Hi, this is Michelle and Laurie for “Rollin’ On TV,” and this is Emma, our Grand Design. After a couple of concerning tire issues, we’ve decided to pay more attention to our tires. Our sponsor, TST, provided us with everything we needed to install the tire pressure monitoring system, including this spare air kit. So, let’s start the installation.

The TST TPMS kit includes the monitor, sensors, one for each tire, two ways to attach the monitor to your dashboard or window, labels, and the repeater.

The first thing Laurie did was to install the spare tire spare air kit. We put it on our truck because that’s a spare tire that’s hard to get. (NOTE: By installing SpareAir, you can attach a TPMS sensor and also add air to the spare without crawling under the vehicle and letting the spare down.)

Laurie Church:  What I’m going to do is put the bracket on first. The majority of times we need a spare tire is during an emergency. And if that spare doesn’t have enough air, you’re creating another safety issue. So, by being able to monitor the pressure on the spare tire seems like a really smart idea.

Now, it’s time to set up the monitor. Using the Grand Design manual and the TST manual, I found the cold tire pressure for both the truck and the trailer.

The truck is 32 and the trailer is 65, so I set the monitor for those numbers. (NOTE: in addition to setting the cold air pressure number, you also set the pressure per vehicle and 25% above / 10% below cold tire pressure.)

So far so good. The next thing is Laurie installs the repeater near the battery. This amplifies the signal from the sensors to the monitor.

Michelle: These sensors have been programmed. Now, screwing the sensor on, at the ‘hiss’ you tighten an additional 1/4 turn.

See that blinking icon on the monitor? So, now I’m going to hit set on that. All right, now I just got to go one more on the other side. Okay, should be done.

So, this is for your window. I think we’re going to use this one on the dash. I think that’ll work good for us.

We finished installing the tire pressure monitoring system from TST. And now, we’re at Love’s truck service station, and we’ve adjusted all the tire pressures with their free air. If you notice the blinking light, this is the truck, that’s the trailer. Right now, it’s showing us the back truck. The truck tire pressure is 32. The trailer is 65 PSI. So, it’s right in the range, 62, 63, we couldn’t get it exact yet. But it’s in the range where it’s not setting off the alarms. We set the low pressure and the high pressure on the truck and the trailer, so now we know if the alarm goes off, we need to adjust the tire pressure. This scrolls through continuously. I want to pick it up here and put it on the dash. (NOTE, don’t leave the monitor plugged in all the time. It’s better for the battery life if you unplug it regularly).

It’s very comforting to know that’s going to scroll all the time we’re driving. Laurie and I have had two situations with tires in the time we’ve been on the road in the last four years. One that was a bubble near the bead, and it almost burst. 

And another time, we had an axle issue that we weren’t aware of, and that tire came perilously close to bursting as well. With all the traveling we do with the trailer, I’ve always had peace of mind knowing that my truck monitor does show me the tire pressure for the truck. We’ve never known about the tire pressure on the trailer. We’re now continuously monitoring the trailer tires as well as the spare tires. (NOTE: TST has dedicated positions on the monitor for the spare tires which is helpful.)

A great percentage of spare tires, when they’re used is during an emergency situation. And if the air isn’t correct, then that’s not a really good solution.

We’d like to thank our sponsors at TST for our TPMS system.

From now to November 7th, we are giving away 5 complete TPMS systems! Would you like to win one? Click here and enter!

Michelle and Laurie
Rollin’ on down the road.