Yeah, well the first time you have a blowout and it rips out $3000 worth of sheet metal and/or fiberglass you'll sure wish you had spent the 600 or so for the TPMS.
Ron
Ron & Sandie
'08 Safari Simba SBD35
Toad: Restored 86 Toy 4x4 P/U
Tow Bar: Sterling
Brakes: Unified
TPMS: Pressure Pro
On my fifth wheel the only thing between my entertainment cabinet and system and the left side tires is a plastic fender. On the right side is the furnace, gas line, wiring, heat ducts, water lines, and converter. My style camper is no longer made so it will have to last a while. If I ever see a nay sayer along the road broke down with a flat it will be a very good source of entertainment... for me.
Mine has gone off twice, both times at night when it is impossible to tell something is wrong. Once during a rain storm. It is very easy to slow, stop and plug and re-air a tire. One set of tires would cost more then the monitoring system. If someone got money to burn replacing tires every couple years but too tight to buy a monitoring system = save a penny, spend a dollar.
I wonder if the naysayers have engine oil lites/gauges, or temp gauges in their tow vehicles. I've never lost oil pressure on an engine in nearly 50 years. What a waste of money.
fpresto wrote: skylos - By your calculations why have insurance at all? The chances of an accident are remote.
Because I can't afford the eventuality of amortizing the risk myself. Thats why I pay somebody else to take that risk for me. The liability insurance that comes with it is worthwhile all by itself to protect me from my own stupidity and accidents.
fpresto wrote: In fact why wear seat belts and while you are at it disconnect the airbags after all the chance of you needing them are statistically remote.
The stakes are higher. Seat belts and airbags are the lives of me and my passengers - even complete loss of my trailer and everything therein is *piddly nothing ***** compared to that. The stakes are on an entirely different scale making the comparison almost entirely pointless.
fpresto wrote: Your calculations, as with most people who deal in numbers, do not take into account the "peace of mind factor".
Which is why I repeatedly said, don't buy it for insurance, because that is spectacularly stupid.
Buy it because it makes you feel better.
Buy it because you like the flashy lights on your dashboard.
Buy it so you can boast you have it.
But if you dare say that you're spending less money, you're lying to yourself and I'm the dick thats going to call you on it. Statistics say that you will not have a blowout. If they were calculable as a no-brainer from an actuarial point of view, they would require them in order to insure your unit at reasonable cost.
fpresto wrote: My vacation time is very dear to me and I certainly don't want to spend it along side some highway with a disabled RV waiting on an insurance company to decide my fate.
That can happen TPMS or no - I'm not sure what scenario you're thinking requires you to wait for an insurance company before you take action.
fpresto wrote: Can a TPMS prevent a sudden blowout from a road hazard? Of course not, but it can prevent additional damage
Case study trimmed.
fpresto wrote: I will not be without a TPMS. I currently have sensors on all six tires on the TV and all four on the 5th. Incidentally you can also do considerable damage if you lose air in one of the rear duals and again you might not notice it until too late to prevent additional damage.
I'll tell you, FPresto, what the most likely scenario is, the one I'm betting on.
The most likely scenario is that I will not have a blowout at all. Further it is likely that when i do that I will notice.
I'll spend the money i save on a bigger, sturdier truck that will keep me and mine safer, like that 6 tired TV of yours.
Skylos...if you think you will "notice" a blowout...trust me you won't!! If we hadn't seen it in the sideview mirror, we'd have driven for miles causing LOTS of damage to the trailer.
And if you think a blow out isn't dangerous to you and your family...you need to talk to someone who lost control and rolled their truck and trailer...that might change your mind! What the TPMS WILL do is warn you BEFORE the tire blows...giving you time to pull off and protect your property AND your family.
For me, I'm very glad I spent the money on my TPMS. Haven't had a problem on the road since I've installed it, but did have several prior to installing it. In addition, it actually warned me of low pressure while sitting in a campground, just before pulling out...glad it did...found a screw in the tire, was able to fix it there and NOT on the side of the road...that was a much safer scenario, in my opinion.
As for insurance, have that too, but I prefer to NOT depend solely on insurance repairing problems...especially since we are fulltime...that would mean having to move OUT of our home. Not an option I really want to deal with...JMHO!
lanerd wrote: Yeah, well the first time you have a blowout and it rips out $3000 worth of sheet metal and/or fiberglass you'll sure wish you had spent the 600 or so for the TPMS.
You can still throw the tread doing the damage and the casing still holds the air fine. TPMS is good but not a guaranty.
I do know that the one time I did have a blowout on a trailer, I noticed. It suddenly felt wrong. I stopped to see what was up? Sidewall shreds were attached to one of the rims.
I am seconds from possible crash, rollover and death every second I'm driving at speed on a freeway in a tall vehicle. If you think you're not, you're fooling yourself. Just grab the wheel and spin it hard either direction at 60mph, see what happens. The difference between "driving on the freeway" and "driving on the freeway with a big trailer behind me" doesn't rate that much higher a risk to my view. I have to pay attention to my equipment and drive in a way that matches my risk tolerance to the risk exposure.
Is your checklist missing the "Check tire pressure before leaving campground" line? If so, perhaps it should be revised? That is the one time that you have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing that your tires are leaking.
Anyway, I'm glad you think its so awesome you spent the money on the TPMS. Its entirely happy to be happy with a bad financial investment or risk anaysis due to other factors than its financial returns - like emotional comfort. And you can pay for emotional comfort, that is entirely legitimate. Its just not a financial investment, its an emotional one. So call it an emotional investment with potential secondary financial side effects. Just don't call it insurance.
What levels of self-test and failure analysis are available in the TPMS system? In order to be assured of its proper operation it needs to show that it can detect the transition to low pressure state. (for instance, what if its stuck in the 'OK' mode?) I imagine you'd need to drain enough air from each tire to trigger the TPMS feedback, then refill it to the proper level and once again get the proper TPMS feedback. Yes it detects that you lost pressure and yes it returns to normal. Then you can be relatively sure that it will function in the actual scenario. (unless its freshly stuck or the battery died)
I can wonder how the risk factors change over time as you go longer without testing the system for proper operation. It would be an interesting analysis.
Skylos
* This post was
edited 10/06/09 11:18pm by an administrator/moderator *
lanerd wrote: Yeah, well the first time you have a blowout and it rips out $3000 worth of sheet metal and/or fiberglass you'll sure wish you had spent the 600 or so for the TPMS.
You can still throw the tread doing the damage and the casing still holds the air fine. TPMS is good but not a guaranty.
I've had that happen to me on a class C motorhome. Took out some propane lines and bent the exhaust pipe.
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