The Top 7 Portable Air Compressors For Cars Reviewed

Did you know that your car is at risk when it doesn’t have the correct amount of pressure in its tires?

A lack of pressure means the ride becomes more uncomfortable, which could put extra strain on the suspension and cause damage to your vehicle.

Not only that, but you’re more at risk of getting a puncture, which means you have to pay a lot of money for new tires.

This is why it’s essential that every car owner has a portable air compressor in their car emergency kit.

With one of these, you can quickly inflate your tires to their ideal pressure, so you don’t have to worry about any of the risks mentioned above.

For those of you in a hurry, our choice for the Best Portable Car Air Compressor is the Viair 00088 88P Portable Air Compressor.

If you’re looking for the best portable air compressor for cars, then you’re in the right place! To save you having to do all the research in what limited spare time you have, I’ve done it for you.

Take a look at these five reviews to find the best portable air compressors around.

03/14/2024 07:06 am GMT

Best Portable Air Compressors For Cars

1. Viair 00088 88P Portable Air Compressor

We’ll start things off with the most expensive offering on this list, but certainly a contender for the title of best portable air compressor for cars. You get 12V of power here, which is standard in a lot of these products, and it uses high-quality alligator clamps that you can hook up directly to your car battery. That’s the power source here so you can use it wherever you are, whenever you want.

One of the most undeniably good features is the portability. That sounds strange as you should expect a portable air compressor to be portable! But, you’ll be surprised at how many are actually rather bulky. This weighs just 4.5lbs and can easily fit in your trunk of behind one of your front seats. It’s honestly not that big at all so you won’t have any trouble getting it out of your car and using it whenever you need to.

Another thing I really liked was that it can generate up to 20 AMPS, which allows it to easily inflate tires up to 33 inches in size. Many people have testified that you can easily handle tires that need as much as 50psi. But, if your car needs tire pressure above this, then it can struggle. For most people, this isn’t an issue, and you get a very neat and portable air compressor that does the job and is highly reliable.

2. Kensun Portable Air Compressor

There are a few things that really make the Kensun Portable Air Compressor a worthy candidate for you to consider. Firstly, there are dual motors packed inside that offer a very impressive power output to swiftly inflate your tires to their desired pressure. But, perhaps the best thing is that you can use this at home or in the car.

Keep this in your car, and you can connect it to the cigarette lighter to provider 12V of power. This is an excellent feature as it means you don’t even need to bother popping the hood and connecting wires to the battery. If you’re parked outside your house, you can use a 110V wall plug for even more power. This ability to switch between AC and DC is so beneficial as it really means you can use it wherever you want.

You get a range of different nozzles with this air compressor as well, which means it works for a load of different tires; bikes, motorcycles, all terrain tires, and even ATV tires. The design is perfect too; it has a handle that’s so easy to grip, and there’s a small carrying bag for added protection. It’s compact and lightweight – it weighs under 4lbs – so you have no shortage of places to store it. The fact you can use it on other inflatables makes it a multi-purpose tool as well, and the price tag is very appealing too. One slight complaint is that it can be a bit noisy, but this is easy to ignore after a while.

3. EPAuto 12V DC Portable Air Compressor

When you’re looking for the best portable air compressor for a car, then one of the vital factors is usability. It needs to be easy for you to use and understand, or else you run the risk of doing it wrong. With this product, the best thing about it is how easy it is to use. To start, you can just plug it into your cigarette lighter, so it’s not difficult to turn on. Then, it has a simple interface with four different display units that show you all the figures you need to care about.

While all of this is impressive, there’s one feature that stands out from the rest; Auto Shut Off. Here, your air compressor will shut itself off as soon as it reaches the desired tire pressure. This takes mistakes out of the game as you’ll never over-inflate and run the risk of bursting your tires! Alongside this, there’s an outstanding feature that switches the unit off if it exceeds a temperature of 167F, which prevents overheating.

Much like the previous product, you can use it for other inflatables thanks to a mixture of nozzle accessories. When it comes to your car tires, it will work with all cars up to small SUV’s. If you have a truck or larger, then this won’t be able to work for you. But, few portable air compressors will, and this one works very well for such an affordable price.

4. AUDEW Portable Air Compressor

This is another portable air compressor for cars that connect to the cigarette lighter, so there’s no bother with trying to connect it to your car battery. When reviewing this, I was somewhat blown away by how compact it is. This thing is close to 2.5lbs and the size of a large purse. As a result, you can store it almost anywhere in your car without worrying about it taking up too much space, leaving you room for other car accessories like a vacuum or cushion.

Yes, you get the automatic shut off feature here as well, and you know how much I value this when looking for the best portable air compressor for cars. It’s so easy to set your desired tire pressure as there are only three buttons you have to worry about. Some products are guilty of overcomplicating things, but this makes it simple.

What’s really good about this air compressor is that it uses a digital LED display. Therefore, you have no concerts trying to look at a dial and figure out the pressure level. Instead, it’s clearly shown before your eyes – and it comes with LED lights as well. This is beneficial as it means you can use it in the dark without trying to find a light to shine on it. The power chord is a good 10ft long as well, which means you can reach the tires on some fairly long and wide vehicles. Power-wise, it packs a decent punch in such a small package, and it won’t have any issues achieving tire pressure up to 150PSI.

5. DEWALT DCC020IB

If you are looking for a top-quality cordless air inflator, you will be impressed with the Dewalt DCC020IB. This comes with every feature you could possibly want from a product like this.

The inflator has been constructed using premium quality materials, with all of the surfaces boasting a great feel to them. The core is solid, and even if you accidentally drop it, we doubt it would get damaged – although we don’t recommend trying this for the sake of it! The inflator has a handle on the top and it is very well balanced. Without the battery, the total weight is 2.5 kg, which isn’t too bad at all.

The inflator has buttons on the front, as well as a control wheel, and two separate LCD monitors. The LCD monitors give you the ability to control everything. When the tool is working, you can see the progress on the left monitor, showing you how much work has already been done. On the LCD to the right, the screen displays the desired PSI when the control wheel is being rotated.

There is an auto-stop feature with this inflator and you will also get special accessories for deflating and inflating a number of different items, including mattresses, ties, and footballs. Another useful feature with this product is the LED light. We found this very useful when fixing a tire at night.

Finally, in terms of power, you can either use this inflator as a cordless or corded device. You can use any 20V MAX battery to power this product, or 110-volt AC plug or 12 volt DC car adaptor. The product also comes with a 13.75 FT length DC car adaptor as well. All in all, this is a great inflator that ticks all of the boxes.

6. VacLife Air Compressor

There are a lot of inflators on the market today, and so it is important to narrow down your search effectively before you commit to making a purchase. One inflator that we have definitely been impressed with is the VacLife Air Compressor.

This is a smart-looking product. Not only does it look good but it comes with all of the functionality that you would want from a piece of equipment like this. One thing that we noticed is that it works quicker than most of the portable tire inflators on the market today. It also fixes into a 12V cigarette lighter for ease of use. All you need to do to use this inflator is turn it on once the desired pressure has been set, and it will then automatically turn off once the correct inflation has been reached.

You can easily make your way around a vehicle with this, as it comes with an 11.5 ft cable, as well as four additional nozzles that will help you with inflating different kinds of vehicles, including bikes, motorhomes, and SUVs, as well as a nozzle for sports equipment. One thing that we prefer with this inflator when compared with other products on the market is just how easy it is to use. We’re sure you will not be disappointed.

7. Helteko Portable Air Compressor

Immediately, you notice that this is one of the best air compressors for car use thanks to the quality materials. It actually feels like something industrial in the way that it’s so robust and durable. You could get this out on the side of a road with cars zooming past and throwing dust your way, but it wouldn’t matter. This is built to last so you will get plenty of years out of it.

Again, this product comes with the much-coveted auto shut off feature. This instantly makes it so much easier to use as you don’t have to worry about a thing. Just check the tire pressure in your car manual, set it with ease, then sit back and watch the pump do its work. It does fine work as well – this is a powerful air compressor that inflates tires in just a few minutes, so you’re not left waiting around for ages.

Impressively, this weighs under 3lbs and is probably one of the most compact offerings I’ve reviewed. It’s tiny but still big enough to provide a delightful LED screen that’s so easy for you to read. If there’s anything you could criticise it’s that you don’t get a storage bag with it – but we’re getting into severe nitpicking territory here.

Having seen these seven different products, you can now start to mull over your final decision. Which one will be worth your money? Different people may prefer different products – it depends on the features you deem most essential.

Some key things to consider are the power sources; do you want to have something with AC and DC? Do you need it to connect to the cigarette lighter or are you happy clamping it to your car battery? Then, think about the size of the product and how much space you have free in your car. Following this, think about some extra features like auto shut off or overheating prevention. Of course, you need to do all of this while considering your personal spending budget too.

After this, you will figure out which one of these portable air compressors is best for you and your car. So, you can make a more informed purchase!

Recommended Car Air Compressor Accessories

Compressor Carrying Case

Compressor Extension Hose

How To Inflate Car Tires

Here is a good video showing how to inflate car tires with an air compressor: