Bought a 79 quid compressor from Lidl. Put an air impact driver on it (£19), put a 55mm socket on that and bingo, rear wheel nut straight off. Did it so easy I had to blink at it twice. I've wanted an air compressor for ages, well worth it just for that. To think of all the agony I've been through before. It'll pay for itself at tyre changes. Now for the car wheels.....
well. good job you posted the results first cos i would of said no chance. nice one. i was looking at one myself last week for the shed.
Recently bought one too. The air tools from Aldi can be used with the Lidl airlines and you get slightly better quality (seems that way anyways) add on tools. One happy chappy!
I have to say that I bought a small compressor several years ago and subsequently upgraded to a bigger 100 litre 3hp one and have never looked back. A compressor is probably one of the most useful and versatile pieces of kit you could ever put in your garage. Forget that carbon fibre mudguard and anodised bar end weights and get one. I promise you won't regret it. A whole new world of air tools, tyre pumping and in my case, paint spraying awaits!
I inherited a Bambi silent compressor a few years back. Which is great for light duty work. But any prolonged jobs are a chore as it struggles to keep up with the demand. Just don't be tempted to buzz the wheel nut back on with it. It's very easy to over torque and damaged the threads.
Most air tools use 1/4 NPT fittings so should all be interchangeable if they come with a fitting at all. Some air tools come bare and it is up to the owner to fit the appropriate fitting for his\her use including quick couplings. Looking at the specs of the bigger compressors that Aldi and Lidl sell they do not come up to the standard of some of the higher end models sold by the likes of Machine Mart which are of an equivalent in terms of horsepower. I have two compressors and my small 2HP compressor is just about OK to run an air tool for a very short length of time before the motor cuts in and then it will run continuously not really making enough free air to run much after that. It's one of the few items where buying the very best does pay dividends. My large compressor is a Clark 3HP two stage two cylinder compressor and that is the largest you can run off a domestic mains supply as it draws the full 13 amps and in fact on a cold day it can sometimes hit 15 which has caused a few fuses to go from the strain in the past.
