Tire/Tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS)

[Tim]

Does anybody use a non OEM tyre pressure monitoring system? There seems to be two sorts available, one that replaces the stem/valve and another that replaces the valve cap.
I’m tempted to try the second sort but recently saw a video by Andrew St Pierre White describing one brand as the worse thing he had ever bought.
To be fair they seem to range widely in cost and it’s difficult to work out which the good ones are but I’d have thought the brand he tested was one of the better ones.
I’m also thinking that what might be suitable for a standard highway vehicle isn’t necessary going to work on an overland one where there is often a need to vary the pressure with the terrain.
The argument against using them offered to me is it’s another thing to go wrong and with a 4x4 tyre you usually know you’ve got an issue/puncture very quickly due to the greater sidewall height. In my case I wanted to look at monitoring pressures/temperatures to confirm I wasn’t running too high or low a pressure.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks.

 

[greydog]

I have it on my wrangler and some days it;s really helpful and on the days off road and after an air down it;s a bear just keeps reminding me that my tires are too low. It's either one way or the other
I have not found a middle ground ground yet. I have learned just how much tire pressure make it happy and quiet. The jeep system seems to be fairly correct most of the time but since we have had temps in the teens lately it has been off by about four pounds on a couple of my tires. I think it could be time to head to the tire shop and get all of them checked.

 

[Tim]

I have it on my wrangler and some days it;s really helpful and on the days off road and after an air down it;s a bear just keeps reminding me that my tires are too low. It's either one way or the other
I have not found a middle ground ground yet. I have learned just how much tire pressure make it happy and quiet. The jeep system seems to be fairly correct most of the time but since we have had temps in the teens lately it has been off by about four pounds on a couple of my tires. I think it could be time to head to the tire shop and get all of them checked.

Thanks for the reply. Changing pressures for off-road is one of my main concerns. It needs to be easy to adjust any high/low pressure warnings.

 

[Ben Cleveland]

I may be missing something, but why would you need a TPMS system badly enough to go to the effort of vetting and experimenting with different aftermarket setups?

My question may sound stupid, but I’ve never had a scenario where a tire guage and regularly checking tires didn’t allow me to avoid an issue and catch changing tire pressure. Which you should be using anyways if you’re airing up/down. On the road, a difference of more than a few pounds on one or two tires WILL show up in steering and pull left/right, as long as the rest of your vehicle is tuned and aligned correctly. I’ve caught many a nail in the tire, before my rim ever started grinding along the pavement, simply because I stopped and checked the tires because of a sudden steering change. These are super simple and easy maintenance steps that a TPMS system doesn’t completely avoid, because visual checks of tires are still important.

Bonus: you don’t have any incorrect or annoying warnings to worry about. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Tim]

I may be missing something, but why would you need a TPMS system badly enough to go to the effort of vetting and experimenting with different aftermarket setups?

My question may sound stupid, but I’ve never had a scenario where a tire guage and regularly checking tires didn’t allow me to avoid an issue and catch changing tire pressure. Which you should be using anyways if you’re airing up/down. On the road, a difference of more than a few pounds on one or two tires WILL show up in steering and pull left/right, as long as the rest of your vehicle is tuned and aligned correctly. I’ve caught many a nail in the tire, before my rim ever started grinding along the pavement, simply because I stopped and checked the tires because of a sudden steering change. These are super simple and easy maintenance steps that a TPMS system doesn’t completely avoid, because visual checks of tires are still important.

Bonus: you don’t have any incorrect or annoying warnings to worry about. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Haha... you are probably right. Other than catching a puncture at highway speeds there may not much between using a tpms and a good old pressure gauge but I was keen to see what others thought.
I had in mind a method called the 4 psi rule for correct tyre pressures when I was thinking about getting a tpms. Having deviated from the manufacturers recommended tyre size I was looking at ways to determine a good pressure. A tpms would allow me to monitor both pressure and temperature.

 

[Ben Cleveland]

Makes sense. I can see wanting that to monitor temperature.