Nearly Lost His Life over $300

[dcasr]

Originally Posted by AtomicNo13

Mankind survived for a hundred years prior to TPMS.Good tire maintenance, and dilligent observation is the key! Ive not had good luck with TMPS on many different vehicles. Its just a way to alert me that I just suffered a catastrophic failure and something bad/expensive happened!
Sorry about the unpleasant episode, glad nobody got hurt!

Nobody got hurt? He broke his back and may be paralyzed.

Yes we got along for a long time without TPMS. We got along for a very long time without antibiotics, but I'd be dead today without them. One tread separation caught just in time by my TPMS was enough to pay for all I have spent. All was wonderful in St. Pete when I started, and the monitor went off within a 300 yards of the Sarasota pull off.

[Loden]

One of the reasons I pull an AS rather than drive a motor home is that I lost a close friend to a front tire blowout on a motorhome. It blew only minutes after they had checked pressures on the tires and started on their way. On a two lane twisting road the left front tire blew. The husband told me that with full right on the steering it was still drifting to the left into oncoming traffic. He threw the wheel to the left and got across the road with only a sideswipe with and oncoming Class C. The passenger's window shattered and a shard went into his wife's brain as her head was against the window in the hard left turn.

I asked a friend who is an auto insurance investigator/adjustor and he said front blowouts are relatively common in Class A's. He recommended air pressure monitoring and (off the record) to never use anything less than a top of the line Michelin tire. He told me that neither he nor any other adjustor he knows has seen a properly inflated and not-overage Michelin blow on a Class A, while every other brand has a host of casualties. He told me that the tires normally on Class A's do not meet the same standards as are required on automobiles because the regulations do not cover them. He also said that Michelin elected to build their RV tires to the same regulatory standards as are required on passenger cars, one of the reasons they are so expensive.

[Wingeezer]

Certainly, depending on the circumstances, a TPMS "Might not have helped", but on the other hand, there is a fair chance that it might, so for the relative small investment involved, doesn't the use of one make sense?

I like to do what I can to improve my chances, even without any absolute guarantee!


Brian

[CLKIESER]

So sorry to read of your brother's experience. It's a nightmare experience we all fear driving our rigs. We do use the monitors with our diesel pusher and toad. Yes, it's one more monitor, but I'm OK with that.

We recently took a Spartan Chassis Owner's class that included driving instructions. That professional also told us to accelerate into a front blow out. Goes against everything instinctual, but seems to be the thing to do.

Speedy recovery to your brother. Keep us posted on his recovery.

Connie 'n Bruce

[AWCHIEF]

Been there and done the broken back experience. Sure do hope he comes thru it ok with no lasting issues. I have the TPS system on my trailer and the Jeep GC has a built in monitoring system. Hopefully I will never have to test them in a full blown emergency situation but nice to know they are there if needed.

[jcanavera]

Motorhomes have been notorious for overloading on the front tires. In many cases as soon as you add passengers you are in trouble. Some manufacturers have keyed on axle loads and when weighing is that based on an axle, you may be within specs. It's the individual wheel loading that gets you in trouble on these vehicles and in some cases specific wheel loads have exceeded the load ratings on tires. During a tire safety training session the presenter from RVSEF noted that they have experienced of these situations on motorhomes while at rallys where they provide vehicle weighing services. They use individual scales under each wheel to get a more accurate weight. They weighed my Safari and we were pretty close on all wheels other than the curb side rear tandem wheel carrying 40 lbs more. I never did figure out what that might have been caused by. Each wheel was safely within the tire manufacturers load specs.

So sorry to hear this happening. I know if I had a motor home I'd definitely do a weighing of each wheel separately based on the knowledge I got from that seminar. http://rvsafety.com/weighing/wheel-position-weighing

Jack

[Evelyn Hill]

New Mexico, USA

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Loden

He told me that the tires normally on Class A's do not meet the same standards as are required on automobiles because the regulations do not cover them. He also said that Michelin elected to build their RV tires to the same regulatory standards as are required on passenger cars, one of the reasons they are so expensive.

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) apply to all motor vehicles. The FMVSS for tires apply to all tires. However, the standard for vehicles over 10,000 pounds GVWR are different than the standards for passenger cars, just like the standard for trailer tires is different from both. Not better, not worse, just different, and based on the characteristics of the general class of vehicle.

If you want the best tires for a Class A, get tires that meet the standards for passenger buses. A Greyhound bus racks up more miles in a year than an RV does in its entire life, and blowouts on those buses are rare, else multiple-fatality bus crashes would be daily news.

[Tireman9]

To those that don't think a TPMS is of value I would challenge them to tape over the gauges on the dash.

Who needs to know the Oil pressure or water temperature of alternator output etc etc. You can check all these things at each fuel stop.

Its only in the past few years that the cost and reliability of this new technology has made it reasonable to have on all tires on the highway.

Yes they are not 100% in that they don't warn about belt separation but that condition can usually be observed with close examination of the tire for unusual wear conditions. BUT they are almost 100% for warning of low pressure if you set them up correctly and don't ignore the warnings.

Yes they will work on TT. You may need a signal booster but many of those selling TPMS can help answer those questions.

[AtomicNo13]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Tools, monitors and the like, that provide information of "any" kind promoting safety information, is always a 100 percent winner.

Motor vehicles today, are increasingly including such equipment, that airplanes have used for decades.

Unfortunately, a few folks consider those things as a waste.

Andy

All I'm saying is that too many people rely on instrumentation and technology vs a visual inspection .
Seeing a screw sticking out of a tire will alert you to the impending failure way before TPMS will!
Like I stated before, TPMS alerts you to failure after it has already happened, a visual alerts while you are safely stationary.
I have TPMS on all dozen or more of my vehicles, I don't disregard it, just not depend on it.

[silverwheels]

Oh wow, Im so sorry to hear about the accident. I hope your family can recover from this and your brother will be ok. We will keep him in our prayers.

I agree with the TPMS, they are well worth their value both monetary and safety!

[jimdaher]

I think this is a great reason to read the info on this site.

[dannydimitt]

Originally Posted by AtomicNo13

Mankind survived for a hundred years prior to TPMS.Good tire maintenance, and dilligent observation is the key! Ive not had good luck with TMPS on many different vehicles. Its just a way to alert me that I just suffered a catastrophic failure and something bad/expensive happened!
Sorry about the unpleasant episode, glad nobody got hurt!

When a radial truck tire self destructs resulting in an instant loss of all air pressure, the expensive TPMS will sound the alarm only after all the damage has been done

[Dawnie]

Can one be put on a travel trailer ( our Airstream) sounds like even tho it might be one more monitor to watch, it might be worth watching.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, maybe $300.00 would have better spent on new or better tires?????? What was the condition and age of the tires on this motorhome? [dot code, weather cracking, tread depth Etc.]

Wishing the best for all involved.

[tjdonahoe]

I have been driving big trucks for. 48 years, 4 axle truck with 3 axle trailer, 14-16000 lbs on the steer axle, I run the max air pressure of 120 lbs, you do a look see every time you stop, my front tires are changed every 40- 50000 miles, which is 5-6 months,I have never blown a steer tire. My life depends on them, It would be interesting to know how much air is in the remaining front tire of that motorhome....
I have a friend who used to run his motorhome michelins with 65 lbs of air pressure as it rode smoother, he blew one in New Mexico on a narrow bridge ,after that he run the max pressure .he was lucky.......

[Ted S.]

I run a TST TPMS and am curious if it would warn against all blowouts? I mean does a blow out give a temp or tire pressure warning so you know its going to go or do some of them just radically explode with no warning?

The reason I ask is because we had a horrendous blow out at highway speed on an interstate this year. It was diver side rear on the tow vehicle. We hear a thump thump thump and no sooner did we say "what is that" did we have the blow out.

Since then, TMPS and new tires, but I am not sure the TPMS would have saved us.

[dkottum]

TPMS is useful up to a point. It may or may not warn of an impending tire failure.

It's implied from the beginning here that TPMS would prevent a blowout. That's not a good message to spread around.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by dannydimitt

When a radial truck tire self destructs resulting in an instant loss of all air pressure, the expensive TPMS will sound the alarm only after all the damage has been done

It's not a risk elimination device. It is a risk reduction device. Mine has saved more money than it has cost. 4 loss of air instances. Did it save from major damage? Probably. Certainly saved 4 tires. Did it saves from a wreck? Don't know because it didn't happen. That's what it is all about.

[Ted S.]

I guess if I wreck due to a blowout atleast I will have the satisfaction of knowing I did what I could do, by running with a TPMS, good tires and periodic inspections.