compressors for auto (portable)

i'm tired of searching for a gas station with a working compressor to inflate my tires and i'm fussy about keeping them just right. also, i reckon it would be wise from a safety point of view to keep a means to inflate your tires when driving remote BC roads. i don't fully understand compressors and how they work and i see that they come in many flavours and sizes (and that's just looking just at Cdn tire)

so are there any decent quality reasonably priced smallish (am i being unrealistic?) compressors that run off your truck battery or plug in that work well? reading the reviews on Cdn tire most people seem fairly unhappy with the quality, function, etc. i'm guessing that even the highest volume floor pump for the bikes is inadequate? i feel like a total doofus when it comes to these things….

Look at Viair or smittybilt. You should be able to get a decent one that runs off your battery for just over $100.

Airpig.

I use a bike floor pump for my car tires. Good enough to add a few PSI occasionally.
Had a flat tire on my old truck once and pumping up a 31" tire to limp to the mechanic was a good workout

Ive been looking into onboard air system for my vehicle as well. The The Vlair systems are avaiable on amazon.ca for very good prices. If you get a system that has an air tank you can also use air tools too.
air sweeper nozzle etc
amazon seems to have really prices and my personal experiences with buying stuff has been great. so far

I seen a 4x4 featured in a mag where buddy welded up the ends of the big piece of pipe he was using as a bumper, welded in some threads for air fittings and he had an on board air tank probably for the cost of some fittings and an air hose

Man i need one of these too.. been rolling the dice way to long on my bald ass firestones.

I should take a video of my cheap one, its not something you want to use regularly.

I use the Ryobi 18V cordless compressor.
Bikes, truck, car tires, air bag overloaders for truck. Has been working for years with no issues.
Battery sold separately, I use there tools so a no brainer for me.

ps. you can set the pressure and walk away. Will stop when up to pressure. (good for big truck tires (tyres if english))

http://www.amazon.ca/Industries-MV50-SuperFlow-High-Volume-Compressor/dp/B000BM8RT8

Thats what I use. From the 4x4 forums i read, its the perfect mix of being big enough to actually air up 4 reasonably sized tires but isnt super heavy duty/expensive. Good for busting out to very change a flat bike tire too. Or fill up inflatable rafts for river floats. or whatever. Love it!

I use a bike floor pump for my car tires. Good enough to add a few PSI occasionally.
Had a flat tire on my old truck once and pumping up a 31" tire to limp to the mechanic was a good workout

Ditto. Airing up a dead flat 31 wasnt as bad as i thought it would be. 10 minutes or so.

i've aired up a couple of tires on a terecl ( halloween prank ) with a floor pump cuz it was easier than jacking up the car to take the wheels off but once i had enough air to drive to the gas station that was the easiest/fastest/ cheapest option

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_air-tools-compressors+air-compressor-accessories+air-compressor-carry-tanks

these^^ look really cheap/handy/foolproof, should be enough to mount a UST tire, anybody used them and what can you do with a 5 or 10 gallon ?

i've aired up a couple of tires on a terecl ( halloween prank ) with a floor pump cuz it was easier than jacking up the car to take the wheels off but once i had enough air to drive to the gas station that was the easiest/fastest/ cheapest option

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_air-tools-compressors+air-compressor-accessories+air-compressor-carry-tanks

these^^ look really cheap/handy/foolproof, should be enough to mount a UST tire, anybody used them and what can you do with a 5 or 10 gallon ?

i think that's what they refer to as an airpig? not sure how they get air into them!

lots of great ideas here guys. i researched a few of them and it seems not such a biggie to find a good one after all. those Viair ones seem pretty solid, think i'll get me one.

I use an airpig to inflate tires from zero. It works great for mounting tubeless, just as good as a compressor for that. I fit 3/8" fittings to it so I can use my blower nozzle for cleaning stuff, as well as a tire inflator (shrader)/pressure gauge thingie when inflating tires. I've also shot a few nails with it, but it really runs out of steam pretty quick and isn't anywhere near consistent. The hardware store pressure gauge isn't good for low volume bike tires, and I'd prefer something presta and schrader compatible so I'm thinking of picking up one of these for bikey use:

http://www.parktool.com/product/shop-inflator-inf-1

Edit: OH MY GOD that's expensive. I need to find an alternative. Google says there's a few designed for bikes…

For cars, the $25 jobbie from the hardware store does the trick.