Tire pressure monitoring systems

They are accurate to a couple of pounds. There is real peace of mind that anytime your tire pressure or temperature exceeds limits (that you program), you'll be warned. It's a lot less expensive than the damage that a blowout can cause. If you're lucky, it's just a fender well that gets torn up. And it goes down hill from there.

I was very careful to check my tire pressure before every trip. But all it takes is one nail while you're driving down the highway to make you consider purchasing a system.

I know I like mine. I have had them for a year now and they work pretty good. I think everyone needs to buy the extra booster however. Well worth it good strong signal even away from the rig.

Go to the Tiffin Motorhome Service Center's parking area, 100+ spots with hookups. One drive through the area, looking at body and undercarriage damage caused by tire failures will convince you of the cost being worth it. Usually out of all the motorhomes there at least 10% will be there for this type of repair. Not only is it quite expensive, $5,000-$6,000 or more, but the motorhome will be be there for 6 weeks plus as a rule and they have all the parts. A blowout that just takes the inner and outer dual tire is a "good" one. We've seen ones that have taken out wheel wells, holding tanks, hydraulic pumps, inverters, air suspension systems, exhaust systems and body panels back to and including damaged rear caps on our annual trips through there.

We have Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems on both our Phaeton (New TST, booster and monitor), Sport Trac (New TST + extra monitor that is turned off when towing) and our B+ (Old PressurePro System from the Phaeton and toad). Each vehicle has had tires loose air that could have caused major damage from leaks, nails, screws and hitting road hazards (instant blowout while being towed, on the Sport Trac) in the past 9 years of use of Tire Pressure Monitoring System, while fulltiming. With each occurrence it could have caused many thousand of dollars of repair, travel plan changes and down time. That said if you can buy a "good" complete TPMS system for $300, which I doubt. That's around 1/2 the price of one of the 22.5 inch tires on our Phaeton for piece of mind, that isn't bad at all.

I would not leave home without it. We have used a TPMS for over 7 years and it has paid for itself several times over. One was a quick air loss on a toad tire as we were entering a town, got into a parking lot and it was on the rim as I walked back to look at it. No tire damage but certainly would have been out on the highway without a warning from the TPMS. We use the TST and a booster and have had good luck with the TST and great customer service from the dealer. Hope this may help. Happy Trails Bert

I did not have very good luck with a TST system I bought a few years ago ($600 for 8 sensors for the RV and 4 for the toad). I never used my pancake compressor more than when I had that tire pressure monitoring system. The sensors caused the tires to lose air so I took all the senors off and shipped them to a guy reading on RV.net for free.

I've never had a tire failure. I know it could happen tomorrow. I check my tires before every departure and do a walk around when we make stops.

Our new coach will come with a tire pressure monitoring system standard. I hope it works better than what I had before.

Good luck,
MM.

johnsonbert wrote:
I would not leave home without it. We have used a TPMS for over 7 years and it has paid for itself several times over. One was a quick air loss on a toad tire as we were entering a town, got into a parking lot and it was on the rim as I walked back to look at it. No tire damage but certainly would have been out on the highway without a warning from the TPMS. We use the TST and a booster and have had good luck with the TST and great customer service from the dealer. Hope this may help. Happy Trails Bert

X2

We also have a TST system. Have used TST on the last four motor homes. Passed them on when we upgraded and got new ones for the new rig. I have a cousin in CA who has probably had the worse tire luck of anyone I have ever heard of. She blew out at least two tires a year for four years on the same RV. (Most of them replaced because of factory defects and age.) A couple due to overloading. We took her to the Tire Monitor class at the 2011 Winnebago GNR and then set her up with a TST system. She hasn't had a tire problems since.
I am not an employee of TST, just an extremely happy customer.

skipole

I too use the TST System and am very happy with it.

It has just finally started to warm up here in Pa. So the other day went out and started getting the RV out of its winter hibernation... I plugged the TST monitor in to charge the battery in it... When it is plugged in it is automatically on.. Yesterday I walked past the RV and heard the low tire beeper going off.. After finding that it was coming from the right front I discovered I had a small leak around the valve stem.. I would have not found it without the TST and would have just aired it up thinking it was just air loss from sitting and drove it... The TPMS is worth every penny...

Last Summer I made the decision to install a TPMS system after 70,000 miles of MH driving with no demonstrated need for such a system.

The system was easy to install, all 10 senders worked immediately after installation, the dash gauge battery lasts about a month on one charge, and the gauge has alerted me to a problem twice while in a parked mode. No repeater is installed on my 38' rig plus toad.

I do like the monitoring of tires while driving down the road as I am now in the 7th year of my rear tire life.

Alas, I have had no fewer tire problems because I now have the monitoring system. That is likely because I had no prior problems in the first 11 years of motorhoming and manually checking my tires prior to departure.

I really don't think it's about accurate tire pressure....it's more for knowing the current status of each tire as you go down the road. Weather it's 2lbs off or 5lbs off...it's just a base line for knowing if a tire is showing a significant loss of air while moving.

As for Mr. Marks reply....Checking your tires before you start out and checking after you stop will do absolutely nothing for a blowout or picking up a nail. It is very difficult (if not impossible) to know if an inner dual or a tire on your toad is losing or has lost its air. It doesn't take long for an empty tire to disintegrate. If you had defective TST sensors that were causing your tires to lose air, you should have contacted TST and have them replaced.

Ron