Tyre Pressure & Temperature Monitors

[Uncle Bulgaria]

A recent article about a product called Tyrepal caught my eye. It measures tyre pressure and temperature via special tyre dust caps, in real time, and displays the results on a small cab-located monitor. Has anyone used this or a similar device?

 

Given the safety issues regarding heavily loaded tyres in motorhomes, especially on the rear axle, would a monitor enable potential trouble to be spotted early, ie, if the pressure is slowly dropping and the temperature increasing. This should catch a potential blowout before the pressure and temperature levels get to critical levels. £200 is a lot to spend, but a blow-out could be a lot costlier. I think we would mostly agree that an engine coolant temperature guage is a useful item, so I would have though a real-time tyre pressure and temperature monitor would be even more so. Any thoughts?

 

Richard.

[flicka]

Looks OK for checking before a journey or a stop enroute but IMHO it's another additional distraction in the cab whilst driving.

If it's giving 8 information points (or 12 if you have a Tag Axle/Twin Rear Wheels) therefore reducing your reaction time to an actual event on the road if using on the move.

[Andy_C]

flicka - 2010-11-22 8:17 PM

 

Looks OK for checking before a journey or a stop enroute but IMHO it's another additional distraction in the cab whilst driving.

If it's giving 8 information points (or 12 if you have a Tag Axle/Twin Rear Wheels) therefore reducing your reaction time to an actual event on the road if using on the move.

It has a audible alarm if the pressures or temperatures go outside the parameters you set.

It looks very good but the 6 sensor unit I had on test had software problems and has gone back for replacement.

 

Andy

[Guest Peter James]

I had many blowouts in the years I was lorry driving. Judging by the loud bang they made there must have been plenty of pressure in them. So this gadget would probably have been of no use, even if it works as it should.

If its a substitute for proper tyre checks it could do more harm than good.

[Derek Uzzell]

Uncle Bulgaria - 2010-11-22 4:37 PM

 

...£200 is a lot to spend... [/quote

 

I believe you'll find that, for most motorhomes, you'd need to spend around £275 for a suitable Tyrepal system.

[Andy_C]

Derek Uzzell - 2010-11-24 8:05 AM

 

Uncle Bulgaria - 2010-11-22 4:37 PM

 

...£200 is a lot to spend...

 

I believe you'll find that, for most motorhomes, you'd need to spend around £275 for a suitable Tyrepal system.

£195 for a 4 wheel 180psi system, £249 for the 6 wheel system.

 

Andy

[Uncle Bulgaria]

Peter James - 2010-11-23 7:53 AM

 

I had many blowouts in the years I was lorry driving. Judging by the loud bang they made there must have been plenty of pressure in them. So this gadget would probably have been of no use, even if it works as it should.

If its a substitute for proper tyre checks it could do more harm than good.

 

There is no substitute for manually checking tyre pressuers before a journey. However, blowouts caused by road debris slashing a tyre, or hitting a raised kerb at speed, probably cannot be prevented. But aren't most blowouts caused by a slow leak causing a loss of pressure resulting in the tyre overheating. If a monitoring system flagged up such a change in pressure and/or temperature, by an audible warning as noted by Andy C, could a blowout be avoided? Tyrepal costs about the same as a new tyre and alloy wheel combination. The question is whether Tyrepal, or similar products, is sufficiently reliable in long term operation to be worth the investment. Andy C reports a software problem with the unit he is trying, but if any other forum member has experience of pressure monitoring systems I wonder if they could make it available. I should say that I have no association with Tyrepal or any other monitoring system.

 

Richard.

[Guest Peter James]

Uncle Bulgaria - 2010-11-24 2:44 PM

 

Peter James - 2010-11-23 7:53 AM

 

I had many blowouts in the years I was lorry driving. Judging by the loud bang they made there must have been plenty of pressure in them. So this gadget would probably have been of no use, even if it works as it should.

If its a substitute for proper tyre checks it could do more harm than good.

 

There is no substitute for manually checking tyre pressuers before a journey. However, blowouts caused by road debris slashing a tyre, or hitting a raised kerb at speed, probably cannot be prevented. But aren't most blowouts caused by a slow leak causing a loss of pressure resulting in the tyre overheating. If a monitoring system flagged up such a change in pressure and/or temperature, by an audible warning as noted by Andy C, could a blowout be avoided? Tyrepal costs about the same as a new tyre and alloy wheel combination. The question is whether Tyrepal, or similar products, is sufficiently reliable in long term operation to be worth the investment. Andy C reports a software problem with the unit he is trying, but if any other forum member has experience of pressure monitoring systems I wonder if they could make it available. I should say that I have no association with Tyrepal or any other monitoring system.

 

Richard.

 

I wouldn't disagree with any of that. I don't hit raised kerbs at speed, but some of the potholes look as bad. Manually checking tyre pressures is more likely to alert you to bulges appearing in the tyre, or other defects like loosening wheelnuts which could be far more serious.

I have had many tyre blowouts, including one on a front wheel of a 32 ton artic travelling in the centre lane of the M1 at 60mph surrounded by heavy traffic. None of these blowouts led to loss of control of the vehicle, or, as far as I know, injury to anybody. Apart from the tyre itserlf, the only other damage was to wheel rims and wheelarches of the vehicles I was driving.

So I think the risk of tyre blowouts needs to be put into perspective. To read some reports you would think a tyre bloweout is going to kill or injure somebody. Theoretically possible, but highly unlikely in my experience.

[Derek Uzzell]

We have a Skoda car with a 'tyre-pressure monitoring system'. This was a £80 option when we bought the vehicle last year and it probably cost peanuts for the VW Group to provide.

 

It doesn't actually monitor tyre-pressure, just exploits the vehicle's ABS system to continuously compare the relative rotational speeds of the road wheels. When a tyre loses pressure its rolling circumference will reduce and the wheel on which the tyre is mounted will need to rotate quicker to 'keep up' with the vehicle's other wheels. This difference in rotational speed, although small, can be detected by the vehicle's ABS-related software early enough to provide a useful warning to the driver that there's a problem.

 

The system hasn't the versatility of Tyrepal, but it is cheap and simple. I could have done with it a couple of years ago when our Hobby motorhome fell victim to the dreaded Transit Mk 6 tyre-valve-failure disease and it's probable that I drove some 80 miles with only 30psi in one of the rear tyres instead of the normal 58psi.

[Basil]

I don't like the setup that has been reported on in the magazine as I distrust any monitor that holds the tyre valve off of it's seating to operate as this and some cheapo visual indicator ones do.

I believe that fitting the monitors to the tyre valves, as well as being an easy target for theft as the locking collar is not exactly thief proof, is risking an inherent fault situation that could lead to deflation but then thats ok because it is being monitored isn't it? My preffered system is as follows

 

see http://www.tyresave.co.uk/smartire.html

 

which as it is fitted in replacement for the tyre valve costs a little more to install but is safe.

Juat my own opinion but should be food for thought!

 

Bas

[Uncle Bulgaria]

Basil - 2010-11-30 10:17 PM

 

I don't like the setup that has been reported on in the magazine as I distrust any monitor that holds the tyre valve off of it's seating to operate as this and some cheapo visual indicator ones do.

I believe that fitting the monitors to the tyre valves, as well as being an easy target for theft as the locking collar is not exactly thief proof, is risking an inherent fault situation that could lead to deflation but then thats ok because it is being monitored isn't it? My preffered system is as follows

 

see http://www.tyresave.co.uk/smartire.html

 

which as it is fitted in replacement for the tyre valve costs a little more to install but is safe.

Juat my own opinion but should be food for thought!

 

Bas

 

Basil,

Thanks for your post. You answered one question I had - how did the sensor measure the pressure - and agree with your conclusion.

Richard.

[Derek Uzzell]

There's a whopping section on Wikipedia about this (probably something on Wiki Leaks too - ho ho ho!)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire-pressure_monitoring_system

 

I read a story somewhere about a guy with a very early 'radio' tyre-pressure monitoring system on his car. The system warned him that he had a puncture, so he changed the affected wheel and drove on. Then the system warned him again that he had a puncture, so he stopped but couldn't find anything wrong. Eventually he realised that it was the punctured tyre in the boot that was sending out the alarm signal.

[glospete]

Firstly let me say that I work for TyrePal so judge my comments in that light!

When we were planning to import tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) we looked as to which system would be best - internal or external sensors. We ultimately decided to go the external sensor route. Why?

1. The requirement for internal sensors to have a reasonable working life places huge demands on the power system. The batteries are usually encapsulated with the sensor, so after a typical life of five years the tyres have to be removed and the sensors replaced. External sensor batteries are easily replaced.

2. Fitting internal sensors for existing vehicles takes longer and can increase the cost by 50% or more. External sensors take a couple of minutes to fit and are completely DIY.

3. One fairly widely reported problem with internal sensors is that they are easily damaged by tyre fitting machinery. In the event of a problem with an internal sensor, testing requires specialist equipment and the only way to get to the sensor is to remove the tyre. External sensors can be tested very easily by switching them between tyres, and can easily be replaced if necessary.

4. Once on a wheel internal sensors cannot be moved to another wheel - this facility to move them is useful for when used on a caravan (to switch to another vehicle) or on winter tyres.

But I wholeheartedly agree with the comment that TPMS is no substiitute for physically checking your tyres - TPMS is a great safety feature but should be used in conjunction with a regular check to see if there are cuts etc.

Anyway, I hope my comments above are useful and contribute something to the debate!

Peter

 

[glospete]

"I read a story somewhere about a guy with a very early 'radio' tyre-pressure monitoring system on his car. The system warned him that he had a puncture, so he changed the affected wheel and drove on. Then the system warned him again that he had a puncture, so he stopped but couldn't find anything wrong. Eventually he realised that it was the punctured tyre in the boot that was sending out the alarm signal."

 

 

It must have been a very old system because all the systems that I'm aware of show on the cab monitor which tyre has the potential problem!

Peter

[Derek Uzzell]

glospete - 2011-01-04 5:27 PM

 

It must have been a very old system because all the systems that I'm aware of show on the cab monitor which tyre has the potential problem!

Peter

 

Got a feeling the vehicle was a mid-1990s Renault Laguna. I couldn't find anything specifically relevant via GOOGLE, but the following link suggests that later Laguna systems can be a bundle of fun.

 

http://www.renaultforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2884&highlight=tyre+sensors

 

(Could have been a load of rubbish: many of the things I read are!!)