Has anyone used a bike pump to air up your tires? I did just that yesterday, mainly just to top them off. I'd say it took about 5-8 pumps per tire and they were back up to the suggested pressure. My pump has a built-in gauge and goes up to 100 PSI so it was really easy. I wouldn't necessarily try to air up a completely flat tire but just to top them off it worked great and beats running around trying to find a gas station with air or doing a pit stop at Mini where it take like an hour just to air the tires.

 

I do it every spring and fall on all four tires when I swap my summer and winter wheels/tires. I usually have to pump about 5 psi for each after they've sat in my garage all season.

 

Well glad I'm not the only one. My neighbors were looking at me like I was crazy but hey it works!

 

My neighbors think I'm crazy for a host of other reasons. Using a bicycle pump on my Mini doesn't scratch the surface...

 

I have a decent bike pump for my road bikes. I recently used it to add some air while I had a very slow leak due to a nail.

It took a few extra pymps pumps but adding 10lbs was easy. And accurate. The gauge on my hand pump was more accurate than the gas stations or my tire gauge gauge. That’s as compared to the MINI’s tire pressure readings on the internal computer.

IMO, get the pump out every month and check pressure and inflate as necessary.

 

I have a high volume bike pump
(about 1.74” diameter and 2’ long)
as well as a Dynaplug kit in both our
cars. Convenient for topping up, and
they have saved my butt many times.
With the low tire monitor, you can plug
a nail hole or similar way before the
sidewalk gets compromised by driving
on it flat, and also have a compact
spare in each car for unrepairable holes.
I also change the compact spare’s tire
when it gets to be 8-10 years old, or if it
is starting to look cracked and dry-rotted.