Tyre Pressure Monitors - Which one (if any?)

Cheers Landy,

I have had a few opinions over the years in respect to various tyres of TPM systems. For the serious traveller, I believe they are an invaluable asset. If it saves one expensive tyre from replacement, they have all but paid for themselves, still, I'm sure you don't need convincing.

I own both a set of Sensatyre (On both my Nissan and the new Ute) with internal sensors and a set of tyredogs with a valve mounted sensor that can be screwed off. Both are multi vehicle combinations. I have 8 sensors on the Sensatyre system to cover trailer, vehicle and two spares. I utilise two external receivers at the front and rear of the vehicle. The Tyredog is set for 6 tyres being vehicle and trailer with two receivers again.

I am a big fan of the internal mount sensors as they are largely protected from external damage. I had a bad time with the Sensatyre unit last year due to rough terrain. I must add that normal highway use wouldn't have these issues. I found this year that by utilising short valves on the rims and by using electrical tape around the caps, all sensors remained intact and operating.

For ease of use, I prefer the Sensatyre as they are easier to reprogram, particularly when on the move. ie Low pressure/temperature warning setting can be easily and quickly adjusted should your needs change, ie dropping tyre pressure to deal with sand or corrugations.

Obviously screw on sensors provide added ease of functionality for rotating to other wheels. My personal opinion is that the quality and functionality of the Sensatyre system is better. Certainly the robustness of the sensor system is excellent as well. I would also praise the level of customer service from the distributers at Hannibal in QLD who will readily go through any issues over the phone while you're on the road. Price is much of a muchness.

My opinions only.

Cheers Mick

Greetings. They are a great theoretical idea. I have Tyedog. For me, a very bad choice. Cannot change tyre pressures without removing them AND reprogramming the computer; signal operation very very variable; instructions as Inca translation of Minoan script, expressed in Latin...a task in itself.
You can buy my set of eight.
I hope someone has had a better solution. SOme of the imported Chey owners have them incorporated into the rim, and are pleased, easier to change pressures and recalibrate the warnings. I am still looking for a working retro fit system myself.
WD

Hi Landy.
I've got a set of 4 Tyre Dogs which I used recently purely for highway use and took them off when dropping pressures off road. I reasoned that if anything happened at slow speed the tyre shouldn't shouldn't wreck itself.... well maybe not anyway!
Being able to see the rise in pressure on hot days was useful and I suspect I should have adjusted pressures downwards but didn't bother as they only went to approx 50psi on the Prado towing a camper and I didn't consider that excessive.
Good tool for keeping a check for high speed (our speeds anyway) work I think.
Cheers.
Alan.

Also choose Tyredogs Landy - $182 on ebay (4 sensors)- never expected much and never got much.

I actually brought them simply for our Canning trip , in which I expected to go solo and as I only ever carry 1 spare I thought these would provide extra margin for error.

3 of the four sensors survived the Canning trip , the other died , but on made do by using rear view mirror which can see the rear drivers side tyre , and put good 3 sensors on the other tyre.

They are easy to live with , I note others concerned about ease of use - I found them quite easy and simply set them to alarm if PSI went below 18.

Unfortunately - no effective warranty for me - not that I expected one.

Apon examination I note that there construction and signal strength is not sufficent to give reliable readings on 4wds as used in bush.

Can be useful for touring though.

They our now available in Australia with 5 sensors for $400 , giving you a spare.

Do the internal sensors work with tubed tyres?

Garry

G'day Landy,
I fitted the Tyreguard monitor, it was a lot cheaper than the Tyredog. I had no problem with airing down and up for dirt/off road and then blacktop. I also wanted to talk to someone who used them before buying them, which I did. He said he had lots of flat tyres but has never wrecked a rim since they were fitted.
One vehicle travelling with us had tyredogs and he blew a rear tyre and managed to stop before the alloy rim was damaged, the tyre was shredded.
Even if you don't take the time to adjust the pressures on the monitor, it will still give you a catastrophic loss of pressure alarm. I tow a tandem van and used 8 monitors.
I am happy with the system after about 6,000km in all conditions including heavy corrugations. If you save one alloy rim you are in front, never mind the inconvenience.

Cheers,
Bill

I haven't bought a TPMS yet but have researched them and am almost at the point of buying.

I have narrowed it down to this one.

TPMS

THe reason is that it ticks most of the boxes for me.

4 or 6 wheels, extra units available for $50

The senders are sealed and though. I asked how tough at a show and they gave me one to do as I wish. I threw it on concrete about 5 -6 times and it survived. It was pretty impressive.

Mostly it has good alarms for fast pressure reduction and temp, and alarms at 25% down, 50% down and 75% down ( from memory). Being the screw on type I thing the temp will be a bit inaccurate. It is also pretty small.

I have nothing to do with this company but for me it looks as good as they get. Just wish it was cheaper.

Forum

Thanks to all who have taken the time to reply to date.

It seems plenty to work with, and if I get one take-away it is that the concept is ound, but the product offering is still lagging.

I will do a little more research into the products suggested over the weekend and will let you know how it goes...

Too many to respond individually, but to all, once again thanks!

Cheers, The Landy

I have been using a set with 8 sensors and so far has saved 2 accidents in alerting me to tyre problems in time for me to stop without damage to rims of vehicles.

Mine are called SECUTIRE and are chinese made. Another member also has them.

After 60,000k of use the twofronts on the car are not reading BUT as pointed out by the supplier it can be caused by wear on the pins on the valve not activating the sensor.

I would agree with that as I changed two over last night and the one that was working on a rear wheel isnt on the front wheel that wasnt working prior to the change.
You can hear a little puff of air when screwing them down and the back ones give a noticably bigger puff than the two fronts.

Tomorrow I will replace the valve cores and see if it fixes them.

Apart from that they have performed well but as stated they are a bit of a pain if you often reduce pressures an appreciable amount.
It isnt hard on mine to change the alarm pressures but must be done for each wheel.
One way is to have the alarm set at say 18lb and just leave it If a tyre blows it will go off.
I think they are worth the money for what they are and on a tandem van are exceptional as you cant really tell if a tyre goes down.

Cheers

Once again, thanks for the many responses.


It appears one of the major issues that many have with this technology is failure from the transmitter on the wheel and especially from battery mounts breaking or dust/water ingressions. Also, ease of programming and monitor use has been flagged as an issue with some units.


I have done a bit more research on the TPMS range of product and they appear to have the transmitter issue covered by having a totally sealed unit that are replaced once the battery power has extinguished. And reading the product user manual it would seem that the programming is very straight-forward.

TPMS Range

I have sent a couple of questions to the company and currently waiting for a response.


I clearly need some sort of tyre monitor so it is a case of trying to get the right fit. The TPMS range appears more expensive than many of the other offerings. And whilst I’ve no problem paying good money for a good product, working out whether it is remains the million dollar question.

Cheers, The Landy