Tire Pressure Monitoring System or not!

135000 plus miles on motorhome (plus another 135000 + towing the TOAD tires) and 16 years without TPMS (total of 8 tires plus toad tires), same motor home all that time, which, by the way, has also always had stainless valve extenders on the duals (which makes checking tires simple) all that period. I am just now starting on my 5th set of tires on the motorhome. Had a slow leak once discovered by routine check. To me it is just another item to fail, screw with and worry about. I have also hooked and unhooked power at over 600 different campgrounds throughout USA, Canada and Alaska and I don't have a surge protector. I do have a Good Governor and a couple of decent VOM's. I guess what I am saying is common sense and due diligence will get you through about anything.

If all these posters have not swayed you to get a monitor system, your not hearing them clearly. Sitting on the side of the road with a failed tire waiting for the service truck to come is not somewhere you want to be. I use the TST system and love it. Here

Billinwoodland wrote:
OK, maybe this should be a separate thread, is there any particular system that seems to be most reliable?

TST, Tireminder, and Pressure Pro seem to be the most often mentioned here. Don't know that one is better than the others. Do get one with user replaceable batteries.

When I first started out with our MH. I pulled our tow neither had TPMS. I left a service place going home less than 50 miles. By time, I got home I was short one tire on the tow. Never know there was a problem. MH pulled the tow without a problem and pulled it straight. After that we, got a TST- TPMS. Then on year starting on our winter trip. Just went by a highway construction site, when the TPMS start to warn me of pressure dropping in one of the rear duals. I looked up and could see the pressure going down. I pulled out the next exit to find a lag screw in the tire. I don't think I would have know otherwise until a lot of damage was done. Had road service changes the tire and continued my trip without any damage. I like the TPMS, the only draw back is you could lose a signal and will not know it.

I just replaced all of my 8 year old Pressure Pro sensors as most had stopped working from dead batteries. It's nice to be able to check all of your tire pressures sitting in the driver's seat before pulling out and then again anytime you want to know at 65 MPH. I still temp my tires/brakes/wheel bearings when I stop.
It probably saved two tag tires when the pressure regulator for the tag's air bags put 120 psi in them overloading the tires. The large increase in pressure of those two tires while the others had not alerted me to the problem.

A few years ago I got new tires and the shop installed flexible extensions on the inner duals. I installed the PressurePro and all was well for several months.

Then we got a cold snap; temperatures went down to around 25F.

The next morning as we got ready to go I plugged in the TPMS and it immediately screamed at me. Both inner duals were FLAT! The extensions had leaked because of different metal contraction/expansion rates. So I had some extended stems installed and all has been well.

Without the TPMS I would have driven away with two flat tires and probably would have blown out or destroyed the outer duals. On two-lane curvy mountain roads. We probably would have splattered ourselves down a mountainside.

Jay Pat wrote:

He said 65 lbs for D rated tires. D rated!
I asked for and paid for E rated tires.

I don't quite understand this complaint.

If the recommended pressure for the weight carried is/was 65 for D rated tires, simply putting on E's will not usually change the recommended pressure.......since the weight has not changed.

Or is there something in the story that I missed ??

OK, maybe this should be a separate thread, is there any particular system that seems to be most reliable?

2 years ago we were pulling my 5th Wheel and had TPMS when it alerted. It turned out that two manufacturer tires had tread separation and were rubbing against each other. The high temp alert went off so when I pulled over I could see the two tires touching sides! Had I kept going, I know I would have had at least one blowout and damage to the underside of the trailer!

My one flat was a slow leak when the seal on the valve stem seal failed and the right front tire. A TPMS would have warned me of the problem early, and saved the tire, rather than when the steering started to get heavy and the coach pulling to the right. Tire was a year and a week old. The side the road replacement was $500. The TPMS was $300.

If the stem seal on one of the rear duals had failed I would never have know until the second tire of the dual failed, probably catastrophically. Get a flat on a toad and you'll never know it until you stop and look. By then no telling how much extra damage has occurred. Probably more than the cost of the TPMS.