Tire Deflators - What Do You Use and Why?

[FrenchieXJ]

What Do You Use and Why?

Well for myself;
I have used all of the ones mentioned above and many others. My go to deflators that Hurbie and Outback use are my go to ones!. I generally have 3 different types with each of my vehicles. The problems I have in the environments I drive most of the time is a very tiny piece of sand or dirt gets in between to seat and the ball bearing. They will deflate and keep deflating. Once one gets too low then you need to air it up. This takes more time and is a bigger pain then the 2 or 3 minutes to walk around the vehicle. These were standard product given to every student and a round faced gauge in my classes.

With the auto deflating gauges the instruction say that you should always check them for the pressure when removing them. This statement is not in any way saying they are not usable or accurate. This can happen and it has over the years happened to me.

Everyone's needs are different and children are your first priority, as they should be!

For myself simple works the best. The cheapest worked best for me for I would order about 500 sets at a time and the same with the gauges.

The main thing is if what you use works, go with what ever you want.

 

[RLM975]

Stauns with custom set points. For a spring loaded valve I consider +/- 2 psi accuracy acceptable.

 

[Kmrtnsn]

I use an ARB deflator. I tried the Stauns, then gave them away. I can air down tires significantly faster with the ARB deflator, and more accurately.

 

[Laps]

I have the ARB deflator but the Coyote Enterprises deflators are much more convenient. I have the Coyote Enterprises preset to a specific PSI, but can use the ARB deflator when needing 'custom' pressure settings that are different than the coyote's.

 

[1leglance]

View attachment 653398

$12 Keychain deflator from my local shop.

Dead-nuts simple - I start at the front-left corner and thread one on, then work my way around the vehicle. By the time I've got all four tires hissing, I go back to the front tire and start checking it with a gauge. When that one is down to the correct pressure, I make another trip around the van and pull each one off after checking again with a gauge.

It takes very little time and it's too simple to fail or give me errors. The time-delay to remove the valve cap and thread on the next deflator gives me the time I need to move from tire to tire without having to worry about one tire getting deflated too far. I have never understood using any other method that requires more expensive or complicated equipment.

These 100%,
I do the same thing, start at Drivers Front and work around, by the time I get back my 33s on 17s are down from 45 to 30 and a few seconds later 25lbs so I start the removal process.
Super easy and cheap

 

[ducktapeguy]

I have some Staun knockoffs and from Amazon and just picked up a couple of sets of coyote deflators. The Coyote's are supposed to be the equivalent or improved versions of the Stauns, plus they're cheaper and made in the US. Don't have the Stauns so I can't compare directly, but I'm happy with the Coyote, they're worth the extra cost over the other knockoffs. You can have them preset from the factory, and with my initial testing they are accurate to within 1 psi, which is good enough for me.

I use the Coyote's set at my most common off road pressure, and keep the other knockoffs for low pressure when the accuracy isn't as important.

 

[krick3tt]

I have a set of Staun deflators that I have had for 20 years, but bought an ARB deflator. Haven't been off road for over a year now so have no real comparison.

 

[Howard70]

Two sets of Stauns/Coyotes. One set with two deflators at 45 and two at 35. The other with two at 25 and two at 20. When travelling in our Tacoma with 255/85/16 load range E, I just carry the low pressure set. When travelling in our EarthCruiser with 315/75/16 I carry both sets. In the EarthCruiser I'll mix and match the two sets depending on what surface & speed we anticipate.

Howard

 

[TommyG]

To Tommy and Arlindsay, I have to admit that on more than one occasion I discovered my Stauns where still on at the end of the trail when I went to air back up

Oh yeah. Sitting the cab with the empty pouch thinking "What the hell did I do with those things?"

 

[TommyG]

I use this:
View attachment 653437

It isn't the fastest but it's fast enough and I have to carry it to air up anyway. No extra parts specifically for airing down and I can easily vary the pressure around the rig (e.g. I generally set front tires, rear tires, and trailer tires to different pressures according to usage).

I LOVE this thing. I have the higher pressure version with a six foot hose and use it in the shop and out in the wild. Standing up and away from the tire valve with a gauge right under your nose is fantastic. It also has a pretty good flow rate compared to other inflators I have used.

 

[BlindingWhiteTaco]

Indeflate seems to work well, based on user reviews and feedback.

I had an ARB deflator, but the gauge wasn’t high enough for a full size truck’s tire pressure. I bought the indeflate and have been pleased with it.

 

[Regcabguy]

I have the ARB deflator but the Coyote Enterprises deflators are much more convenient. I have the Coyote Enterprises preset to a specific PSI, but can use the ARB deflator when needing 'custom' pressure settings that are different than the coyote's.

USA made too. They look good.

 

[Roaddude]

View attachment 653398

$12 Keychain deflator from my local shop.

Dead-nuts simple - I start at the front-left corner and thread one on, then work my way around the vehicle. By the time I've got all four tires hissing, I go back to the front tire and start checking it with a gauge. When that one is down to the correct pressure, I make another trip around the van and pull each one off after checking again with a gauge.

It takes very little time and it's too simple to fail or give me errors. The time-delay to remove the valve cap and thread on the next deflator gives me the time I need to move from tire to tire without having to worry about one tire getting deflated too far. I have never understood using any other method that requires more expensive or complicated equipment.

.
Same, though what I've been using for couple years is the TeraFlex; looks identical though yours was less expensive than this one is now. Prices have been going up on all sorts of gear.

I have the ARB Deflators and one from Boulder Tools that you can preset desired low pressure. What I've found, though, is that these are always close at hand, right on my keychain or console and that, like @Herbie, I can start with one wheel, work my way around, and by the time I get back to the first wheel it is down about where I want.

The more I'm out wandering, the more I reach for the simplest, most efficient, tool, and that I am rarely in so much of a rush that I am concerned about a couple minutes time messing with air pressure. It's actually when I check my tread, lean my head into wheel wells to inspect, just generally do a check.

Even after a year of not going anywhere, I knew right where this was today and didn't have to unpack or open anything or dig for it.




.

 

[roving1]

I use this:
View attachment 653437

It isn't the fastest but it's fast enough and I have to carry it to air up anyway. No extra parts specifically for airing down and I can easily vary the pressure around the rig (e.g. I generally set front tires, rear tires, and trailer tires to different pressures according to usage).

I am always a little surprised more people don't use a similar device. I use more or less the same that came with my Viaair compressor. It's fast enough and in a group the guys with deflators or valve core removers seem to finish airing down their tires and then proceed to screw around anyways so I see almost no real world time saving gains.

But what I never get is I almost never air down to the exact same pressure. It's always depends on the task. Beach sand, sandy track, mud and rock, smoothing out bumps, splitting the difference between off-roading and still being able to go 65 on pavement for a bit. Setting automatically to one pressure seems more trouble than it's worth to me.

Also on the filling side I have seen people use their ARB twin compressor to fill the tires super fast and then pop a pressure gauge on and off 4 times per tire until they get where they want. That seems like an annoying effort compared to just having an in line gauge.

Being able to stand up and fill while reading the gauge is great as well.

 

[geoffff]

If anyone's wondering what the difference is between the JTBrooks "Pro" deflators ($100) and the JTBrooks not-Pro ones ($70) -- the Pro ones have PSI calibration markings written on them, while the cheaper ones don't. https://jtbrooks.com/our-products