Yeah, I got one of these and it’s pretty simple to use. I am totally incompetent with cars beyond checking tire pressure and filling the gas tank, so it’s nice to have something simple.
I will say, though, whenever I get it out in a parking lot, it takes maybe 20 seconds before someone happens along and asks if I need any help. Something about “woman + kneeling by tire” must set off the radar.
Bicycle tires? Yes (because who else is gonna do it?) Car tires, mostly no. I could, but if the tire is losing air it has some other problem, and off it goes to the pros at Discount Tire who guaranteed that tire for life. They’ll fix the problem and add air.
I do it. My last set of tires had one with a slow leak. It needed air every week or so. I did it at the gas station. No one ever gave a crap.
That doesn’t even make sense - you unscrew the cap, put the hose thingy on the nozzle, and press a button. On the list of car things, it’s only moderately harder than putting gas in your car. I can see never wanting to do that, but not being unable to (for most non-disabled adults).
I don’t check as often as I should - I’m appropriately ashamed of myself for frequently just glancing at the tire and think “uh, it seems ok enough.” But it isn’t like I can’t do it. I also don’t change the oil, I can, but it’s inconvenient and I’d rather pay for it to be done. Of course, it’s always scary when I hand the Saab over and the guy can’t find the ignition and gets surprised when the trunk opens backwards. At least one couldn’t figure out where the oil went and guessed wrong (You’d think the words “Motor Oil” would have been a clue, but apparently he decided to get creative). Still, I’d still rather not do it myself.
Yep, I fill my own tires. I even have one of those cute gauge thingies. And I know how to read it.
I am so butch. 
I had to teach a female friend of mine how to check and add air for her tires. She was about 25 at the time, and is a bit of a socialite type. Great at a cocktail party, but not real useful for common sense-type emergencies.
Luckily I had a spare gauge in my car, so I gave it to her. No idea if she’s used it since.
-D/a
I’ve aired up my tires, and when I was in college, I had a car that loved oil. I got used to popping the hood every morning, checking the dipstick, sighing, and putting in another can of oil. I also had to fiddle with a butterfly valve(?) or something to get it to start on some days. I had to keep the valve open with a stick while I started the car. Oh, and I did stuff like clean the windshield and other minor maintenance.
When I got married, all that changed. My husband LOVES to tinker with any sort of motor, and so he usually fills the tank, checks the oil, and plays with the ball bearings. He and his brother are restoring an RV, or working on a truck, almost every weekend. I call this “playing trucks”, and when I ask him what his plans are for the day, he’ll say that he and David are gonna go play trucks. One of his friends owns an auto repair shop, and sometimes Bill goes over there to work on things on Saturdays. Naturally, if one of our vehicles has a problem, we get the thing fixed for the cost of parts, in exchange for Bill’s labor. Ah well, it keeps him happy and busy.
You can buy tire stem covers that show green if the pressure is okay or red if you need to add air; it’s nice to be able to see at a glance if air needs to be added. I also have a compressor that I pre-set to the correct pressure for my tires. All I have to do is run the compressor until the correct pressure is reached and the compressor stops automatically.
Supposedly my tire pressure is checked every time I have my oil changed, but I check myself every so often just to be sure. One day I was checking after I had filled up with gas and this guy also pumping gas got very excited that I had a gauge and asked if he could borrow it. I lent it to him and he immediately broke the stem off one of his tires. Eventually despite the excitement he remembered to return my gauge to me and I left without learning how he remedied the situation. I felt guilty for having provided the instrument of destruction, but how could I have known he would break his tire with it?
I had a slow leak in one of my tires in my ex-car, so yeah, I was putting air in the tire CONSTANTLY, and topping off the other three old tires. Pain in the ass! I went out of my way to go to a particular gas station where there was a free air machine, but half the time it was broken - I just seethed at having to pay for air! I’ve also checked the oil and filled up the windshield washer fluid. I haven’t mastered the ‘swipe your credit/debit card’ at the pump, though.
I check the tire pressure regularly.
My dad taught me that maintenance was part of ownership. My first ‘driving’ lesson involved changing a tire and checking oil.
And thanks for reminding me, I need to check the air in the spare tire before going for my Warrent of Fitness check tomorrow.
I will if I have to but prefer MrPanda to do it because I’m afraid of screwing it up and having a tire explode in my face.
I do it, but admit I’m lazy. I just add some. I really should use the pressure gauge once in a while. It’s not hard and I know how, I just get lazy in the heat. 
My dad also taught me maintenance is part of ownership. I have checked tire pressure, put air in tires, and changed a tire. I have checked and topped off all fluids.
When I owned the Deathmobile I learned all kinds of things, like how to use jumper cables, and open the butterfly valve, and to pour Coca-Cola on the battery terminals when they are too corroded and you don’t have a wire brush. (Oh yeah, learned cleaning the terminals with a wire brush.) I learned how to siphon gas out of your vehicle in case you have a really good night waiting tables, and decide to splurge and fill your tank, (with premium gas, no less) only to discover that in the months since the last time you filled it, the seal on the tank has gone bad, and you are now leaking gas all over the parking lot and the men in the big red fire truck want to puncture your tank and drain out all your expensive gas because this is an explosive situation. :eek:
Also while I owned the Deathmobile I learned to open my driver’s side door with a coat hanger. For some reason, the key wouldn’t work in the lock, and I got tired of opening the passenger side, and crawling over to pull the knob up. One morning I had just gotten home from work, locked the door and shut it at the same time that a big gust of wind blew my long hair in the door. So there I am stuck in my door with a useless key in my hand. Thankfully, one of my neighbors came out and I explained the situation to him, and he took my key and crawled through the passenger door to let me out. Just as soon as he got done laughing.
Ah, that was a long time ago. The Deathmobile. My 1980 Plymouth Duster. I actually miss that car.
I suspect that people who’ve always owned new cars are less capable of handling the smaller things on their own when they happen. As I’ve always owned junkers, or OLD cars <1950 Ford stepside, the only vehicle I never locked myself out of because…it didn’t have locks!>, or outright lemons, I’m familiar with all the basics. A couple years ago a co-worker couldn’t get her SUV started, so I popped the hood and fiddled with the battery terminals and voila. She’d just had the battery replaced, and apparantly the connections weren’t tight. Very simple, but she acted like I had just saved her child from certain death or something. She was telling everybody about it, even. :dubious:
Of course, my driver’s ed class back in the early 80’s actually taught that kind of thing, along with the usual how to use a jack, change tires, check fluids, etc; I wonder if they do now?
That might also have been a regional thing. I took Driver’s Ed in the mid-80’s and she didn’t show us that!
Now I’m curious to know what the women filling their tires up with something other than air are using.
I just did it about a week ago. I had to use the tire gauge that’s on the air compressor at the gas station because mine keep getting stolen. That’s why I do my own. Every time a man helps me with some chore, I lose another tool and have to buy it again.
I want my really nice, high-end tire gauge back. 
Side note: My dad raced motorcycles for 25 years. I grew up hanging around bikers at the racetrack. I know my way around a car or bike and spent many years of my childhood at my dad’s elbow, helping (which mostly consisted of learning the names of the tools so I’d know what to hand him when he asked for a socket wrench). After he taught me how to drive, he wouldn’t let me go get my license until I knew how to: change a tire (in the dark, in the rain, on an incline, with nobody to hold a flashlight for me), check the oil and know when, where, and how to add some, check the tires and top 'em off if necessary, check any other fluids and top them off, jump start with jumper cables, and swap out the wiper blades. When I got through Basic Car Maintenance 101, he let me go take my driver’s test. My dad’s a dick, but I’m still really grateful for all this.
Ha! I’ve just called around to find someone to come over to fill the tires on a car I have in the yard. I’m car sitting and the tires are going flat. My friend explains he doesn’t have a standard machine, but will be using something from a fridge - this should be interesting, as long as it’s not my fridge!
My present car is a baby to me - only 12! I’m well used to various car coaxing techniques. I had a piece of metal to bang my sticky starter motor, parking on a slope when I had to bump start every time. The doors on “the getaway car” didn’t open so we all had to dive through the windows - that one I had to adjust the timing screw with an English halfpenny - the new one at that time - I didn’t have a screw driver thin enough. I need to put some water in the windscreen wiper bottle, so I’ll check the oil and radiator one time.
Well, we learned how to jump-start and change a battery, both of which involve making sure the connections are secure. We didn’t really learn ‘Guess Why My Car Won’t Start!’. 
It was just the first place I checked after she said she’d just had the battery replaced.
On that note, while I can change oil on anything, and have, I haven’t done that for at least a decade. It’s cheaper to have the shop do it, if you don’t have the right tools at home. If you DO have the right tools, and get cheap oil, it MIGHT average out to a bit of savings, and it’s definitely something everyone should at least KNOW how to do, but in my mind it’s not worth it, and money well-spent to just get it done while I’m shopping or what-not.
Brakes I’m clueless on, though my sis will strip and replace a set in a blink of an eye.