air compressor query

anyone here own one?


am wondering what is a good heavy duty air compressor for a pick up truck's tires?

It all depends on your needs. If your your using it on a daily basis, nail gun roofing application, or paint sprayer. I would buy a quality name brand air compressor.

If your a weekend warrior, using it to air up your car tires occasionally then buy the 15 gallon harbor freight special. You will be able to buy three or four harbor freight specials for the cost of one quality name brand.

I bought a Craftsman from Sears years ago. I use it maybe weekly.
My neighbor has a Walmart one, it's blue. He uses it 3 to 4 times a year.

His was the price as mine, but I never had any issues.
But Walmart has replaced his twice. So, he gets a new one each time his craps out.


The components on the Harbor Freight ones suck. The regulators freeze up, or the regulator knobs break.
Lots of plastic stuff that breaks easy.

For me it all comes down to how much noise they make .

I own 3 compressors.

Portability and lack of noise is awesome .

Loud heavy sucks

For example I have a small 3 gallon that puts out 86 DB .med loud

I have a double hot dog i modified and built a baffle from a k&n breather and a tube it's as quiet as a refrigerator.

I have a big nasty main air compressor that when it kicks on it's hard to have a conversation.

To air up truck tires you should be able to score somewhere in the $150 to 300 new range.

Used $50 to 150 ,

Cfm and psi is the way they are rated

9.0 at 40 psi to 7.0 to 90 psi is a good place to start at the 5 horse power range

Side note you could do I did and buy military 37 inch goodyear's off oHumvees with the run flat inserts and bead lock rims , 750 dollar tires for $120 with rims a piece sitting at 75 % tread , only draw back is tire rim and insert weigh 120 pounds , versus my LT295/75/16 SET UP which weighs 63 pounds ,

But a full magazine of 762x39 will not stop are flatten a tire that's 30 rounds from a AK 47 , NOPE sorry Charlie drive on !

Or just park in the sun and let the heat from the sun build pressure in your tire ...

anyone here own one?

am wondering what is a good heavy duty air compressor for a pick up truck's tires? Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm

this was my air compressor. I got it in 2011. it died last month putting air in the tires. it blew the fuses and melted the extension cord.

this is Lifeline Triple A air compressor, 300 psi. it works, kinda noisy, it vibrates alot but very slow. takes about 4 - 5 minutes per tire to air up. I got it for $20.



so yeah, I'm looking to upgrade this to something faster. I think the a CFM under 2.0 is said to be fast.

so I'm going to be spending more than $20.

Eccie is the new Amazon review section. Sweet. Maybe they'll finally start to pay their mods.

I have a couple of different compressors.

My dump truck tires and RV tires all require 120psi.

I never know when I may need to spray paint, or use a staple gun.

It all comes down to cost and how much you want to spend. The harbor freight special I bought I've had for 7 years with no problems. My prior compressor was made by Sears and worked great for 15 before I left the garage upone night an someone stole it.

With the little amount of work your doing it probably doesn't matter a whole lot.

"3 gallon craftsman " works great for tires and small stuff

"3 gallon craftsman " works great for tires and small stuff Originally Posted by rexdutchman

those things generally are not portable. as you point out they are good for smalls stuff like airbrushing.