Which Tyre Pressure Monitors

I have had the INNOTECHRV 10 SENSOR TYRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEM for 6 years now. I monitor the 8 road tyres plus the 2 spares, all without the need of a repeater.

Very happy and never had any problems, other than battery replacement, with the external senders.

I'm old school, just something extra, but I'm not against them, I can say that on several remote trips that I have been on, The vehicles that had the type that are screwed onto the valves had many more valve stem chop offs than others & where all on std or skinner rims & tyres with rubber pull thru valve stems i have always run steel bolt type stems since the seventy's & it could have been just bad luck or bad drivers but it was noticeable

Sorry - but this year, Santa won't be allowed into Australia because of the virus situation.

Seriously, I have a cheapie set of TPMS, and one of the sensors reads low. I know about it and ignore the reading, hoping that when/if the tyre gets a puncture, it will then tell me that. They are the type which fits onto the valve stems.

I had a problem once. We had parked our van in a a caravan park and gone exploring in a nearby National Park. Way out the back of Whoop Whoop, I was coming around a corner and the car oversteered badly. I stopped and sure enough, the rear right tyre was flat. It was a negative camber corner, loose gravel and miles from anywhere. I had to jack the car and fit the spare tyre, but because of my severe respiratory condition, this took nearly 2 hours by the time it was all done. The loose, sloping surface didn't help either. I checked the tyre - no cuts, no screws or nails - no possible cause for the flat. I was putting the flat tyre back onto the rear door of my Pajero when my wife asked if the TMPS sensor would foul the spare tyre cover. I checked, and found that the rotten sensor had simply vibrated loose, allowing the air to escape from the tyre. A quick dash back into town and pump the tyre back up. In the morning, it was still quite hard, so I fitted it back onto the car and all was well.

Question: Why didn't the TPMS tell me it was going flat?
Answer: The monitor unit was having a hissy fit telling me that the caravan tyres were flat or had been stolen or whatever because it couldn't find them, so I turned the monitor off......

Moral of the story - if you have a valve stem sensors, make sure that they are securely tightened on th stems.

OBJ, watching with interest.

This is a regularly visted topic on the various 4wd forums. The Masten branded tpms are popular and more or less identical to a number that are significantly more expensive. I've had a set for two years. The major shortcoming is the lack of a way to toggle between say 4wd settings (low tyre pressure) and highway settings. You have to manually change the low pressure warning value. Other than that there is the debate about internal vs external. Internal potentially will give early warning of bearing failure before catastrophic damage occurs.

I have a Masten with internal sensors. It's fantastic.

Easy to change the pressures at which the alarm will sound so changing the setting after airing down is quick.

Great peace of mind when driving on corrugated roads to know you do not have a deflating or flat tyre.

I have sensors in all 4 tyres and both spares. I've been on a number of trips where others have written off tyres due to not knowing they had a puncture and kept driving on them. It won't stop punctures but you will be much less likely to write off a tyre as you can replace or plug it. Less need to spend time and lots of money on a spare in the outback.

One of the most useful mods on my 4WD.

For your sake I hope Santa is listening, and that you've been good this year.

Have used the Safety Dave units on metal T-stems for 4 years. No problems other than changing batteries. Have 8 units covering tug, camper and 2 spares. Easy enough to change pressures after airing up/down.

Regards

Hi OBJ,

I have the Inawise system of internal sensors (monitoring 10 wheels). Very reliable and very easy to change pressure limits from on-road to off-road with the press of a button.

There was an issue with sourcing replacement sensors when the Australian distributor went belly-up but you can now get sensors and consoles from the Valor distributor in Australia. I believe they will be in Aus for the long haul as they supply the mining industry among others.

I have sources sensors from them and they work fine.

Thank you for your reasoned and informative responses.
I very much appreciate the information.
I shall advise Santa. Given the amount of travel he does, I am sure he is already a member .


thanks.

OBJ

We use Sensatyre, their internal TPMS system, and have been impressed with their performance. We did a review some time ago if you’d like to see how they performed

https://www.unsealed4x4.com.au/reviewed-sensatyre-tpms/

Don't these darn things throw your wheel balance out?

Had the ABR Sidewinder ones for many years whch are identical to the sets by Safety Dave and Masten and maybe others. Have always worked very well.
I never bothered with the locking screws , but on trips over the last year, have lost 3 sensors on corrugated roads, so I now use the screws that were supplied. Been a great system though and after owning them for maybe 10 years you can still buy spares from Derek at Sidewinder:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TPMS-TYRE-PRESSURE-MONITORING-SYSTEM-CAR-4WD-CARAVAN-8-SENSORS-12V-24V-NEW-MODEL/392841538461?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649