The spare tyre - inflating pain

[grazuncle2]

Hi..

With nearly every vehicle i have had over the last 48 years (14 cars?) I have always neglected the tyre pressures of the spare.. part laziness and probably due to the general inaccessibility! You get your new car and promise to behave yourself and get a grip.. Well it doesn't last long and I'm fortunate in not having to had to use a spare (that i can remember)... probably another reason I have neglected the routine..

Well this new Polo is no exception.. My 12v cigarette lighter inflator is a pain to use and not having a pressure gauge (that still works in it; only lasted 13 months) I come to the spare. Cable wont reach.. this thing is heavy to take out and being a snug fit and the rubber not sliding over the painted surfaces easily, makes it a pain...

So.. I bought two things.

a cordless inflator (looks like a cordless drill..
and a 300mm valve extension.

I lifted the spare and fitted the extension to the valve and fed the other end up through one of the steel wheel rim holes into the areas where the jack and lever kit is stored. So now all i have to do is take the Jack kit out, in one go, and I have access to the extension valve cap. Leave the wheel where it is.. 3-4 minutes takes care of checking the other four tyres and inflating a pound or so of air.

If I have to use the spare a some time I just unscrew the extension off.

I'm happy to do all of the checking, inc spare, weekly now.

[Noonoo632]

Hi..

With nearly every vehicle i have had over the last 48 years (14 cars?) I have always neglected the tyre pressures of the spare.. part laziness and probably due to the general inaccessibility! You get your new car and promise to behave yourself and get a grip.. Well it doesn't last long and I'm fortunate in not having to had to use a spare (that i can remember)... probably another reason I have neglected the routine..

Well this new Polo is no exception.. My 12v cigarette lighter inflator is a pain to use and not having a pressure gauge (that still works in it; only lasted 13 months) I come to the spare. Cable wont reach.. this thing is heavy to take out and being a snug fit and the rubber not sliding over the painted surfaces easily, makes it a pain...

So.. I bought two things.

a cordless inflator (looks like a cordless drill..
and a 300mm valve extension.

I lifted the spare and fitted the extension to the valve and fed the other end up through one of the steel wheel rim holes into the areas where the jack and lever kit is stored. So now all i have to do is take the Jack kit out, in one go, and I have access to the extension valve cap. Leave the wheel where it is.. 3-4 minutes takes care of checking the other four tyres and inflating a pound or so of air.

If I have to use the spare a some time I just unscrew the extension off.

I'm happy to do all of the checking, inc spare, weekly now.

I am exactly the same as you but probably over 50 years lol. Please put some detail up in what you bought and from where, with some pictures of the finished job, think I might do the same cheers

[grazuncle2]

Hi Nooonoo632

been out all day just got back...

here's a gallery of photos.

https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/7292 ... e-inflator

The Guild inflator is currently £40 in Argos.. i got a return via eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114841667309 £27inc delivery
and the extension of eBay too here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402797654690 £4.29 inc delivery..

Both came quickly and worked.

I( can't say how long the inflator will last but it is not exactly going to be thrashed every day. saying that my Ring 12v cable inflator lasted only 13 months and was well over £50!

The Argos feedback I looked at is mostly good.. there will always be someone with a DOA.. Wrong colour when they got it home or not read the instructions and not use it properly (it doesn't go with the colour of my car) and blame it on poor quality.

Hope it helps

[RUM4MO]

I looked into the extensions that Pirtek sold some years ago, they included a visible green band on pressure cap - these leads were sold in pressure ranges to suit most applications though VW Group do or did advise inflating the spare to 41PSI - and adjust down to suit when using the spare.
My first 12V inflator was a cheapish jump pack with a compressor built in, that worked well enough both to power a 12V high speed drill etc, that inflator only lasted about 10 years, so now I have removed that kit out of the jump pack and bought a bigger Goodyear inflator which has a seriously long lead.
I try to remain disciplined enough to take care of that annoying job at service time, but yes it can get missed, less so on my car which is an Audi S4 and has the space saver the right way up - but as I tend to test the battery - which is located below the spare wheel, that spare wheel will always need to get removed at service time.
I thing that concerned me in a car like the lower powered Polo models was "will any extension tubing I buy have a short enough connector on the wheel end to allow the tube to exit up through a hole in the rim and not get crushed" - you seem to confirm that it will be okay.

I can see that I should have another look into this, thanks for nudging me along.

Edit:- for a good reliable pressure gauge, I bought a Draper digital one many years ago, I think that it had gone out of fashion due to it only displaying in PSI - which suits me, it has "blow off" button for making a final pressure adjustment. Its swivelling push on end started to suffer from the the sealing rubber going hard so it became a faff getting pressures spot on as there was a tendency to lose too pressure getting the push on connector to seal on the tyre valve - buying a Laser Tools better type of "push on and lock" connector works right first time and every time with no accidental lose of air.

[grazuncle2]

The failed Ring device I have used to let you pre-set a pressure but the screw on pressure fitting let out at least a pound of pressure out every time you tried to release it from the valve... no matter how quick you were with your fingers

in the end I bought an adapter for the screw on end (100mm) which gave me a simple clip on end to it.

My hand digital pressure gauge is finicky on you being at exactly the right angle to the valve or it lets out even more air... OMG!

The cordless inflator I have now is a simple push on and flick the lever 90 degrees. Done!

[Noonoo632]

Hi Nooonoo632

been out all day just got back...

here's a gallery of photos.

https://www.dpreview.com/galleries/7292 ... e-inflator

The Guild inflator is currently £40 in Argos.. i got a return via eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114841667309 £27inc delivery
and the extension of eBay too here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402797654690 £4.29 inc delivery..

Both came quickly and worked.

I( can't say how long the inflator will last but it is not exactly going to be thrashed every day. saying that my Ring 12v cable inflator lasted only 13 months and was well over £50!

The Argos feedback I looked at is mostly good.. there will always be someone with a DOA.. Wrong colour when they got it home or not read the instructions and not use it properly (it doesn't go with the colour of my car) and blame it on poor quality.

Hope it helps

Hi grazuncle2

Thank you very much for the info and pictures that's a great help. I will order the parts you mention and get this done asap.

[Noonoo632]

Now all done and works a treat have never checked all my tyres so easily thank you grazuncle2 for the info

[grazuncle2]

Great and thanks.

Me too.

An often neglected thing on my behalf. Now it is painless.