Propickup Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/93724
SHOPTALK By Tom Jackson trucks be equipped with tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS). It's not a bad idea since the average driver rarely checks vehicle tire pressures, and this will probably keep more than a few of them from hurling tire chunks at the rest of us. But the OEM TPMS function more or S less as idiot lights; they tell you when a tire drops more than 25 percent of its recommended pressure, but nothing more. With the right aftermarket system, however, you can often get: tire. on your trailer as well as your vehicle tires. you to switch tires and sensor posi- tions and change parameters when you need to air up or lower the pres- sure in a tire or tires. tire temperatures. There are two basic types of TPMS in the aftermarket arena: internal sensors that mount on the interior rim of the wheel, and external sensors that screw into your valve stem. Both are powered by batteries and send a radio signal to a receiver that you put in the cab. Of the valve stem models there are IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE WHO TOW, HAUL HEAVY LOADS OR SWITCH TIRES SEASONALLY, AFTERMARKET TPMS SYSTEMS ARE A MUST 14 PROPICKUP April 2012 those with replaceable batteries and those that are permanently sealed. The sealed units are disposed when the batteries die. Replaceable batteries will save you some money here, but the argument is that having a battery compartment that you can open and close is a po- tential leak point. Replaceable, sealed units will cost you about $50 to $60 a tire and last three years. There are more than a dozen diff er- ent TPMS aftermarket systems avail- able. The folks who pull campers and big recreational vehicles have been us- ing TPMS for years. So have car gadget freaks, tuners and obsessive Teutonic Photo: Bruce W. Smith ince 2008, the Great Oz in Washington has decreed that all passenger cars and light-duty