Fitting tyre pressure sensors
Submitted: Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 at 22:36
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Martyn (WA)
Forumites,
I acquired some tyre pressure sensors, they obviously have to be fitted inside the tyre. After reading the manual I reckoned the job seemed pretty simple. Went to a local tyre house on Norma Road in Myaree, asked the guy to fit them, reckoned they where a nightmare to fit, wasn't interested, to get interested he wanted $25 a wheel to fit them and that didn't include balancing. I went to another tyre house he hadn't seen them before but said if I left the vehicle with him for a couple of days he would figure it out. I went home despondent.
Decided to break out the R & R beadbreaker and give it a go myself, how hard can it be. Hour and a half later all fitted and back on the road, bonus.
The gadget mobile has now got tyre pressure and temp indication, very impressive, amazed at how inaccurate the servo air pumps are.
I was very disappointed with the attitude of the guy in the tyre house, won't be going there again.
Reply By: Trekkie - Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 at 22:44
Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 at 22:44
Would that be the tyre house that sounds like Port Power
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 00:15
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 00:15
Yeap...............
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Follow Up By: Patrick - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 09:11
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 09:11
Was it the tyre man's attitude or the $25 per tyre that turned you off. If it took you 1 1/2 hours to complete the install then what do you value you time at? He runs a business that does not happen unless he charges for his work.
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 11:43
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 11:43
Patrick,
With regard to your first point, bit of both really, the attitude sparked of the level of pi$$ed offness at the cost. I recognise he runs a business hence the reason I went there in the first place, I was trying to support local business, no problem with that, I just didn't want to be ripped off by local business. Yesterday morning I had dropped my daughter off at netball so I thought I would vist my friendly local tyre house. At the time I made that decision I didn't know how hard the job was going to be or how long it would take me, when I found out I was up for $100 I was going to have a go for the hell of it. Being pleasently surprised I finished the job and spent my money on a tea out for the family supporting a more friendly business.
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Follow Up By: Patrick - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 12:41
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 12:41
Martyn,
At least the dinner did not leave a bad taste in your mouth like the tyre block. I agree with you that you don't do business with someone who appears uninterested in your inquiry.
Sound like you got a good deal on the sesors. I have read some excellent report from vanners who have fitted these to their rigs.
Bye the way, my Patrol is the same as yours but the 2003 model. Great car arn't they.
Cheers,
Patrick
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Reply By: Mike DiD - Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 at 23:01
Saturday, Aug 13, 2005 at 23:01
. . . .
well . . .
Where did you get them from, how much, what does the display look like . . . .
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 11:46
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 11:46
Mike,
Unwanted gift to someone else, cost me $400 in the box, $580 new from Outback Accessories on the net. Called SensaTyre, have a look the web page all the info is there. Good useful gadget and it works.
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 12:58
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 12:58
Thanks Tim, I never did figure out how to do the link thing, good job there is people around like yourself.
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Reply By: Bob of KAOS - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 15:38
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 15:38
Martyn
I like the idea of the valve mounted jobbies if it means they can be removed without breaking the bead or removing the tyre from the rim. It would allow easy transfer to the spare. Or from the hwy
wheels to the offroad
wheels. I guess also easy transfer to the posession of the pilferers. Or have I misunderstood how the valve mounted ones are fitted.
The immediate advantage of this system over the Smartire system that I have is that the 4 tyre pressures are displayed simultaneously. In
mine you haver to scroll through the
wheels using the buttons.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 18:02
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 18:02
Bob,
When you talk about valve mounted they are but integral to the valve internally not externally so the light fingered ones can't do what comes naturally. You do have to break the bead but only one of them, I broke the outer bead, the valves fitted easily then when I knelt on the sidewall of the tyre, plenty of room. I also liked the idea of seeing all the pressures at once, plus they are easily replaced and easy to set up, whats more this system is also a lot cheaper than the Smart Tire system, sorry Bob.....
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 18:25
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 18:25
Martyn if the tyre does go flat will the flat tyre come into contact with the internal sensor (crushed against it) damaging it?
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 19:30
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 19:30
John,
S'pose it could, saying that the sensor is pretty
well below the
well inside the rim. I don't think I'm going to try running on a flat to give you the answer, sorry. The alarm comes on at 26 psi so I imagine you would get enough warning to stop without shreading the tyre. I suspect the biggest risk time would be sand driving where rolling the tyre off the rim would be more or less instantaneous. The low pressure alarm is 6 psi which is also much closer to flat than I would like, mind you at those sort of pressures you don't have much margine for error.
John if I get a flat I'll let you know, Lol
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 20:45
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 20:45
Thanks Martyn Interesting info, Keep us informed of how they perform over time.
Cheers
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Follow Up By: Bob of KAOS - Monday, Aug 15, 2005 at 13:18
Monday, Aug 15, 2005 at 13:18
Martyn
$580 is a good price, but I only paid $150 for the Smartire (Series I).
In my mind I can imagine a system that just attaches to a tapped hole drilled through the rim (it would be concealed on the inside of the wheel), or a valve mounted system that is installed down the valve stem before the valve is screwed in.
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Reply By: Max - Sydney - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 19:26
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 19:26
Martyn
I am curious - did you have to balance the wheels when you finished? If not - did you do a run at 100 ks to be sure??
Max
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 19:36
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 19:36
Max,
Haven't had the wheel balanced as yet, I went for a drive last night and didn't get the shakes but yes I am going to get the wheels check balanced, the sensors weigh 30 grams so they will make a difference. I suspect the strap on sensors would be better for balance but they ARE a pri*k to fit, and yes the tyre does have to come off.
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Reply By: Member - Sasha H (QLD) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 21:16
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 21:16
Martyn we're heading round to WA can you check out our sensors as they sometimes work and sometimes just flash the ??? at us ...in fact so far they have been pretty useful and a HUGE disappointment. We also had them fitted on our caravan but they don't seem to work at all. This was all done by an ARB garage so they should know what they were doing??????
Good on you for having the balls to do it yourself.
Sasha
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 21:22
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 21:22
Sasha,
The transmitters are very susceptible to other radio signals, HF, UHF and even the normal car radio. When I had the ??? signals I turned off all the radios and got a better signal. Not ideal but these are quite a low power radio signal, I'm only learning myself, I've found I get a better signal with the receiver a bit higher up, in the air vents seems to work
well. You can only experiment.
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Follow Up By: Member - Sasha H (QLD) - Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 21:58
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005 at 21:58
We have ours on the dash but then we also have loads of other gadgets on board from UHF radios, sat phones, GPS and road angels all of which send out some sort of signal. I will certainly give it a try next time we're heading out on a long enough trip and switch everything else off.
Thanks for
the tip ;o)
Sasha
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Follow Up By: ACDC - Saturday, Aug 20, 2005 at 14:33
Saturday, Aug 20, 2005 at 14:33
Sasha H
Can you tell me what brand you tyre monitor is ?
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Follow Up By: Member - Sasha H (QLD) - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 22:14
Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 22:14
Will have to
check but we got it from ARB if that is any use to you.
Sasha
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Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Monday, Aug 15, 2005 at 13:31
Monday, Aug 15, 2005 at 13:31
$800? OR $450 LMAO!!!!!!
That couldnt possibly be australian dollars, or anything more than monopoly bucks.
You can buy a tire gauge for under $100 then have it calibrated if your really anal about 1psi. And if you bought 4 of them 1 per wheel your still infront.
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Follow Up By: Martyn (WA) - Monday, Aug 15, 2005 at 19:49
Monday, Aug 15, 2005 at 19:49
Truckman,
Nice to hear you again, I wondered how long it would be until you chipped in. I'm happy, I'm even happier I saved myself the installation fee. The interior is starting to look more like an aircraft cockpit every day.............. And do go there with the cock pit comment....
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Reply By: Longreach - Tuesday, Aug 16, 2005 at 14:28
Tuesday, Aug 16, 2005 at 14:28
There sem to be a few of these products around. Just wondering if anyone looked at this one. pressurepro
I have no idea how much it costs and I wonder about the security of the sensors on the valve stem. It looks interesting in that some of the others don't seem to readily cater for more than 4 wheels and perhaps one spare.
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