Tire Monitor

[huffypuff]

OK I went to the rally with the booster and toad and no improvement. When at the rally I seen someone refilling his tires and refilling again. Guess what the tire pressure monitor don't agree with the gauge and is all different pressure? Sounds familiar? Best to ignore them unless it sets off an alarm.

On a side note is do new coaches come with tire monitor system? If so would they use little dabbers spinning on the outside of the valve? Would it be better to have the sensor inside the tire strapped to the rim? All cars had tire monitors for about 10 years years now. Why don't they have this kind of problems with their system?

[wolfe10]

Ray,

I am not aware of any "inside the tire" tire monitor systems marketed for RV's.

Bendix used to have one (an excellent one), but it is no longer marketed to RV's.

[tireman9]

OK I went to the rally with the booster and toad and no improvement. When at the rally I seen someone refilling his tires and refilling again. Guess what the tire pressure monitor don't agree with the gauge and is all different pressure? Sounds familiar? Best to ignore them unless it sets off an alarm.

On a side note is do new coaches come with tire monitor system? If so would they use little dabbers spinning on the outside of the valve? Would it be better to have the sensor inside the tire strapped to the rim? All cars had tire monitors for about 10 years years now. Why don't they have this kind of problems with their system?

I run both internal and external sensors. Ya I'm strange and have a tire fetish :-)

I run both so I can answer questions about TPM numbers. Each has advantage & disadvantage. Major dis-advantage of internal is cost of replacing batteries as you have to dismount and re-mount the tire.

Also I am not aware of an internal sensor with user replaceable battery so you have to pay $$ for a new sensor. BUT internal provide more accurate temperature numbers.

Advantage of external is user replaceable low cost batteries. Disadvantage is less accurate temperature numbers

BUT

I have found no meaningful difference in the pressure numbers between the two types of system. I am primarily concerned with pressure. Temperature is a minor interesting feature.

[tireman9]

Two years ago the drivers side outside dual tire blew out taking a sizable portion of the fiberglass on the left rear of the coach. After the tire blew, the tire alarm sounded. There was no indication that the tire was loosing air prior to the blow out. In fact, we had stopped for lunch immediately before this event. I had done my usual walk-around as I do every time we stop. I touch the tires and the hubs to make sure nothing is abnormally hot. We hadn't been back on the road for more than 10 minutes following that stop.

Two years before that we were traveling after dark in Alabama. At some road work we were routed off the road onto the shoulder. I picked up a cargo hook in the right outside dual tire. The alarm sounded and after we cleared the road work I pulled off to investigate. As I stepped out of the coach I heard the air rushing from the tire. Had I not had the tire alarm system I'd have driven on with the full weight of the coach on the remaining tire which being greatly overloaded would have failed quickly. I would have been on rims on the rear axle and nothing good happens after that. So the tire monitors have saved me once which more than pays for the system.

It gives me peace of mind especially with the toad to have some indication of tire problems. The system only works for those occasions when the air escapes slowly from a tire but as Brett said, this is the most common kind of tire failure.

Tom, For me one of the biggest problems is the improper use of the word "Blowout". This really is a hold over from our parents day of tube type tires.

Tubeless tires can have a suddden loss of air but in my experience this is always preceeded by one of two things happening.

1. A slow leak of air which turns into a "Run Low Flex" failure. Here is a report I did on one such failure. TPM will provide warning in this case.

2. Impact sidewall cut or less frequently and harder to cause, a large cut to the tread area. Here is a report of a "Blowout" that hadn't happened yet that happened on my personal car. Obviously the tire had not lost any air so the TPM will not provide any warning but with a few more miles the sidewall rubber would let go and in just a few revolutions once the crack grew and the tire would have lost all its air almost instantaniously. This would also be a "blowout" to the average user.

[jimkate]

I empathize with all the thoughts about the inaccuracies of tire pressure monitoring systems. I have used a TST system for several years, and have not felt that I was totally happy most of the time. Finally I sent the system back for examination, repair or replacement.

I received the system back from TST the morning we were hitting the road. I'm an old diesel mechanic, driven truck for years, so I thought 'I'll set this up tonight.' I walked around, checked all the tire pressures and we hit the road.

We stopped twice that day. Each time I checked the tires and the bearings with my hand. All was good. All was cool.

Late in the day we decided to pull into a truck stop for the night. As we stepped down from the coach, the front tire was flat! Not only flat, the bead was broken from the rim, and the rim had been running on the tire sidewalls!

You could have knocked me out with a feather!

I had not felt any change in the handling of the coach. The last half hour on the highway, we were floating along at 65 MPH.

Oh boy!

Fortunately the truck stop also sold and serviced truck tires. With my wallet a bit lighter, the next morning we drove away from the truck stop with new steer tires installed and balanced. The friendly tire man helped me to install the tire pressure monitoring sensors.

He thought that it would be a good idea to keep the sensors on the wheels.

I agree.

Jim

[jimkate]

The false positive readings have driven me nuts with the TST systems, especially on the toad. When the sensor stops reading from one position and then starts again in 5 -20 minutes and alternates on all four wheels is unnerving to say the least and when I say "stops working", its like the wheel fell off. They may work fine one day and then not the next.

I understand the difference in pressure reading from an accurate gauge but when the sensor indicates 40# when the actual gauge pressure on a rear tire is 85# is not acceptable to me. Once the pressure increases after driving a few miles the sensor pressure may or may not jump to 90-95#.

Like you, Bizsmith, I'm more concerned with the toad having a tire issue.

I wouldn't put up with this. I would package everything up and send it back to TST for examination, repair, replacement or refund.

I have never believed that my TST system was perfect, but I have been impressed with the folks at TST to try to support their product.

I do believe it is wise to have a tire pressure monitoring system, irregardless of brand.

Jim

[elkhartjim]

I apologize for not updating my rants about the TST system. They sent me another (3rd) monitor. I programed it and used it our next trip of about 400 miles. It worked flawlessly and indicated pressures within 1 psig of my two air gauges.

TST does have outstanding customer service.