How to buy an air compressor?

I read a ton on here an have not found what I was looking for.

It seems to be mostly peoples preferences, and not really too much hard data. How do you buy an air compressor? I am a once a month off-roader and have always used a cheap compressor for $20 that takes 5 to 8 mins a tire depending on how much I air down.

Looking to upgrade and reading a ton of threads and websites. Most said to go big like ARB, or cheap like an MV50. I have stock TRD Offroad tires, 265/70R16, is there any calculation you can do to figure out fill time or output of the equipment.

Everyone seems to agree battery clamp 12V are the way to go, but for a $73 dollar MV50 vs a $300 ARB. I am gathering its 1 or 2 minutes a tire? Is that fair, its hard to spend that much money when its a nominal amount of time, I guess if you are doing it every day its a different story.

Thanks!

 

I would rather have a cylinder of air. CO2 is cheap.

No moving parts and a can will last a long time. You can run air tools off it as well.

 

Depends on how you want to set it up. You'll need to look at duty cycle and tank size, line size, etc. When I had air-ride on one of my cars, I had dual Viair 400C compressors and a 5 gallon tank, as well as a quick disconnect for air tools.

 

That is what I am trying to get to, I just want to air up my stock tires in less than 4 minutes a tire. But I can't find a way to figure that out. I understand how it all works. Duty Cycles and what not, but I am not seeing the quantifying data to say. This $500 ARB is 1 minute, this $300 dollar is 2 minutes.

 

It doesn't work like that. That would be determined by if you have a big enough tank volume, then duty cycle of the compressor filling up said tank, then what your outlet pressure is set at, etc. If it was filled all the time and only kick on the compressors when it tripped the pressure switch, you can inflate a set of tires in a few minutes. I'm too lazy to figure out how much air volume is in a 265/70/16 tire then compare that to tank sizes, etc. But yeah, you'll need to do some math

 

Take a look at this, I think only the Kilby is incompatible.

http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/154-1109-on-board-air-systems-compressor-confessor/

 

Viair 450p

 

I have a

$103 Viair 88p Portable Compressor Kit (12V, 120 Psi, Forup to 33" Tires)

Viair 88p that Santa got me, used it for the 1st time this weekend. We had 3 rigs all air up from 20 to 34ish PSI, tire sizes were stock up to 33", nothing drastic. The 88p was less than 1 minute per tire, I was amazed at how this sub $100 pump was better than a commercial pump at the gas station! 15 minutes, 12 tires, 1 pump was impressive.

 

Interesting. The data on Viair's website suggests it would take about 2-1/2 minutes to fill a 33" h tire from 15 - 30 psi with the 88P. Cool to know it probably outperforms that by quite a bit.

 

I have this one as well. Can't beat it for the money. I heard it gets super hot but for one car, it's been fine for me.

 

The ARB twin is a 100%duty cycle. Inflates a 33 in about 1 to 2 min depending how low you went.

I'm biased as I have the ARB and love it. Came with my old TJ.
For your limited use a viair clamp on would likely work fine.

 

Lol yes it only took 1 session & I now know what/where not to touch

 

I'm running this under my hood! ARB CMKA12!

Here is a little Video of it working:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fwUFy9MOvc

Final Mounted Pics:


Before the Install:


The bracket I made to mount the compressor and switch:

 

Gradual progression for me...had a Viair 90 to start. We referred to it as "the socializer" because you stood around chatting while everyone else waited for you to finish airing up.

Then I upgraded to the

$221 Viair 400p - 40043 Portable Compressor Kit. Tire Pump, Truck/SUV Tire Inflator, For Up to 35" Tires

Viair 400p, which works well to this day (back up to my current CO2) but is inferior to CO2 IMO.

Finally, bought a Powertank 10 lb. system and really love how quickly it airs up tires (under a minute going from 15-35 lbs), looks bada$$, and is very accurate with its liquid filled gauge.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, sounds like the ViAir 88 is the way to go - just under 3 mins a tire for $62 dollars. Trust me I really want the

$310 ARB CKMA12 On-Board Air Compressor High Performance 12 Volt for Air Locker Differentials and Tire Inflation

ARB CKMA12, your set up is awesome.

But man @ $275 without any accessories its only 1 minute faster per tire. Not sure if I can swing that.

 

I wish I could fit my twin compressor there.

 

Good call.

 

This is a well proven pump. I got there kit for Christmas, tons of postive reviews, plus you can easily add a second pump. Can't beat 100% Duty Cycle.

$460 VIAIR Constant Duty OBA Onboard Air System with 450C Air Compressor & 2.5 Gallon Tank, 12V Offroad Compressor, 150 PSI, up to 37" Tires

https://www.amazon.com/VIAIR-Consta...F8&qid=1484840810&sr=8-1&keywords=viair+10007



And then you can make cool dual inflator things.

 

I like this.

is that the "arb pump up kit" that you are using? - Hose, fittings, chuck, etc.

 

I have a CO2 tank if I need to air up in a hurry. Eventually I will probably go with the ViAir constant duty kit.

But since I have 120VAC in the bed I have been running a Harbor Freight hot-dog compressor for airing up. So far so good - It's slow but gets the job done - hasn't overheated yet. For $40 I don't expect much and when it blows up I'll just repurpose the tank.