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Alternatives to SmartTire presusre monitor system?

I've had the SmartTire system for some time now, but, after having the third $50 transmitter destroyed by a tire shop, I've concluded that their strap-on transmitter arrangement is just too vulnerable. =20

My guess is that the type that's intrgrated with the valve stem may be harder to damage, so rather than spend another $50 for the latest destroyed transmitter, I'll buy a whole new system. =20 Is anyone aware of a stem-mount system that also has the same capabilities as the SmartTire enhanced display? =20 (The SmartTire display is small, at about 2" wide, 1" high, and can show pressure, temperature, and deviation from alert point.) The deviation valure is compensated for temperature, so you can run a low threshold (4PSI) without having the alarm go off when the tires are cold. =20

The only way I can think of to keep SmartTire is to have guard plates welded inside the wheels above the transmitter positions. with counterweights opposite them.. =20

Actually, I may just do this. =20

  1. Replace one wheel with spare
  2. Have the tire dismounted.
  3. Fabricate 6061 aluminum guard plates and counterweights for all four wheels. =20
  4. Have one set welded, get tire remounted, repeat. =20 (If I can find a shop that can do the tire work AND weld aluminum, I might get it all done in one day..)

One shop broke the transmttter even after I told them the things were in there and gave them a pront of this photo:

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most recent one did it when they broke the bead to shift the tireduring balancing. =20

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Reply to
Doug Warner
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How many tires do you need to monitor?

4 get a tire pressure gauge, analog dial or digital, and check the pressures once/week.

Save yourself some money, eh? It's what most of the world does.

How many tires did you say you have to monitor?

4?
Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

Weekly (or daily) checks aren't going to help when one starts to leak underway. I've destroyed at lest two tires that went flat on the highway, and didn't notice until they were in shreds. (50-series tires don't "feel" flat when driving down the highway.) =20 If I had the monitor system then, I'd have known when they got 4psi down, and could have pulled over and installed the spare before they were still repairable.

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Reply to
Doug Warner

|Lawrence Glickman wrote: | |>On Sun, 07 Mar 2004 17:01:39 -0500, Doug Warner |> wrote: |>

|>How many tires do you need to monitor? |>4 |>get a tire pressure gauge, analog dial or digital, and check the |>pressures once/week. | |Weekly (or daily) checks aren't going to help when one starts to leak |underway. I've destroyed at lest two tires that went flat on the |highway, and didn't notice until they were in shreds. (50-series tires |don't "feel" flat when driving down the highway.) | If I had the monitor system then, I'd have known when they got 4psi |down, and could have pulled over and installed the spare before they |were still repairable.

I have as much to worry about in that respect as you do, since I have alloy wheels. And in my case, it is impossible to tell if a radial tire is over or underinflated by a dangerous margin just by looking at them.

So I've mapped which tires lose air, and which don't. The one's that lose it the fastest set the baseline, so to speak, on how often I have to check them ( along with the lug nuts ). In my case, it comes out to about once/week.

I will say this much, if you have tires that have to be checked MORE often than once a day, and you're not using them for racing, you need to ditch them and find something more reliable.

Lg

Reply to
Lawrence Glickman

The enthusiasm of a pneumatic tire machine is pretty hard to control. Is mounting your own tires out of the question? No place to work? Small manually operated tire machines are available. I once built one out of the back axle of a small car and a few pieces of pipe.

Reply to
John Ings

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