Garmin Tire Pressure Monitors

They must cost a bit, will likely be ripped off in short order by some nice kids thinking they are cool.

I have a couple of 80cc scooters that need to have the tires topped off from time-to-time.

They don't often travel beyond our neighborhood, so a GPS would be overkill. But tire pressure monitors might be fun to tinker with sometime.

Didn't realize I had a funny until after I finished typing the subject.

Jonathan

You must be under a lot of pressure.

Does plastic vs. metal cap matter?

My assumption is that the sensor is in the cap itself which you use to replace the original cap. I suspect when you tighten the sensor cap down it actually depresses the valve in the stem allowing the tire's air pressure up to the cap.

I have never seen one of these, so this is just a guess on my part.

That appears to be the case. Good close-up shots here:
http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Tire-Pressure-Monitor-Sensor/dp...

ummm How about just look at the tire and maybe use a tire gauge? If a tire is low on air you will know it and you will need to stop at a repair shop

I was given 4 caps to replace my old ones, what they do is when you put them on, they do push down on the little pin and then the cap stops the air from flowing out.. The Caps has a little window in it and if the yellow is not showing, you need more air in the Tire. I tried them but was afraid that if the cap gets damaged in any way, it might let all the air out.

Do yourself a favor and throw those away. I had them and if it would not have been for someone passing me on the passenger side I would not have known that my tire was almost flat.
It was one of those caps. Threw them as far away as I could.

Or next time buy a decent vehicle that comes standard with a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system). Nowadays a vehicle with TPMS is as common as power seats and power windows.

I think in the US, TPMS is required on all 2008 and later automobiles and light trucks.

Truly the most useless, arrogant & ignorant responses I've ever seen on this forum.

FYI the Garmin TPMS sensors were developed for MOTORCYCLES and are compatible with some Zumo models which are also designed specifically for motorcycles. Very, very few motorcycles are manufactured with TPMS nor are TPMS mandated as they are for cars. Having the correct precise tire pressure in motorcycle tires is much more critical than it is for an auto as a change of only a couple psi can have a dramatic adverse effect on handling.

To the OP, I changed out my valve stems for all metal stems because I was concerned with the additional weight of the sensors stressing the rubber stems. Very inexpensive at about $2.50 ea and the shop I use charged only $10 per tire to dismount, replace the stems, remount & balance. Well worth the expense.

On a recent 8,500 cross country trip it was very reassuring each morning starting out to check the pressure readouts.

I'm a rider here too, and agree completely with your comments about the importance of correct tire pressure. In the past I had viewed TPMS sensors as a nuisance on my Jeep, however I am now starting to change that opinion. And that being said, I am fanatical about the tire pressure on my motorcycles.

When I get my Zumo, it will have TPMS and I will upgrade stems on both motorcycles

Correct tire pressure is safer, decreases fuel consumption, and increases tire life - why wouldn't we make sure it was correct ? and besides its another tech gadget, can you ever have too many ?

Aftermarket TPMS devices are popular with the RV community. A motorhome towing a car or a car/truck towing a trailer is an open market for these as the driver may not otherwise be aware that whatever is behind them is about to have a blowout or shred a tire, possibly causing a lot of damage. Many of these send pressure and temperature data to the driver's display.

Some are mounted inside the wheel or as a replacement for the valve stem. Others are thimble side valve cap replacements that each house the sensor, battery and transmitter. They often come with some form of locking device that makes them difficult for the casual kid to swipe for the fun of it. Some brands are better and more reliable than others.

On mine, I had to specify if I had the steel or copper stems. The rigid stems for high pressure tires are normally steel and the rubber ones on standard passenger cars are copper or brass. Because of corrosion and seizing issues, they provided sensors with either steel or copper threaded mounts to eliminate that potential problem.

A very good point. Avoiding galvanic corrosion due to material differences is a nice design feature for something that has a high probability of exposure to moisture.

_ Tom -

Someone I know took his car in to replace a shredded tire. The idiot doing it threw away the sensor. To replace one is horribly expensive and without it you get error codes and a light on the instrument.

I was half expecting a Patriot's joke here. I too think this would be cool to tinker with.

I never even thought of the Patriots. Now, I have a deflated sense of my humor.

Along with persister's defaulted ssense of humour, I think this thread is going flat ...

We have a 2014 Honda Accord. It has a light that will come on if the tires loose air. I have wondered how it knows. Do the stem caps have something to do with these too?

Most of the ones installed by the manufacturers are part of the valve stem and inside the rim the tire mounts on. They all operate in the same basic fashion, the air pressure squeezes a part and when the pressure gets too low, the part isn't squeezed tight enough so a connection is opened and a signal is sent which causes the light to be lit.

Here's some info on the two types of TPMS systems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire-pressure_monitoring_syste...

From a quick check, I think you have the Direct TPMS system with sensors inside the wheel. TPMS has been required in cars since 9/2007.

Thanks, will look at the web site.

Thanks to both of you for all your help. You are always there..
Mary

Glad my car has a tire monitoring system.

I had no idea Garmin has such a product. I wonder if this will come to automotive. Considering that cars are now required to have TPMS, I guess there's not really any demand.