A word of warning. The other night I removed one of my Pressure Pro Sensors and in the process it appears to have unthreaded the Schrader value inside the valve stem. It didn't come out all the way, but close. Evidently the sensor stuck to the valve head somehow and as I turned the sensor, the Schrader valve came out. I noticed it when I went to check the air in the tire and the gauge did not work. If it had come all the way out, I would have had a totally flat tire in minutes. Fortunately that was not the case and I managed to thread it back in. I went out and bought some spare valves, and a little wrench to screw them in, to have on hand in case this happens again and l lose the valve. This has never happened previously in the 5 years I have used Pressure Pro.
George
Excellent post George. I too have had some valve issues since adding PressurePros. I think using new valves when installing the PressurePro sending units is a good idea.
That is one reason I do not use them. I do not want that weight spinning out at the end either. If i ever do something that way, I would look for the version that is inside the tire.
Hi John,
Our Honda CR-V has a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) within the tires. It is kind of a "poor man's" TPMS in that is is not very responsive. Pressure has to drop about 20 percent in our car tires to see the symbol on the dashboard. And, the symbol does not indicate how low. With Pressure Pro we know right away when a tire is low and how low it has gone.
Pressure Pro and its competitors may not be perfect, but it has saved us some serious damage on two occassions.
Like so many other areas, it all comes down to a matter or personal preference and how much risk we are willing to take.
My limited experience leads me to agree with John. I prefer not to use the currently available external TPMS systems.
In about 12K miles of travel with a TPMS, we had two failures. Both were leaks at the valve stem that were probably caused by stress from the weight of the monitor on the stem. In addition, we had a few false alarms in which the tire was fine, but the monitor was indicating problems. We had two additional unexplained leaks while parked that were never repeated after we removed TPMS.
In about 12K miles of travel without TPMS, our pressures have remained extremely consistent. I frequently check one or two tires before rolling in the morning to verify that we are good for the ambient conditions. I "bump" the remaining tires to verify that they all have a similar response. At rest stops, I frequently check the tires with a "bump" and/or an infrared thermometer to verify consistency among the tires.
With the TPMS sensors we had, I had to remove the TPMS to check with an external gauge or adjust pressures. I have found pulling valve caps to be relatively easy to do, and I've never had a valve cap mess with the valve core.
Indeed, it is a personal preference. My preference for monitoring tires is the old way.
I check my tires and I have put on almost 300K miles on various Motorhomes. I have had one flat tire but caught it before it was an issue. I have an infrared temp gun and you can tell if one of the tires is low with that when you are running too. I guess I really do not want that weight spinning on the end and that is why I will not have one on the coach. I know that people have Pressure Pro and that they work but the technology is coming and the internal sensors will be better.
Hi all ; in 2010 I bought the pressure pro system , 8 for the coach , and 4 for the toad . I felt good about it . Next day I had 2 flat tires . when I notified the people I bought them from, it was made clear to me that I was the only person on earth to ever have A problem with Perssure Pro .! Well that warm fuzzy feeling went down the tubes in A hurry . It was pointed out that even A pretty dumb person can screw them on A valve stem . I sure wish I could return them and get my money back , I don't trust them .
Hey Brad,
The Pressure Pros can be a little fussy to install. Sometimes the Schrader valve needs to be moved up or down within the stem. Also, some of us use Teflon tape on the threads to prevent a leak.
As for service after the sale when I called Pat McFall a couple of times with installation questions I got the nicest help from her.
Again. Using a TPMS is a choice.
You didn't say what you want for them.
Overall, we have had good service from our Pressure Pro system. We've used it on the Airstream we owned and on the FT coach. We have never had a flat and all of the warnings we have had from the system have been false alarms. I do keep a close eye on tire pressures and I do use an IR temperature gauge. I would rather have internal sensors, but all things considered, I think its a pretty good system for the money.
For those with Pressure Pro.... what do you use on the valve stem to reduce the chance of a leak? I have used teflon tape, but it is a pain to apply and pieces of it get into the sensors. Is anyone using anything else?
George
You've got mail (we're interested if it's the entire system) ;) And don't forget to list them in the classifieds.
Michelle
Interesting. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with PP.
I've had pressure pro on three RVs.
The only problem I've had is one PP unit (and only one!) goes stupid from time to time. My current stupid PP starts out fine in the morning and then quits for the day at some point.
I do make sure they are tight each morning before I set out for the day. It's nice to be able to check the pressure in each tire several times a day as we drive along.
During the day we try to stop at each rest area mostly to get out and walk the length of the rest area to reduce the risk of blood clots.
I take the occasion to visually check the tires on FT and Element, make sure each PP is tight, and make sure the tow bar has all the parts it started the day with and connected like they were when we started out.
Considering the (relatively light?) weight of the PP sensor relative to the weight of a long (4 inch) steel tube and the additional centrifugal force the PP exerts on the stem has as the wheel spins at 60mph, I wonder if the additional force from the PP has any effect at all. If it does I would expect statistics to show PP's on long stems cause problems more often than PP's on short stems (PP's on long stems cause more addition torsion at the point where the stem connects to the rim than PP's on short stems).
Of course, YMMV
best, paul
Did I mention that on my trip to S. Texas in December that road debris took out the two front tires on my Subaru towed. I had Pressure Pros but had not yet installed them on the towed. Therefore, I didnt know the tires had blown for quite a few miles. The total damage was a little less than $3,000. You can bet that the PP's will be on in the future.
My first set of Pressure Pros lasted 5 years and 8 months before the batteries finally died on two within a week of each other. That set warned us of 4 separate impending flats on the towed car during that time, all due to nails or screws. I know some people have had issues when using Teflon tape, but I am careful to be sure that none of the tape overlaps into the valve itself. Another important safeguard is to be sure that the black rubber center insert is evenly and firmly seated in the base of the sensor before tightening onto the Schrader valve. I've never had a Schrader valve unscrew, but thanks to George I will check very carefully from now on whenever I have to remove a PP.
Although there are some potential issues, I wouldn't be without the PP's on the coach and the toad.
I've used Pressure Pros for almost 3 years now and wouldn't be without them. No flats, but did warn of a very low tire on the toad once. I have the lock nuts on the stems, so don't need to check for tightness.
BTW - There is an upgrade for older sensors which may have a red rubber center insert. The replacement is black, and has a little longer center part to fully depress the schrader valve pin when the valve is screwed in further (that was a problem on the extension stems for the inner rear tires on our rig.) Replacements available from any Pressure Pro dealer (and especially from our own Mike & Pat McFall.)
Well said, Don.
I, too. am very careful when applying Teflon tape. When re-applying I use a small brass wire brush to remove old tape.
Thanks George H., While parked in Mesa, AZ for the past 1 1/2 months, we've had a v-e-r-r-r-y slow leak in one of our tires (we have Pressure Pro). I checked the tightness of the Schraeder valve and found it loose. . .now watching the pressure for the rest of the time we are here (1 1/2 weeks) to see if that was our problem.