My Interview with a Portable Tire Inflator Customizer

Question: You’re currently using the Windek RCP-B62A portable inflator to inflate your car tires. When you were looking for portable tire inflators – the minute you paid for this model – was the RCP-B62A an inflator that you’d researched about and you’d been eager to use? Or was it just a product you bought without bothering to do research or read reviews about it?

Answer: It was the latter. I started checking out various reviews online and probably wouldn’t have purchased it if I didn’t find any reviews of it on Amazon.com. That’s my go-to site for finding product reviews these days. I just consider myself a very thorough customer and whatever product I wish to purchase, I tried to do my darnedest to research about it before putting out the cash.

Question: Did you sort of grow fond of the tool?

Answer: Yeah. I think any time you spend on any period of time using an automotive tool – or any type of tool you become more and more comfortable using it. Right now, I feel very comfortable using Windek’s RCP-B62A inflator because of the repetition and the fact that it is easy to use. I don’t really have to pay attention to its features and functionalities anymore because I’ve used the tool for a pretty considerable period of time. If I bought a Viair tire inflator, say, I’d have to learn how to use it properly, its pros and cons, it would be kind of a growing process.

Question: Can that familiarity also lead to a boredom, eventually - a sameness, such that the enthusiasm for the tool you’re using start to wane?

Answer: I think so. Probably, other than a head-on fight with some 200-pound beefy guy who tells me not to use the RCP-B62A ever again, what would get me off this tool is just, “I’ve been using the RCP-B62A for so many years, I’ve customized it, maintained its inflatable tips, I’ve connected the inflator to a DC outlet a thousand times. I just don’t feel like using this inflator anymore.” When that comes, I will buy another portable tire inflator with a totally different brand, different features, make a few personal customizations and use it extensively, the way I did with the RCP-B62A inflator.

Question: Was the move to using Windek RCP-B62A and doing your own customizations a conscious effort to put a new element into the package, to stave off that boredom?

Answer: Yeah. I’d say it was a combination of that and a growing desire to simply customize in order for the tool to truly fulfill my personal requirements. I’m the kind of person who’s pretty fanatical about customizing things – and the automotive tools I own are no different. I’ve customized most of them. I think that, by the time I started using the Windek RCP-B62A inflator, my customization skills were pretty much going full-steam. People were asking me to customize their car accessories; I was acknowledged as one of the tops in the field of automotive tools customization. Why coast on that? I always have to find a new challenge. Once people started acknowledging me as a good automotive accessories customizer, I needed to find another outlet. I’d conquered that world, so to speak, and I have to keep pushing myself.

Question: Let’s talk about your working process. Do you start with a firmly developed modification plan written on paper…or do you just start customizing the inflator and have it developed from there?

Answer: I probably wing it more than anybody else in the business right now. Because I made my reputation as a customizer, I tend to lean toward that field. The first thing I consciously think of is additional functionalities: “What can I bring in as additional features that could be useful for car owners, or what existing features can I improve upon?” Once I pick something I think is useful; I start to formulate the modification or customization plan around it. I really don’t bother with the minute details. I would if I had more time, but I got other things to do too. If I had a few extra days, I’m sure the stuff would be a little more…coherent, I guess would be the word. But right now, if I have an extra day, I want to spend it on performing the customizations instead of sitting down and writing down in detail on what features I would like to add to the tire inflator.

Question: Thank you for your time on this interview Warren.

Answer: You’re welcome Joe and thanks for having me.