Tire Monitors

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

I stopped in Camping World today,  They reccomend the type that straps to the inside of your rims.

I would need twelve and the price will be a little over $2000,00 This includes breaking down all the tires off the rims.

Question, Which type, and who has expierence with theese?

Thanks-
Nick-

[JackConrad]

Nick,
   I use the Doran PressurePro. The transmitters screw onto the valve stem. Yes, they are out in the weather, could be stolen (unless you buy the little anti-theft fittings for them) and could leak, but I can switch the transmitters between our Grand Cherokee and the trailer we haul our golf cart on. So far, we have never had a problem with the transmitters leaking.The dash monitor attaches with velcro and uses a cigarette lighter adapter for the power supply. I can select bus only, bus and toad, or toad only. This way the monitor can be easily moved into the toad and set for toad only for those long day trips.  This system sets off an alarm if pressure drops by 12.5% and you can scroll through all your tires getting a digital readout of the exact pressure in each tire.
  I purchased mine from Jim Shepard www.rvsafetysystems.com.  I think about $800 if I remember correctly. This was for the monitor and 12 transmitters. Although this is kinda expensive, it is the only way to monitor tire pressures while driving. A friend has the Smart Tire system on his bus. He had to have tires demounted to install the sensors and the dash monitor has a smaller screen.  Checking pressures before departing is great, but does not help if you run over a nail. The collateral damage from a blowout will usually cost as much if not more than the cost of a TP monitoring system.  Let me know if you need more information.  Jack

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Thanks Jack,

That sounds like a great system, I like the idea of switching from vehicle to vehicle.

$800 sounds more reasonable too. I'll check him out.

Nick-

[Busted Knuckle]

Nick whenyou talk too him ask him if he ever found out about running "Equal" in them for me and if so could one of you post it so I'll know! Thanks BK
PS We spoke breifly about this on the phone not too long ago!

[Ross]

Nick whenyou talk too him ask him if he ever found out about running "Equal" in them for me and if so could one of you post it so I'll know! Thanks BK
PS We spoke breifly about this on the phone not too long ago!

I run equal in my fronts.  Seems to make a difference. 

[DROdio]

Nick,

I got the SmarTire system installed (bought it online from Vulcan Tire) ; i should've shown it to you when i saw you this past weekend.   It seems good so far; gives me a PSI and temperature readout + an alarm if one tire goes out of whack with the others.

i mostly wanted it because i had a brake that hung on a tire once and it really started smoking; freaked me out!

DROdio

[tucsontattoo]

o.k. I'll bite, what is equal, used it my coffee once never heard of putting it in a tire?

                                            Tucson

[Busted Knuckle]

It's a balancing medium (powder) that they put in yer tire and it keeps it balanced as it flows thru the spinning tire! You'd have to open a huge # of those little packets for these tires compared to yer coffee! (I don't remember exactly but I think it's between 10-12 ounces each tire! ) LOL! Knuckle 

[TomC]

From my own experience with equal and other balancing methods (1.3 million miles of truck driving), this is what I've found.  First, have ALL tires spun balanced before remounting on the bus.  Tried Equal, but Centrimatic balancing rings (mount between the wheel and the brake drum in front and between the duallies on the rear with steel ball bearings in auto trans fluid) work the best.  Down side is they can get a bit sluggish in cold weather.  Down side to Equal is if their is moisture in the tire, can cause the powder to clump.  Now I run nothing in front, but a well balanced wheel (with aluminum wheels, can see the paste on lead weight strips, but I'll take the smoooooth ride), and have the Centrimatic on the rear, also with balanced wheels.  As smooth as it is going to get.  Good Luck, TomC

[tucsontattoo]

my buddy Frank has 12 golf balls in each tire. I'm waiting to see how this works out. Can't see how any thing in the tire is going to magically go to the light side and at the same time weigh the right amount. Maybe we outa just through a hand full of tire weights in there when we mount them up. Ran big trucks for a long time, we never balanced a wheel unless we got a hopper and that didn't happen very often. Dad always said truck tires were so big and turned so slow compared to car tires and were also a lot higher quality that it was seldom an issue!

[Busted Knuckle]

my buddy Frank has 12 golf balls in each tire. I'm waiting to see how this works out. Can't see how any thing in the tire is going to magically go to the light side and at the same time weigh the right amount. Maybe we outa just through a hand full of tire weights in there when we mount them up. Ran big trucks for a long time, we never balanced a wheel unless we got a hopper and that didn't happen very often. Dad always said truck tires were so big and turned so slow compared to car tires and were also a lot higher quality that it was seldom an issue!

Tucson, I too have heard of the golf balls my uncle used to have 9 charter buses and ran 6 balls in each tire ( I fell over laffing at him when eh told me that! Then he fell over laffing at me when I asked him what brand balls he got the best results out of ?) After hearing this I asked at a couple tire shops, most old timers said they'd heard of or done it, but one in particular went over to a metal cabinet and opened it up and showed me a cabinet full of brand new dusty day-glo bright orange balls and asked me how many I needed! LOL! (then he told me they were better fotr tires than golfing ! Something about they didn't fly straight! ) BK 

[pete81eaglefanasty]

   I've heard that you have to get the batteries replaced every 3 years, but the bad part is you have to send them back to them. at a cost of $25. per transmitter because u can't change the batteries yourself. does anyone know this for a fact. because i would like to get one, but a little expensive buying batteries every 3 years, and then waiting for them to be sent out and come back takes awhile. so you are without for x amount of time.

         pete
   eagle fantasy

[Busted Knuckle]

Replacing bateries every 3 yrs sounds reasonable to me compared to the costs of the tires! just my opinion! How often do you change batteries in thing like radio's, portable dvd players, flashlights, all the little battery powered gizmo's and toy's everyone has these days? Hmmm at $25 ea every 3 yrs seems like a bargain too me! We run a charter bus company and I'd be willing to bet I sweep up at least $25 dollars worth of batteries that people change in their gizmos' and toss on the floor every two trips per bus! And let it be a week or longer trip with teens! I probaly sweep up $100 or more batteries during a trip like that! I don't understand why but even with trash cans and bags scattered thru the buses batteries always seem to end up in the floor even if most of the rest of the trash does make it in a can or bag! Just my 2 cents worth, keep the change you'll need it for those batteries!  BK

[kyle4501]

Are you talking about replacing the batteries in the sensor that's mounted inside the tire?  If so, that would be a show stopper for me as I don't want to have all 10 wheels off at one time & not being able to use the coach while I wait for the units to come back. Come to think of it, who would put up with that? So what do those units use for power?

If it is just the valve caps, that wouldn't be so bad, just send 'em in when you are nesting at home between trips.

kyle4501

[JackConrad]

I seem to recall $15 per transmitter and reading in their literature about every 4 years. They only send a signal when air pressure is applied to them. If you bus is going to set for awhile they can be removed, Just keep track of which wheel position they came off of to eliminate going through the set up procedure when you re-install them.  I would imagine the Smart Tire also needs the batteries replaced in about the same time frame.  Unless you can demount your own tires, the demounting and remounting will probably cost you about the same.  Jack