Ed Scherer

I'm way past ready for a new tire set—another set of Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s—and when I have those mounted, I'm going to retire my current TPMS system (SmartTire, which has been discontinued for a few years) and am seeking a suitable replacement.

I was disappointed to see that the Hella TC-400 TPMS has apparently also been discontinued (at least everywhere I looked where it used to available no longer carries it); that's what I originally was planning on getting. Seemed like just the right thing: German company with a good reputation.

I've come across a few candidates. Among them:

• Dill 1504-453 (available at Tire Rack for $239); this system appears to be designed for trailer use, but apparently is an acceptable match for any four-wheel application)
• Orange P409S (
  available at Amazon
  available at Amazon
  for about $103!); seems suspiciously cheap—includes main unit and four sensors!

Anybody have opinions on these or any other TPMSes? I noticed that Alan was thinking about doing the same thing about a month ago (retiring the SmarTire and replacing with Orange).

Ed Scherer

... one week later.

Did I actually manage to find a topic on which no Rennlist 928ers have an opinion? Didn't think it was possible.

Alan, maybe?

Rob Edwards

50% of Rennlisters have RDK and have disabled it 'cause it's a PITA.
50% of Rennlisters manually check their tire pressures regularly enough that TPMS is superfluous.
And
50% of Rennlisters have no opinion on the topic.

Ed Scherer

That leaves 50% that might have something to say, doesn't it?


BTW, IMHO, TPMS is of more value for "while driving incidents" than routine maintenance. (Nice string of acronyms there.)

Rob Edwards

I hesitated to post a smartass, no-tech-having comment 'cause I honestly have no idea about modern TPMS. Agreed that they could be useful for long highway jaunts. I guess my other knee-jerk reaction is what do you do with that little LCD monitor- suction cup it next to the V1 and the Garmin already on the windshield? So very 2006.....

Ed Scherer

My current SmarTire TPMS display is mounted where the ashtray used to be. That location turned out to be less than satisfactory with the SmarTire unit due to the LCD not being very visible at the resulting viewing angle.

I'd do something different next time.

Alan at one time was looking into feeding TPMS signals into the RDK, but I'm not sure if he ever did it. I'd probably look at that possibility again next time around; it would be nice because then the TPMS head unit could be hidden or mounted in a less conspicuous location since the instrument cluster would be good enough to at least show an alert.

Speedtoys

$2 tire gauge.

Works even without batteries.


But seriously..why would this be helpful for long trips? How it is not helpful to not have it?

Ed Scherer

Very difficult to use while driving.

And besides which, for your manual gauge, why go with a $2 tire gauge when you can burn a nice pile of money on a really cool gauge/inflator?


The sooner you know you've got a problem, the better ... before you get sidewall damage or perhaps try one of those "leg stretching", "carbon burn off" runs.



IMHO, manual gauges and TPMS are really for two different things. Kind of like a timing belt tension gauge vs. the belt tension warning system. Each has its purpose.

NoVector

Ed - I'm definitely in one of those 50% categories. I had a blowout last year at a moderate speed in Texas. If I had an indicator on my dash, I didn’t see it, but I believe my system works as it did go off when I first bought the car—and sure enough, a front tire was low. Now, fast forward to today: the thought of having a tire go low and then blowout at 130 MPH on the A8 autobahn scares the crap out of me.

I like the units you’re looking at better than stock because they actually give a pressure reading; but, I think I’d want an audible alarm as I don’t know if I’d ever look down at the ashtray area while driving. I'd probably mount it up above the center mirror.

Now thinking about it, that would be good for the new integrated center console thread—something that “bungs” on the stereo whenever the (!) light is activated.

My .02 euro cents…

Herman K

I have a smart tire set up that I bought several years ago and never installed (I know Alan is still using the same system) should I still consider installing it.

Ed Scherer

The SmarTire system I'm using now has audible alerts and I believe that audible alerts are a standard feature of the other aftermarket TPMSes I've looked at.

Having the ability to have tire pressure and temperature data and alerts displayed/announced on other units (center console or instrument cluster) would be nice.


I'd probably go with a still-manufactured/supported unit instead. Those SmarTire sensors are getting old and probably have limited battery life left (IIRC, they're not user-replaceable batteries). And the band-mounted sensors have generally been replaced in more modern systems with the valve-mounted sensors.

Of course, the ideal time to install or update a system is when you're having new tires mounted anyway, which is why I'm looking into this right now.

Alan

I have the smartire installed - I will remove it as soon as practical (next change). It worked well except that the sensor bands kept breaking - I have had to replace one sensor already and another is currently dead. and loose.

Ed I have the Orange system to install in its place - so not much opinion on it yet.

I like that its stem mount, like the 4 concurrent displays - no large system unit to deal with...

But peformance remains to be seen. I can tell all of you that monitoring relative tire temperatures on a long trip tells you if something is a bit off. Real time pressure readout is really nice - there is no manual pressure testing that comes close....

Alan

Rob Edwards

If someone can figure out how to integrate it into the carputer, I'm on it like white on rice.

dprantl

+1

Dan
'91 928GT S/C 475hp/460lb.ft

Herman K

The SmarTite system I have has valve -mounted sensors instead of bands