Thread: TPMS; can anyone recommend a good kit?

I have the external ones, work great.
We had them on all vehicles when we did the mereenie loop, Tanami, canning, no dramas at all. They were actually very handy when we got a puncture, so we could act quickly and plug it before it wrecked the tyre.

My experience is the same as Vern's. Had the first generation ARB external ones for over four years now and have had no trouble in the bush. They pinpointed a slow leak in one tyre once. I thought it must be a faulty wheel sensor, so I swapped the sensor over to the other side. Nup. Slow leak in original tyre. So, I keep the original sensors on my road wheels and have fitted the latest generation on my off-road wheels along with two on the TVan as most TVan trips will be in the bush so I'll use the 18" light truck MT51s.

<sup>I have used the Safety Dave external (valve) unit for many years. Has saved several tyres over time. It is incredible how robust they are, plus if you get a flat just put the sender on the spare.
I have also heard many stories re internal units being damaged by tyre changes. It is also very easy with the external units to change the battery if the need arises.

Geoff</sup>

2x bad experience with internal sensor TPMS ...

the saying goes, "pay for quality" ... not in the case with some of these kits.

Expensive internal sensor kits were purchased with the thinking that having been purchased from reputable stores(real stores, not online) .. and both ended up useless junk.
The compounded issue was that not having tyre fitting equipment .. need to also pay for someone to remove the rusbbish, and get my money back.
Total waste of time and frustrating.

But when my D1 was wearing the Yokohama tyres it came with when purchased some 6 years ago, I still needed a TPMS(cos the tyres were made thinner than condom latex and would puncture if the word nail or screw was mentioned ... seriously 20+ punctures in less than 4 years)

So I bought a relatively cheap(back then) external kit off ebay. Superb. Never misses a beat. Still original batteries in the sensors too, 6 years later where 3 years is the oft quoted lifetime.

My dad needed a setup for his little froggy Pug ... and thought to try a solar powered kit(due to ciggie/power port location) .. worked ok for a while, but the solar component ended up a waste of time.
Once again external sensors, just different display unit that has a solar panel on top and sits flat on the dash. After a few months(maybe 6 or just a bit more) it beeped relentlessly .. but due to low battery.

My unit that directly plugs into the ciggie lighter still worked no worries tho. So got rid of the solar unit in dads and got him same type as mine. Back then they were in the $60 range on ebay. Now they're in the low $100 tho.

So having had good experience with this type of TPMS system, I also got the bro one for his D2 .. maybe 2 or a bit more years ago. Not that it needed it tho .. the KO2s have been perfect in terms of air pressure and durability.
It's now running on a mishmash of a few tyres types having recently got a set of alloys for it, and I do note a bit more variability between the different tyres brands on the display.
Having also got rid of the 'magnetic' spike attracting Yokohomas on the D1 a while back, replaced with cheapo Chinesium tyres .. they have been rock solid on pressure and durability too .. so effectively rendering the TPMS a bit useless in that it just shows the same display day in day out .. lower pressure at the start of the trip, a bit more(depends on ambient) as you drive further.

A link to the TPMS type/brand below. Not endorsing the vendor, just an desription of the unit I have now(x3) and been great.

ebay TPMS example

In a D2 and D1, I found the best and easiest solution to mount and keep track of the TPMS is to plug it down into the ciggie plug in the centre console.
You can get other types of plug in units, but they don't have the swiveling display feature that makes this unit a bit nicer overall. To be able to see the display easily it needs a bit of tilt, otherwise stray external light washes the display out if it's a solidly fixed type placed down there.
I dunno where your ciggie plug is located but keep this in mind.
You can also detach the head off the plug and mount remote(which I had to do in dads Peugeot)

Only other issue with this model is the too high low air alarm value set in the system. If you want to go lower than 15psi for say off road ... it beeps like crazy. For the two times I've done this, I just half unplug the unit, so it sits in the plug, but is off to stop the beeping at or below the 15psi mark.
Have been kind of on the lookout for a half decent system that can allow lower low alarm points, but the unit just works so hasn't been a priority.

I’ve ran externals since 2000, same kit still on the D2.
Externals and hard offroad hasn’t been an issue.

I have an eBay kit on the 90 and D4 at the moment and no problems with them. D4 is about to go external ARB set up with Linx (if I ever get time to fit it all).

Phone version on my Katana works well, however draws phone battery a bit more, something to consider.

I run a set of internal units on my Sprinter, but the main reason for this is the truck kit I went for only uses internal sensors and I have 7 tyres to monitor and I wanted accurate tyre temps as well as it sits very close to its GVM at all times so I like to keep the pressures spot on - if I lose one of the duals without knowing about it, the other wouldn't be far behind it then I'd be stranded. Some of the external kits also didn't have a high enough pressure rating for this application and also the distance from the back sensors to the dash unit would have been a stretch - mine has an antenna mounted centrally under the vehicle.

I know the external ones do temp but I'm not sure how they do this - or how they do it accurately I should say. The system I have is used some trucks I know as well without issue. They are large sensors with large batteries fitted with a long hose clamp around the rim but I had no issues with balancing the tyres after they were fitted. It's been great so far in the 18 months I've had them fitted. My only complaints would be that the display is a little agricultural for this day and age and also you can't read it when you have polarized sunglasses on - although it beeps and flashes a light is any parameter goes out of its set range so not a huge issue to be honest.

I think which ever way you go, get a decent set and pay the money for them rather than trying to cheap out. If I was going to put them on my 4WD I'd use an external set I think.

G’day mate,

I’ve been running this one for nearly 5 years now with no dramas at all. It’s easier to show you a video of the setup.

It’s an internal system, and I’ve never had a battery issue. All in all I think it’s a perfect system and battery life is amazing.

Cheers
Keithy

Check-in With The Masten Tyre Pressure Monitoring System - After More Than 3 YEARS OF ABUSE!
Check-in With The Masten Tyre Pressure Monitoring System - After More Than 3 YEARS OF ABUSE! - YouTube

I have used Safety Dave external sensors for many years with no problems. A good tip is to use Metal valve fittings as the rubber valve stems will "flex" on rough roads resulting in the Sensor continually hitting the wheel.

Batteries last for years & are easy to change.

Phil