that.

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Tue 30 Mar 2010 09:52

Air lines - jc2

And people drive away with them still attached to the tyre(as you can with some connectors).In France seen some which are double and can be connected to two valves at the same time.

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Tue 30 Mar 2010 12:34

Air lines - oilrag

Why can`t we have cig lighter powered compressors that have a connector that can just be pushed and not clamped on?

I can see the need for both options of course with a slow pumping pump, but those garage jobs of around 30 yrs ago, where you held the metal body in one hand and just pushed the connector with the other seem great - at least in memory. Or did they clamp on too?

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Tue 30 Mar 2010 12:53

Air lines - bathtub tom

Yes, they just pushed on, but they had a decent compressor that would deliver the air in seconds. I don't think the fag lighter in a car would be capable of supplying the current required and how big would the compressor need to be and would you want tocarry it around in the boot?

I've yet to find a compressor suitable to replace a footpump, but I'm getting fed-up with the poor quality of available footpumps. One has recently had a very poor seal with the valve and another 'blew off' the built-in gauge. It was designed to be fitted eith just a couple of turns of a plastic thread.

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