Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems

[BernieD]

I am sorry if some might consider the following advertising, however it
is a real life situation that talks to many of the questions that have
been posted on this Forum. My apologies to those bothered.

Today (actually a couple of days ago now) is the day that shows the
need for a tire pressure monitoring system. I hooked the towed up to
the coach as we were getting ready to leave on our trip to Lancaster.
I plugged in my tire pressure monitor display and very quickly got a
low pressure warning on my towed's left rear tire, 28#s rather than
the 35#s at the last setting. When I took off the sensor to check the
pressure with a gauge, I noticed that the valve stem had loosened.
I pumped up the tire, tightened the valve stem as best I could and off
we went. As we drove I kept an eye on the tire's pressure and it slowly
dropped until the warning buzzer went off again. After pumping it up
again, off we went again, but I saw that we were losing about 1# PSI
per 10 miles driven. Luckily, by the next low pressure warning we were
at an exit with a truck stop and discovered a tire repair shop. It took
less than 10 minutes to dismount the tire, break the bead and tighten
the valve stem. Once we were back on the road again, I checked the tire's
pressure every 10 miles to make sure it was holding air: SUCCESS.

Getting a warning for a towed's low pressure and then able to monitor
the leak to stop at my convenience to pump it back up or repair and to
monitor the repair to make sure the leak is fixed: PRICELESS

 

[Tom]

I hope I never get a loose stem Bernie but, as you  found out first hand, the Pressure Pro would help save the day.

 

[Ron]

Very possible you saved several times more than the pressure pro cost.  No telling how much damage could have resulted if you hadn't had a warning of the leaking tire condition.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[rhmahoney]

I have the Smartire system and it has saved me 3 times.
L front RV tire looked fine while fueling up but had a nail in it and went low within the next half hour. Sunday afternoon, of course. Roadside service came and fixed it.

Twice there have been slow leaks in the car tires caught by the sensors.

4 years ago, in Alaska, before smartiret was installed on the toad there was a front car tire failure less than 15 miles from my start. $2,000.00 damage to wheel, brakes, etc.

 

[Karl]

Bernie,

Any clue as to why it came loose?

 

[BernieD]

Bernie,

Any clue as to why it came loose?

I don't think the stem is anchored well on the wheel, same with all 4 tires. This is the 3rd tire on which I've had this problem. The normal tightening of the valve cap or sensor seems to move the lock nut in the wrong direction, loosening the stem after a period of time.

When I have some time, I'll take the car into Discount Tire to see if they can permanently tighten the nut.

 

[neldalex]

Doran Pressure Pro-- I about went balllistic when my spouse spent $600.00, but first trip it waved us a tire. Rv bus tires aren't cheap, so the Pro saved us more than half of it's cost first day it was used. Can't beat that

 

[Ron]

Doran Pressure Pro-- I about went balllistic when my spouse spent $600.00, but first trip it waved us a tire. Rv bus tires aren't cheap, so the Pro saved us more than half of it's cost first day it was used. Can't beat that

Doran is just a Pressure Pro distributor that has their name on the Pressure Pro.  We got our Pressure Pro system from our own dealer right here.  I know we sure feel a lot more secure now with the tires being monitored.  Any questions regarding the Pressure Pro can be answered by Bernie I'm sure.

 

[Karl]

Ron,

I believe that Doran manufactures the Pressure Pro; not just a distributer.

 

[Ron]

Ron,

I believe that Doran manufactures the Pressure Pro; not just a distributer.

It is my understanding that Doran does not manufacture the Pressure Pro but just has their name on the ones they sell.  Pressure -Pro is made in Holland, Michigan.  This was what I was told when I was researching being a rep for them before Bernie started selling them.
I could be wrong but I don't think so.  Maybe now they are manufacturing them under a license agreement with the original Pressure Pro folks.

 

[BernieD]

I believe that Doran manufactures the Pressure Pro; not just a distributer.

Sorry Karl, you must change your belief   Doran is just a distributor, it has a very large purchase agreement with Advantage PressurePro, the developer and owner of PressurePro which supplies Doran with Monitors with the Doran label on it. That is as close to manufacturing PressurePro as Doran gets. Doran may manufacture other products but not PressurePro.

 

[Karl]

Bernie,

I stand corrected. Their website makes it sound like they're the manufacturers.

 

[Ron]

Bernie,

I stand corrected. Their website makes it sound like they're the manufacturers.

Kinda deceptive way to market something IMHO.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Doran is what is commonly known as a Master Distributor - they contract for large volumes of the product, can use own name on it, do their own advertising for the product and can license other distributors or retailers for their label.  Doran has "manufacturing" in their company name and does in fact manufacture other monitoring products, but apparently not Pressure Pro systems. I suppose it is possible they manufacture some component of it, but I have no knowledge of that one way or the other.

PressurePro is also manufactured in Shenzhen, China, for the worldwide market through a company that is a joint venture of Advatage PressurePro &  a Chinese firm.

 

[Tom]

Ron,

It's quite common for companies to have these kinds of relationships. Your local Sears store has been doing it for years - marketing stuff under the Craftsman and Diehard brands, although they don't make the products. It's also quite common for one manufacturer to have product built under a private label by another manufacturer.

Heck, even the fish finder on my bass boat says "Bass Tracker", but I know Tracker Boats doesn't make fish finders; It's a private label made by Garmin.

 

[maddog348]

OK GUYS -- Pulling this one up from long time back.

The ability to know your tire pressure 'on the fly' seems like a really good idea.  Would like some general input- from those that have 'em.

Yea's - Nay's - Best/Better Brands - Where/How -  +-?Costs  for  sm.ClassA & toad.(sig).

Thanks in advance -  trying to get all these little ( ;D ;D ;D) things accomplished before going on any long 3-4mo trips.

Kate

 

[Ned]

Everyone should have a TPMS.  Compared to the damage a single tire failure can cause, it's cheap insurance.  We have the Pressure Pro system, all others came later and are trying to catch up to Pressure Pro.  Pressure Pro customer service is excellent.

The price for the sensors is $50 and the monitor is about $175, I believe.  Contact forum member BernieD for a quote, he's a dealer.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

We have the original Pressure Pro. There are several copy cats on the market now and early reports on them are all positive, theough none have been around long enough to have any meaningful track record.

 

[Tom]

Here's contact info for PressurePro purchases

 

[Just Lou]

I have the PressurePro on both coach and toad.  I recommend it very highly.