Pimping Project: Tyre Pressure Monitoring System

Tyre wear, and subsequent failure happens because of incorrect tyre pressure.

Too much air, too little air, will cause uneven wear on a tyre.

A nail or a gutter scrap can cause a slow leak which will fail at the worst possible time, such as when you're on a freeway.

Monitoring the pressure of your tyres keeps you well informed of when it's time to top it up with a bit of air, or if you're due for new tyres.

Waiting for your tyres to look like you need air is actually a little late, as you could have dropped 10psi before you really notice. Combined with hard wall tyres and an unfortunate encounter with a pothole the next time you realise your tyres are under pressure is when you need to replace the entire wheel.

Cost Saving

Fuel consumption increases when tyres are incorrectly inflated (either over or under the required pressure). Research shows that tyres which are under-inflated by 6 PSI can increase fuel consumption by 2% and tyre wear by 25%.

Correct tyre inflation saves money.

Safety

The most critical safety component on a vehicle (tyre pressure), is commonly overlooked until its often too late.

Installing a TPMS unit allows for the constant monitoring of tyre pressure, hence improving braking efficiency and reducing accidents related to under or over inflated tyres.

Correct tyre inflation saves lives.

Steve from O'Neills Tyres explained to me the various effects of tyre pressure, and also other contributing factors that effect the life of a tyre. I was fortunate enough to catch it on video, I'll upload it later once I get a chance to edit the footage.


Tyre 1 is from under inflation. The tyre wears on the outside. If this happens on the inside of the tyre (so the driver when giving only a quick inspection only sees the good side, and not the other side of the tyre) you're not going to know how bad your tyre is worn.

Tyre 2 shows the effects of over inflation. It wears on the middle of the tyre. Because the outside isn't touching the road. Once the tread has worn off you've got yourself a potential death trap.

Tyre 3 has a nail in it, which would have caused a slow leak. The TMPS would have alerted the owner to the fact that the tyre pressure was dropping and they could have had time to get it fixed before finding a completely flat tyre at an inconvenient time.

The TPMS by AirAware. Gates Australia sent us a kit to install in the Mighty Boys tyres.



Each unit is independent. They can be fitted to any tyre. Once they've been put in and the inner tube and tyre put back, inflated and put back on the car you set the dash display to show the first tyre (front left), and you release 1psi from the tyre. This registers on the little computer which automatically recognises it as the correct tyre. You do this with each tyre until all four are done (though you can buy an extra unit and have one put in your spare, the computer allows for it).

This means that the tyres can be rotated at any time and you just go through the same steps as outlined above.