Best Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems

Unity Traveler

2013 LTV Unity Twin Bed
Smiller - that was a good question! I lost my outside left rear in January, late at night. Jean was driving and heard something, but it wasn't enough noise or vibration to alert either one of us. We drove - I don't know how far, maybe 30 minutes or more - to a campground and immediately went to sleep. When I did a walk-around next morning I was amazed to find a tire so trashed that I could put my hand into it...

I've been reading this thread and trying to decide whether we're going to install a TPMS - losing that tire sure got me thinking... I'm real interested to hear how the external systems work. A few questions: When you need to add air, do you simply take the cap off, bring the tire to pressure, and replace the cap? Or do you have link the cap with the receiver again? And does anybody know how reliably the caps stay on? Expensive to replace! Using the lock rings is more than anti-theft; it also prevents the caps from vibrating off - but it would make filling the tires more time-consuming.

Check out "Tire SafeGuard", I've used this unit for six years & pleased with it. Also they have the "Flow Thru Sensors", you don't remove the sensors to inflate. The batteries can be replaced in the sensors easily by yourself when necessary.
 

smiller

2008 View J (2007 NCV3 3500)
Also they have the "Flow Thru Sensors", you don't remove the sensors to inflate.
Since these sensors also screw onto the valve stems then I don't see any advantage in being 'flow through'... there is no difference in the amount of effort to fill the tire (you still have to remove the valve cap, which is no less effort then removing a valve cap sensor) and the flow-through design only adds another unnecessary valve to the system. It looks like Tire Safeguard allows you to select either flow through or valve cap sensors and personally if I was purchasing that system I'd just order the valve cap sensors.
 

NetDoc

Member
Wow... I just blew my third tire on this van. I had the tires rotated at Goodyear when they changed the oil. The new ones went up front and the older/generics went to the back. The system I installed is not that good. It doesn't like anything over 60 psi so it puts all my tires in red. Now, I think I hit something to pop this one: no shredding of the tire, just a simple large hole and the tire was not too hot to the touch, which is typical of a run soft tire. I'm seeing a TireMinder Tire Monitoring System TMG400C-4 with 4 sensors on eBay for about 239, shipped.
 

smiller

2008 View J (2007 NCV3 3500)
I'm seeing a TireMinder Tire Monitoring System TMG400C-4 with 4 sensors on eBay for about 239, shipped.
Go for it. Not only is it a good investment for your safety, if you know about that low tire before it overheats and gets damaged it will almost pay for the unit with the first saved tire.
 

NetDoc

Member
I did. It should be here tomorrow. I had the other two tires replaced today, so that I have all Goodyear LT22575R16 E SR-A tires all the way around. I haven't found a good place to get it aligned here in South Florida yet.
 

NetDoc

Member
I watched their video on installation. It just can't get any easier than that. It doesn't give me all four tire pressures at once, but it doesn't give me false warnings, like I'm over pressure when the tire is at 80psi. I want to get three more sensors. One for the spare and two for when I trailer.
 
Last edited:

sailquik

Well-known member
NetDoc,
Don't think I've heard of very many others having blowouts on Sprinter Cargo Vans.
The RV crowd does have some blowouts due to failure to maintain enough pressure in the inside tire of their dual rear wheels,
but their RV's are mostly at or over GAVWR and with simulators or not having the correct tire pressure gauge it's understandable
that the inside rears don't get checked as often as necessary.
So, what tires have you been having these blowouts with?
What size and what rating?
Are the Load Range E with a rating of 115/112 at least?
Roger
 

smiller

2008 View J (2007 NCV3 3500)
Blowouts aren't common on Sprinter cargo vans or Sprinter RVs, the primary rationale behind a TPMS is to see problems in advance (as in a slow leak due to a puncture) and replace/repair the tire before it becomes an issue on the road, or waste a good tire due to damage caused by underinflation that you didn't know about. TPMS threads always seem to be full of advice like 'just check your air pressure frequently' (which we know sometimes doesn't happen in the real world, or is suddenly low due to damage that we couldn't have anticipated) and 'if a tire is low, you'll know it!' which is just outright false in many cases. A TPMS system is a good safety investment (particularly on an RV running near or at GVWR) and even cost effective, as if you save even one tire from an unnecessary early death you've almost paid off the cost of the system.
 

NetDoc

Member
Blowouts aren't common, period. In my entire life, I've had just one. The tires that came on my Sprinter were less than optimal. The rears were what I would call "maypops" since they may pop at any second. There was less than 2/32" of tread and I wanted to head to Orlando to the Goodyear I was a Service Manager at to replace both of them immediately. My SO had other plans and so we headed to Jacksonville to see her sick mom. Just N of St Augustine I had the first Blow out after I felt the tire separate first. Maiden trip and I wasn't sure I even had a jack. I did and we were on our way as the Road Ranger showed up. FWIW, we might have impacted debris as I found a rather large piece under the van, but a vibration had set in a few miles before and I was trying to make the next exit to check it out. After Jacksonville, we headed to Cave Country (Ginnie Springs) and then to Gainesville wear I did a presentation on Social Media. Just north of Ocala, on our way to get those tires, we had the second maypop go pop right after it started to vibrate. Another separation induced blowout. Called a mobile tire service and got a tire mounted Sunday morning for $150. Got two load range E Wrangler SR-As mounted and the oil changed. Six months later, time for another oil change and I rotated the tires. I made the mistake of not checking the load range of the non-Goodyear tires that went on the back. I have no idea what they were rated at, but the blowout after 4 hours of straight driving at 80 mph convinced me they had to go. This time, I had the floor jack in the van, all the tools to do what needed to be done, and I was back on the road in less than ten minutes. As much as I love my old shop in Orlando, I found a corporate owned Goodyear in Homestead and got two new tires mounted the very next afternoon. The spare is load rated E.

I've seen any number of blowouts working for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co for fifteen years. Most are from running the tire soft and they look scorched on the inside when that happens. I don't think I've ever seen a blow out like this one. the tire was distended away from the hole. I did not feel any vibration before hand. I was talking to my SO and heard the pop of the LR tire out of nowhere. No preceding vibration denoting a separation, no sign of a puncture and no shredding of the tire. FWIW, the van is very lightly loaded as it is mostly empty. Load Range E is overkill, but I'm OK with that.
 

ronjohn

2019 Unity MB
Just ordered TST (Truck System Technologies) TM 510 RV for 6 wheels from NW RV Supply. $239.95 + $15 shipping. Lots of places to spend additional cash once you have an RV. Maiden trip will be next Sunday. Going down to Kalispell for a few days. Forecast daytime temp of +8 degrees = about 46 fahrenheit and just at freezing overnight.
 

Boxster1971

2023 Sprinter 2500 144wb AWD
Time for a progress report. The short story is that the internal TPMS and valve stems I purchased from TST did not fit on 2012 Sprinter steel wheels. I had a short time to test them and the pressure and temperature monitoring and display console worked great. Now I am waiting for the correct parts....

... So Bill Borg shipped the new valve stems to our next address where we would be in a week. The valve stems looked good so I took them to a Sears’s auto center for installation. The foreman at Sears and I could not figure out how to install them (no directions were included) so I called Bill Borg. He asked me some questions about my wheels, which have round holes, and said that I have a 2012.5 Sprinter and he had sent me the wrong parts. I told him I would wait until I got home in March, a few weeks from now, and he said he would send the correct ones and pay the postage....

... As I said above, except the leaking problems, the TST internal 507 TPMS worked perfectly and I will not change my mind on my choice of this system.

David
David - have you been able to get the TST Internal TPMS working correctly yet? I'm about to buy new tires and a TPMS in next month. I also like the idea of an internal system. TST seems to be the only one offering an internal system for aftermarket add-on that will handle the six tires on my 3500 Sprinter.

Thanks,
 

Boxster1971

2023 Sprinter 2500 144wb AWD
I talked to Bill "Borg" Falkenborg yesterday. He does not yet have the right valve adapters available for the TST Internal TPMS. He mentioned that it would be easier to use the valve cap screw on sensors, but understood why people would want an internal sensor. It may take him a month to have the correct adapter available. He has both the steel and Alcoa wheels for Sprinter in his shop and will make sure they work before he makes them available.

I ordered the TST Internal 507 TPMS now anyway to have a look at the sensor mounting myself. If I can't make the internal sensors work I can always revert to the screw on sensors.
 

K-9 SPRINTER

Well-known member
Craig and Jan,
I recently chose the TST internal TPMS: http://www.tpms.com/TST_507_TPMS_INT6_INTERNAL_TPMS_SYSTEM_W_6_SENSO_p/tst.507tpmsint6.htm
These cost much more than an external one but the advantages are significant: They measure tire temperature well, they don't get knocked off or stolen which could cause a leak, and they do not make it difficult to add air. I am in the process of getting them installed and will report when I have some experience.

David
Time for a progress report. The short story is that the internal TPMS and valve stems I purchased from TST did not fit on 2012 Sprinter steel wheels. I had a short time to test them and the pressure and temperature monitoring and display console worked great. Now I am waiting for the correct parts.

Here is the long story. Anyone wanting an internal TPMS for a 2012 or later Sprinter might want to read this.

I chose the Truck Systems Technologies (TST) 507 internal TPMS for my dually Sprinter. As explained in an earlier post, an internal system is best because it reads accurate temperatures, is not easily damaged, cannot be stolen, and with new valve stems it is easy to add air. I told TST I had a 2012 dually 3500 Sprinter and needed 2-inch valve stems. I installed in a couple of hours the receiver and repeater myself at home before leaving on a 2-month trip to Florida. Weather was bad in Indiana so I waited and found a truck tire place, Neece Tire and Auto Service, in Tallahassee, which listed TPMS on their web site. We were not expecting any problems so we waited patiently for 6 hours (!) while they installed them. Some of this time the mechanic helped others move around very large truck tires. The service advisor did not mention any problems. Towards the end I ventured past the “No customers beyond this point” sign to see what the mechanic was doing. He was very upset and frustrated saying that on every tire he installed the components as provided, then it leaked so he had to take it apart and substitute different parts. The nut would not fit on the valve stem so he was putting on a smaller nut that was very hard to tighten. I asked him to set the pressures to the label on the door, 54 front and 61 rear. He finally said they were all done and we could leave now.

We were hungry and it was late so we paid the $160 bill ($25 per tire plus tax) and left. The pressures being reported in the monitor were all very high, about 75 psi (which is near the max cold pressure written on the tire), so after eating I checked the pressures with a pressure gauge and indeed they were that high. The tire pressure gauge that the mechanic at Neece Tire used must have been wrong??? So I lowered them to about 5 over the pressures on the label (the tires were warm). The pressure monitor worked perfectly. The high-pressure alarms went off before I lowered them and afterwards all six tires reported the same pressure as the pressure I set them to.

Then the nightmare started. On the way to our campsite about 30 miles away, some of the tires started losing air. The front right went down from 60 to 40 in a few hours, so I jacked up that tire for the night since I was sure it would be completely flat in the morning and I did not want to damage the tire and I wanted to be able to inflate it with the 12V pump that Mercedes provides with the van.

At this point we figured that the Neece mechanic put so much pressure in the tires because they did not leak at that pressure or because it would be longer before they went flat. His pressure gauge would not be off by 20 psi.

I called Mike at TST and explained what happened. He seemed surprised and suggested I call the valve expert Bill “Borg” (Falkenborg) in California. Bill sighed and said TST must not know about the changes in Sprinter wheels mid-way through the 2012 model year. He knew right away that the valve stems that TST provides would not work. The nut on the valve stem needs to be on the inside for these wheels since there is no room for it on the outside. We needed special valve stems that he has developed and sells for $140. I am sure there are lots of posts about his valve stems for Sprinter duallys on this forum. The stems are chrome and are different for the front, rear inside, and rear outside. You can reach them easily to add air and they should work fine with an internal TPMS. If you want to rotate tires you can do it only right to left, but he said that if tires are balanced and aligned properly they do not need to be rotated. If they cause trouble or leak, Borg Equipment and Supply will pay any additional installation or repair costs. Bill said that installation should cost $20 +/- 5 and there should be no problems.

I called back Mike at TST and explained what Bill Borg had said. Mike said he would call Bill and call me back. He did and his solution was that he would pay for Borg’s valve stems but would not pay for their shipping and for my $160 first try expense, nor would he pay for the installation of the new ones. I accepted that since I feel partly to blame for letting the Neece mechanic work for 6 hours without proactive investigation.

In the morning I added air with the pump (the MBz pump took about 15 minutes for the flat tire and needed to cool before the next one). Then we headed back to Neece Tire and Auto Service and asked for the person in charge. Mr. Neece was very defensive and after a few minutes that seemed an eternity I was able to get some words in to tell him that we now realize that the parts we provided from TST were not the right ones. But why did they install them anyway when they all leaked? He said that they did not leak when we left and the pressures were so high because the gauge was defective. I had no way to prove he was wrong, but later I found out he was wrong when we overheard the mechanic say to a foreman that they were indeed leaking after he finished installing them. Mr. Neece said that they would put back regular rubber valve stems, give us back all our parts, and charge us $15 per tire for that work. I explained that I would report all this on the forums and he didn’t care. In the end the service manager did not charge us for removing the TPMS, but a refund of the original $160 was out of the question. Not to mention our time of about 12 hours counting the drive back from our campsite.

So Bill Borg shipped the new valve stems to our next address where we would be in a week. The valve stems looked good so I took them to a Sears’s auto center for installation. The foreman at Sears and I could not figure out how to install them (no directions were included) so I called Bill Borg. He asked me some questions about my wheels, which have round holes, and said that I have a 2012.5 Sprinter and he had sent me the wrong parts. I told him I would wait until I got home in March, a few weeks from now, and he said he would send the correct ones and pay the postage.

You are probably wondering, as my wife is, why I am going through all this hell just to be able to monitor the tire pressures and temperatures. I still think this is an important safety system and will be worth the trouble when this is all over. After all, it is so important that our government has required TPMS in all new 4-wheel vehicles and may soon require in all trucks. As I said above, except the leaking problems, the TST internal 507 TPMS worked perfectly and I will not change my mind on my choice of this system.

David
I just had that unit installed, works great on my 3500. (I have steel rims and Alcolas)
 
Last edited:

K-9 SPRINTER

Well-known member
I talked to Bill "Borg" Falkenborg yesterday. He does not yet have the right valve adapters available for the TST Internal TPMS. He mentioned that it would be easier to use the valve cap screw on sensors, but understood why people would want an internal sensor. It may take him a month to have the correct adapter available. He has both the steel and Alcoa wheels for Sprinter in his shop and will make sure they work before he makes them available.

I ordered the TST Internal 507 TPMS now anyway to have a look at the sensor mounting myself. If I can't make the internal sensors work I can always revert to the screw on sensors.
I have Alcolas, same problem. I had TLC https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18378 :thumbup: do the install when I got new tires. The adapters didn't fit the steel wheels or the Alcolas, .They said ,It was easier to just drill out the factories and retap for the internal sensors then go back and forth w/adapters that don't work.
 
Last edited:

llamadave

New member
Bill Falkenborg has made a special set of adapters for my steel Sprinter wheels with round holes, late 2012 model. I will have these installed in a week or so and will report back here with photos.

David
 

Dingo

New member
Best Tire Pressure Monitoring System ............

Fits in your hand & requires no power ( other than muscle power ), clips to your overalls and does not require any form of interface with Skreem , SRS , ECU , Star diagnostic or DAD :thumbup:
 

llamadave

New member
Best Tire Pressure Monitoring System ............

Fits in your hand & requires no power ( other than muscle power ), clips to your overalls and does not require any form of interface with Skreem , SRS , ECU , Star diagnostic or DAD :thumbup:
Does it work while driving when you blow out one dually tire in a pothole? When one tire gets a slow leak from a nail, soon enough so you can pull over before ruining the tire?
 

Dingo

New member
Does it work while driving when you blow out one dually tire in a pothole? When one tire gets a slow leak from a nail, soon enough so you can pull over before ruining the tire?
If you need a guage to tell you that a tyre has gone west suddenly , it's a poor do . BUT fair go on the nail & slow deflation theme . However my last dually that punctured began humming as it deflated & the strange sound made me take a look underneath .
 

Peter Tourin

2020 Unity RL, ex 2012 Unity MB
After my last flat I'm going for a TPMS. The tire lost pressure somehow and ultimately shredded - no way of knowing what happened. We noticed nothing except a few noises that weren't enough to really catch our attention, and a bit of vibration, which we wrote off to road surface. Drove that way for perhaps a half hour, pulled in to a campsite late at night, only noticed next morning that we had a tire shredded enough so I could put my fist in it. If I can get a flat with that little warning, a TPMS seems like good insurance for the price!
 

smiller

2008 View J (2007 NCV3 3500)
Yes, the 'if something bad happens you will know it!' comments are kind of silly. Depending on circumstances a driver may detect a blowout or he may not. And no one can discern a slow leak that can easily lead to an unnecessarily damaged tire. There is really no good argument agaginst a TPMS except that you want to save a few hundred bucks... and the first time a TPMS saves a tire (or your hide) you will make even that investment back.
 

Top Bottom