Phannie

Phannie
Photo taken near Monument Valley, Utah

Friday, October 31, 2014

Tire Pressure Monitoring System - Third Time the Charm?

At home near Fort Worth, Texas...

During our trip outbound to Tennessee a few weeks ago, our Tire Tracker pressure monitor had a spasm and began to show tire pressure warnings that were clearly bogus, setting off the alarm when there was no problem. Changing the sensor batteries didn't help, and I refused to call the company for assistance since I had been treated poorly by them in the past. The owner's manual was very poorly written back then, so I gave them a call. I got the impression that the outfit was being run from a cranky old couple's kitchen table, as they answered the phone with "hello" instead of the name of the company, and they had been quite condescending when I started explaining the difficulties I was having--acting almost as though some dimwit had interrupted their dinner.

Now I won't deny that I may be slow at some things, but I can point to a few achievements that might indicate at least modest brain activity. However, I was obviously not able to summon enough intellectual acumen to figure out, for example, how to add more sensors and program them correctly. The instructions they gave over the phone only confused me more. So, with this background, I had a decision to make there in Tennessee: Call Ma and Pa Kettle and wake them up or toss the system. I chose the latter.

I had been quite complimentary of the Tire Tracker in a previous post, thinking that I had found a good system at a price lower than most of its competitors. And, to its credit, it gave good service for about three years. But there was still the problem with a faulty owner's manual and poor support (I never was able to add more sensors successfully). Now, with this unexplained failure, I just decided to give up.

I also might mention that this was the second tire pressure monitoring system that I have had to throw away. The first was a Pressure Pro that didn't work properly from the beginning. I didn't like the monitor, either, so it got the heave-ho without having made a single trip.

The latest system is from Truck System Technologies and, so far, I'm very pleased.


You may notice that I use this to monitor only the toad's tires. This is because Phannie's powerful engine could drag poor little Mae halfway across the country before I would know of a low or flat tire. (The toad's tires, of course, are not visible in the rearview TV monitor.)

I know quite a few RVers who don't use a monitor of any kind and, if that works for them, it's fine with me. However, this arrangement gives me an adequate comfort level for now, and I suppose I will stick with it unless something happens to change my mind in the future. Perhaps because I'm very careful about tire upkeep and replacement, I haven't had a single tire problem in almost ten years of RVing, and I hope it stays that way.









6 comments:

  1. Even though I constantly monitor my tire pressures manually we have also been using the Preasure Pro for three years and I am becoming disenchanted with it. Within the first year I had two blow outs without any warning from the monitor of any problem. The answer I got from the distributor was it does not warns you of blowouts only gradual loses of pressure. Aren't gradual loses of pressure the leading cause of blowouts. Afterwards we started getting a lot of false alarms and it's getting to the point where we aren't even using it.
    Where did you purchase your Truck System Technologies monitor because I'd rather not have any more surprises.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We've had the TST 507RV for over a year and like it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have thought about getting one of those systems for years, but every time I get the card out, I always think about that little seal in the tire monitor cap. So I continue to just check the tires regularly with an air gauge and check them along the road with a infrared temperature gauge at every stop we make. So far, so good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have stopped using my PressurePro...more of a hassle than a help...constantly gave false alarms...on 3 occasions it resulted in a flat tire since the seals didn't "set" and CAUSED a leak..Needed road service, inconvenience...every tire shop I had advised me to ditch them...finally I'd had enough

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have used my PressurePro successfully for the last 7 years. However, when I first got it, I had false alarms and other issues, but by contacting Pressure Pro, and having them send me all new sensors, it has been trouble free.

    By the way, there is an Allegro Chapter holding a rally in Johnson City on Jan 7-11, and then a couple of us rigs are heading to Quartzsite....... if you are interested this year!

    In fact, this club is having a rally in Marble Falls next week, Wed through Sun. I had to leave my Bus in Dallas at the Cummins dealer, and we pick it up on Friday night, and we are going to take our time driving to the Marble Falls rally this weekend.

    Regards,
    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  6. Richard, FWIW, I continued to have trouble even after working with PressurePro and having them send me new seals...2 of the 3 road emergency deflations due to the leaky seals occurred after the new seals (they sent new seals, not sensors)...even with GoodSam road service it cost me more money in the tire shops than it was worth...what aggravated me some was Doug at PressurePro saying was the only person who ever had any problems with the system...I agree you don't see too many negative comments about them on the Internet, but was a hassle for me...oh, I forgot how upset my wife would become when we'd get a false alarm (which occurred about every 3rd day on the road)...it happened so frequently that I'd know it likely was a false alarm...but would have to pull over to check...and, of course, there were the 3 times a tire was deflating...but it was due to the leaky PressurePro seal..I don't have a vendetta against them...this is the first time I've posted about them...but I'm glad to be rid of them.

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate comments and read every one of them. If your Blogger settings allow, I will happily respond.