Tyre Pressure Monitors

If it makes you more comfortable driving your car to have tyre pressure monitors then logically it will make you even more comfortable to have such a system driving your camper van. It surely must assist in preventing problems.

I guess it is a useful safety feature but the fixed system in Peugeot Boxer based motorhomes is preset at the factory so if you reduce the tyre pressures below the “Boxer” commercial van recommendations you will get a permanent alarm. I believe the same is true for Fiat based vehicles.

Might be better to monitor sudden pressure loss as my car does, rather than absolute pressure.

I regard the TPMS on my Boxer based MH a bit like the proximity sensors on my last car, a Kuga. A not particularly helpful gimmick.

As the legislators decided that a low tyre pressure monitoring warning was required for all new cars, it seems to me that a Motorhome, that could, by virtue of its higher masses have greater potential energy to go "pear shaped", ought to similarly have that safety motivated device.

I have just gone through an example of its value with my wife's car. Driving home, two miles after a national chain replaced the tyres we had a warning. Even with the heating of that drive, I found the fronts to be 27 psi, instead of 33 cold value, the rears 29 instead of 36 psi. Would that have been found otherwise, and would you be happy with your wife travelling around with the tyres so grossly underinflated? Their machine was found to be defective.

On a caravan, IMO it becomes even more critical because otherwise a puncture will lead to tyre destruction, before you have the faintest idea; been there three times.

On a motorhome, how aware are you things are wrong before similarly the heat being generated has wrecked the carcass?

No, I don't think a tyre low pressure warning system is a gimmick. I don't see any great additional benefit of a TPMS, all I need to  be alerted to is the pressure is too low, not its specific value .

We had a TyrePal system on our first motorhome. This showed the real time pressures in all four tyres. Had there been a problem it would have immediately have been flagged up. My TyrePal system is now redundant as my new motorhome has a system built in, I have not done enough miles yet to see how that works. However in preparations for our first trip I had to reduced the pressures in all four tyres as they were 5 psi over inflated so until I am on the road I will have to wait and see!

David

Thanks for your response, very considered and helpful.

• Thanks David , it's the TypePal system I'm looking at and thinking that with any safety system it only has to be used once to prove its value.

I notice you haven’t got your MH yet, G&G, so are you certain it hasn’t already got a TPMS fitted? 

You might also like to read >this thread< Unfortunately older posts on this subject and others are no longer available. I have had no problems with TyrePal’s TB99 system on my car but the TC215 system sensors have caused me problems due to corrosion and if the valve stem is exposed to the elements, as is the case on the front wheels of my motorhome, water can get into the sensors and the sensors fail. It has been so bad on my motorhome, I now have no sensors on my front wheels.

I would not buy another TyrePal system.

peedee

I have the tyrepal system on my towcar and caravan at the moment. I have had it for about 3 yrs and all I’ve done is change batteries and I have to say it gives me real assurance that the tyres are all OK by continually monitoring the temperatures and pressures. I wouldn’t want to be without one now.