Outer Limits 4x4 Board

In the market for an air compressor.
ARB is small in size and has 70l / minute flow. This appeals to me but the price is double to 3x that of other brands.
Any one got experiance with the new ARB compressors or others.
I know cheaper ones will do the job but who wants to wait around for 5mins each tyre.
Some feed back on what people have will be good .

By the way I don't mind spending the money, but is it worth that price or am I just paying for a brand name.

Thanks

Have a new ARB unit, love it, cannot fault it. Spend the money if you have it, you will not be dissapointed.

what? 2 to 3 times more expensive than other brands?....are the other brands $80 -$100 bucks?

I know it's a big subject, but one thread should do the trick.

Posted in the (now locked) other thread:

vk2icj wrote:I've got a big red

http://www.4wdshop.com.au/recovery/bigred.htm

Love it. It is very robust. Built like a tank

Though I got mine used. If your going to get ARB lockers in the future you could get the ARB one and save the coin when it comes to locker tiime.

I bought a typhoon one a while ago and it's a poxy POS. so don't buy one of them. Now I have a new ARB one and they are light, compact and did two landcruisers one tye after another in no time compared to my old one.

definatly worth the money.

Oooh yeah. I'm lovin the new ARB compressor as its 50 billion times quicker than the old ARB compressor - especially after the old compressor threw a rod. Also makes the locker actuation a brainless exercise. I'm sure the ARB one is now a bit quicker than other comparable units if seconds are worth something to you.

I've got the old ARB, quite slow.

A mate got a big red compressor and put in a receiver. Uses pressure regs to drop the pressure for his lockers. Works very well.
I'll run a similar setup whenever my ARB dies......if it dies.

my arb (runs airlockers) does my 31's from 10 to 20 psi in 4 seconds.... cant fault that.

alien wrote:my arb (runs airlockers) does my 31's from 10 to 20 psi in 4 seconds.... cant fault that.

4 seconds? cant wait to give mine a test out now

Dee wrote:

alien wrote:my arb (runs airlockers) does my 31's from 10 to 20 psi in 4 seconds.... cant fault that.

4 seconds? cant wait to give mine a test out now

yeah but u gotta remember it takes a hell of a lot longer to get from 20 - 35psi etc

my twin piston chinese ripoff of the bushranger compressor does 15-30 psi (on my 32"s) in about 4 seconds as well, but it takes a few minutes to get from 30 - 44 psi

I timed my new ARB and was about 2 mins 15 secs to get a 31x10.5 from 14psi up to 32psi

bakerboy wrote:

Dee wrote:

alien wrote:my arb (runs airlockers) does my 31's from 10 to 20 psi in 4 seconds.... cant fault that.

4 seconds? cant wait to give mine a test out now

yeah but u gotta remember it takes a hell of a lot longer to get from 20 - 35psi etc

my twin piston chinese ripoff of the bushranger compressor does 15-30 psi (on my 32"s) in about 4 seconds as well, but it takes a few minutes to get from 30 - 44 psi

I drive a zuk, 25psi is plenty

zook + endless air

mine rocks and pumps up super quick.

nicbeer wrote:zook + endless air

mine rocks and pumps up super quick.

But do you have aircon?

I have 2 of the new ARB ones mounted under the Passenger seat in the GQ.

Am going to run them together for pumping up tyres.

1 is quick, 2 will be

Nick

endless - in a whole different league IMO

20 psi is cos im driving a zuk - 20 is just what i run my 31's at for best ride and comfort... i've only ever let them down once offroad, and i didnt really have to, i just wanted to test the compressor... lol

alien wrote:20 psi is cos im driving a zuk - 20 is just what i run my 31's at for best ride and comfort... i've only ever let them down once offroad, and i didnt really have to, i just wanted to test the compressor... lol

What tyres you got?
20 psi is pretty damn hard for a zook off road. I found 12-13 psi to even be too hard. (Just checked my tyres this arvo. Had 10psi in one due to leaking bead. Wouldnt think it just by looking at it!)

With the compressors, I have an old skool ARB 20somethin litres per min.
Takes forever to pump up land cruiser tyres to 40psi. Havent tried it on the sierra.

My bro has an ebay el-cheapo twin head. Absolute POS. Stopped working after 2 goes. Stripped it down, couldnt find any problems, put it back together. Now it works, but every so often it will just stop, just give it a good bang on the ground and it fires up again.

Mike

Cooper STT Armotek 31x105r15... zuk doesnt weight as much as a bigger 4x4 so theres less strain on the compressor too dont forget.

20psi offroad is fine - the tyres deform a little, not much... but i've just not needed to let them down yet - i have a magical button on the dash that stops the wheels spinning when i lose traction =P

alien wrote:Cooper STT Armotek 31x105r15... zuk doesnt weight as much as a bigger 4x4 so theres less strain on the compressor too dont forget.

how does that work? 20 psi is 20psi the total volume will effect how long it takes to get there ie a 33" vs a 31" tire but not how heavy the vehicle is above it

alien wrote:Cooper STT Armotek 31x105r15... zuk doesnt weight as much as a bigger 4x4 so theres less strain on the compressor too dont forget.

20psi offroad is fine - the tyres deform a little, not much... but i've just not needed to let them down yet - i have a magical button on the dash that stops the wheels spinning when i lose traction =P

20 psi offroad....not needed to let them down?.....wow......we run less pressures on road. must be a comfy ride.

and yes....psi is psi!

vit94 wrote: In the market for an air compressor.
ARB is small in size and has 70l / minute flow. This appeals to me but the price is double to 3x that of other brands.
Any one got experiance with the new ARB compressors or others.
I know cheaper ones will do the job but who wants to wait around for 5mins each tyre.
Some feed back on what people have will be good .

By the way I don't mind spending the money, but is it worth that price or am I just paying for a brand name.

Thanks

Hey Vit94.....

Thought about just doing a google search on "12volt compressors" to see what brings up?
Might find some good reviews / prices, etc....


cheers....

rob

I agree PSI is PSI, but imagine trying to blow a balloon up on its own, compared to if someone squeezes that balloon while trying to inflate it, its harder to inflate, right? I mean, by the logic that PSI is PSI, i should be able to inflate the tyres on the zuk with my mouth, but the pressure the car pushes down on the tyre stops me doing that... (not that i've tried mind you).

Or maybe im completely mistaken?

as for 20psi on road/offroad - if i go any lower on road its a little bouncy on cornering, so i've opted for 20 as a balance between ride and handling. Its like its on rails if i run the tyres at 35... you just would need a kidney transplant if you drove it like that for any period of time.

ok...lets say we have 2 balloons at 10 psi. if someone squeezes one it will go up in psi yes? as you squeeze it you are trying to reduce the size but the air wants to expand creating greater pressure. one thing i was tought many years ago...pressure is pressure...its only the volume that varies.

and as you said...if someone is trying to squeeze that balloon you are trying to pump up it will get to the stated pressure in the same amount of time, but when you let go it will change becuase the balloon now has more volume so the psi will go down.

PV=nRT

joeblow wrote:ok...lets say we have 2 balloons at 10 psi. if someone squeezes one it will go up in psi yes? as you squeeze it you are trying to reduce the size but the air wants to expand creating greater pressure. one thing i was tought many years ago...pressure is pressure...its only the volume that varies.

and as you said...if someone is trying to squeeze that balloon you are trying to pump up it will get to the stated pressure in the same amount of time, but when you let go it will change becuase the balloon now has more volume so the psi will go down.

Sp your saying that you could inflate your tyres with the car on axel stands then when you put it back on the ground the pressure would not change?

surely the weight of the vehicle causes the volume inside the tyre to change thus altering the pressure. ie the pressure is somewhat proportional to the weight of the vehicle.

so you would need less air to achieve the same pressure in a heavy vehicle?

now ive confused my self, this would mean all else being equal a zook should take longer to npump up as it would neeed more volume to achieve the same pressure.

my head hurts.

probably a bad example on my part, but put two identical tyres one on a heavy vehicle, one on a light vehicle and using the same compressor they will get to the same psi in pretty much the same time.

joeblow wrote:probably a bad example on my part, but put two identical tyres one on a heavy vehicle, one on a light vehicle and using the same compressor they will get to the same psi in pretty much the same time.

ha ha, cop out.. 'pretty much' the same time. but in theory which would be slightly faster. then we can all put our brains to head ( i do realise the difference in change in volume would only be slight.)

Wow your school teachers would be proud at the discussion s in this post - makes good reading.
Back on the subject. Thanks for everyones replies.
The ARB new compressor looks like it might be good value .
I have the older one (28 litre /min ) in my work 4x4 and my opinion is that it was probably only designed for air lockers . It just doesn't pump up the landcruser tyres well at all. I gave up on it the other day and drove round with the left front tyre 100kpa lower than the others for a couple of days before pulling in a servo.
Yeah joeblow 2 to 3 x dearer . That's right - when i first started looking I went to Auto barn super cheap etc to see what they had compared to the 4x4 shops. The sales people raved about there products which got me thinking , hence this post was started.
Good thinking macca67 gave that a try and came up with BIG RED and MEGA GRUNT from Rockhampton. The mega grunt has good specs ( $149 85 l/ min ) , so I've emailed the supplier for more info.

nicbear I;'ve been meaning to ask how did you land after that jump - looks outter control.

Here's a question for budding scientists. Why do they recommend to increase your tyre pressure when you load up your vechile for atrip???
Wouldn't the extra weight on the vechile increase the pressure in the tyre???