very new to dinghy towing, will be the very first time this spring. Do i need to invest in tire pressure sensors for the dinghy? yes no maybe so?what do you use on your dinghy?

This should be in the "dinghy towing" forum, but here is my answer:Do you NEED TPS on a dinghy? IMO, no. Have I ever used TPS on one of my dinghys? No.Have I ever regretted not having TPS? Not at all.Have I ever owned a vehicle that had TPS? Sadly, yes.Did I like the TPS? No, not at all.Would it be a good idea for YOU to have TPS? That is entirely up to you. Just because I had some bad experiences with the systems I had several years ago doesn't mean that you will have problems with a newer system.Good luck.

IMO a TPMS is just another type of insurance. You never need insurance, until you need it. Usually at that point it's too late, and you can only wish you had insurance. A TPMS is never needed until you either blow a tire or have a slow leak, and you don't have direct eyes on the vehicle. Until that happens it's just another place to spend your money. I have one on my trailer and consider it one more thing I could regret not having if I ever need it. IMO it boils down to Dirty Harry's catch phrase: "Do you feel lucky?"

X2 on almost everything in previous post. Except I have my first TPMS factory installed on our toad, and it did give me warning when I got a slow leak in one tire. So, yes, I don't have one on our rig, can't monitor the one on the toad while towing, and if I could afford a good one, would like to have one on our vehicles.

Definitely. You have a tire loosing pressure on the toad your first warning is when it goes completely flat and starts to disintegrate, damaging the vehicles body work, wheel and suspension. With a TPMS it alerts you to the pressure loss BEFORE things get critical. So which is cheaper a TST 507 system with 10 sensors or substantial tire/body damage, you decide it's your choice.

When we purchased our new to us Class A, I selected the RVi brake system specifically since it comes with an optional TPMS that transmits tire pressure through the brake controller.The reason why is because I was concerned that there would be no way for me to tell should a tire on the dinghy go flat and possible cause significant damage.To those who do not use a TPMS on the dinghy, how would one recognize a tire went flat?

do tow vehicles need tire pressure sensors | Good Sam Community

2gypsies1
Explorer III
Mar 31, 2017
Our opinion... definitely yes!

When we first got our motorhome we didn't have TPMS on either the MH or toad. We were traveling on a secondary highway in the West - not much traffic. Someone passed us doing the dreaded 'wave' at the rear of our setup. Luckily, there was a place to pull over that came up soon. We were shocked at looking at the front tire area of the Jeep. The tire was almost completely off. We were riding on the rim. The damage to the car's fender and front area was extensive.

As we were driving we didn't feel a thing. The motorhome had so much power that pulling the car with a flat didn't phase it. We had a rear camera but the tire well didn't show because it was straight on.

After repairs we bought our TPMS for both vehicles. We would never be without them.
msmith1199
Explorer II
Mar 31, 2017
I don't have a TPMS system, but I think they are a good idea. My current toad is a Jeep Wrangler and my rear view camera matches the roof of the jeep in a straight line. I'm hoping if a tire does go flat while towing that I'll notice a change in the angle of the roof on the rear view camera. I keep it on and glance down at it all the time while driving.

I've never had a flat tire on the toad.
Solo
Explorer
Mar 31, 2017
I've been using an aftermarket TPMS for several years now and believe that is has paid for itself many times over. My system alerted me to a low tire on my toad several years ago while on the road. With my DP pulling a Jeep, I would have not felt anything if that tire had gone totally flat until I noticed tire smoke and plastic/rubber shredding in my rear vision camera. I paid around $209 on Amazon for the Tire Tech On a couple years ago. Certainly not one of the best out there but, it continues to monitor what I expected out of the unit. I've had zero issues with my TPMS and have not needed a repeater to receive the signal from the toad behind my 43' DP.
road-runner
Explorer III
Mar 29, 2017
I believe the signature appears only on the first post you make in a thread.
cross21114
Explorer
Mar 25, 2017
But not on the last post. I give up.
cross21114
Explorer
Mar 25, 2017
My sig came back?
cross21114
Explorer
Mar 25, 2017
Isn't it the same with a trailer?
Sultan1966
Explorer
Mar 25, 2017
I most definitely use them and monitor all 12 while driving especially audible alerts EEZTire gives.
whemme
Explorer II
Mar 23, 2017
Well everyone has their opinions. I am personally happy that I equipped my Class C and toad with a 10 sensor TPMS system. Have have a Advantage PressurePro system for 12 years. It has never failed to work except when the sensor batteries died. It is on its 2nd set of sensors that seem to last about 6 years if you remove them to save internal battery life whenever your motorhome is not being used.

Over the years it has caught two leaking rubber valve stems on the motorhome and a leak from a bolt puncturing a rear tire on my toad. Two leaking valve stems caused me to change out all of the motorhomes valves stems with custom metal valves stems from Borg tire.

I can't see the tires on my toad from the mirrors on my motorhome so there is no way to know that a tire is going flat with imminent damage waiting.

Several years ago, I was riding with a friend in his diesel pusher pulling a VW Golf toad on I29 heading north in North Dakota. A car came up on our right side displaying a sign that stated FLATTE TYRE. We pulled off as soon as we could and discovered that the left rear tire had disintegrated and was running on the aluminum wheel rim. No damage to the car itself luckily but the tire and rim were destroyed.

Click on the link below to see the system I use.

Advantage PressurePro 10 Sensor System
Horizon170
Explorer
Mar 23, 2017
mowermech wrote:
This should be in the "dinghy towing" forum, but here is my answer:
Do you NEED TPS on a dinghy? IMO, no.
Have I ever used TPS on one of my dinghys? No.
Have I ever regretted not having TPS? Not at all.
Have I ever owned a vehicle that had TPS? Sadly, yes.
Did I like the TPS? No, not at all.
Would it be a good idea for YOU to have TPS? That is entirely up to you. Just because I had some bad experiences with the systems I had several years ago doesn't mean that you will have problems with a newer system.
Good luck.

X2------------no need for them, ever. They are forever going bad and too costly to replace.