which compressor to go for

To be honest a small 50 liter hobby/portable style compressor will probably do you fine. They are not up to the job of spraying a full car or using air tools for more then a few mins at a time but for what you describe sounds like your best bet. Can get them from all over the place nice and cheap.. EBay for 2nd hand or machine mart for new maybe?

I'd say go for the best one you can get, in terms of spec and so on, bearing in mind that much above 3hp will probably need a three-phase supply.

After trying an electric spraygun (not a very good finish) and borrowing a tank of compressed air (runs for ~20 seconds before there's no pressure left) to try to repaint an engine bay in a previous car, I eventually bought a 50l 3hp machine, either Clark or Sealey, I forget which, off eBay. It's been fine, but the problem is that once you have it, you start to use it more and more. And then those gits at Aldi start having air tools at low prices, so you get some of those and find that it's only just up to it.

I painted my current restoration with my 50l 3hp compressor, and while the paint finish isn't superb I don't think that's down to the compressor, more my lack of skill and experience, and maybe the paint and surroundings. I've used a 3" cut-off tool, die grinder, drill and possibly a couple of other bits in it as well the spraygun, and the only thing that really tests it is my most recent purchase, a 3" polisher.

If it's only for occasional use, keep in mind that it's recommended that you drain the tank each time, to prevent water build-up. I leave the drain open on mine until it's next used. The point is, though, if you just want to blow tyres up, you'll spend so much time waiting for it to build up pressure that you might as well spend a tenner on an electric tyre compressor for that job. A compressor is a useful thing to have, don't get me wrong, but pumping up tyres is something I do after I've used it for something else, if I remember before I drain the air out, not something I'd power it up specifically to do.

Price up a 50l one then wait for someone local to sell a bigger one and buy that. You will use if more and more and end up with a bigger one anyway.

One thing you should probably watch out for is big tanks with curse word low cfm pumps on them. Seen a few compressors like that. They make you think it's a nice sized machine but in reality it's no more capable than a small tanked version. The size of the tank isn't really important it just needs to be appropriately sized for economy reasons. (It takes alot of energy to start the thing so you don't want a big compressor starting and stopping alot) Once you actually get using air you need the pump to flow atleast the cfm you are using, ideally significantly more but having 50liters more capacity in the tank makes diddly squat difference once you put the thing under any kind of load.

Hello guys still searching for a compressor and seen some on sgs engineering, I can get a 50l with 9.6CFM with a few accessories for £118.99 or a 100l with 14.6 CFM at £218.99, with the same accessories as the 50l which are tyre inflator, blowing tool, spray gun and swivel hose, or for £299 you can but a 100l one with a selection of air tools like 1/2 impact wrench, air hammer, 2x 10m hoses, oils, and sander ( I think ) so just wondering would the 50l do or is it best to just get the 100l, it will be used on my classic for getting of stubbon nuts and blowing out stuff might use it to paint but unsure, and also if anyone's had any experience with these sgs compressors, thanks again lol I last posted this in August last year but still searching ao hopefully want to get a compressor this year, thanks again for any input you guys have as I want to make the right choice but don't have much experience on the compressor field