When we started as a Full-Time RV family, we had never owned an RV. We had only been camping one other time, and it was a rough trip, ending in an RV tire blowout on the side of I-25 just north of Colorado Springs. Fortunately for us, we quickly changed to the spare and found a Discount Tire to get our rented camper back on the road. With those memories of a tire blowout in the back of our mind, our number one concern was our family’s safety when we decided to go Full-Time.

There are so many worries and decisions to make when deciding to live this kind of lifestyle. There is something very humbling when you think about an RV as your home…your primary residence. We love this lifestyle’s simplicity and that everything we own is contained within 400 sq ft. This also means we don’t have a backup plan if something goes wrong. Our number one concern as we researched living in an RV was tire safety and preventing any tire blowouts. Have you seen what damage an RV tire blowout can do to the RV? Not pretty!

Anyone looking at buying an RV will quickly find in the owner forum groups reports of bad tires or tire blowouts. Early on, John and I decided to be vigilant with the safety of our tires. A tire blowout isn’t just a case of bad luck but could cause significant damage to the rig. We have seen reports of the shredded tire taking out the whole side of the RV. Or, more extreme, tire blowouts can result in rollovers or cause a significant accident. An RV tire blowout is not only inconvenient but scary to think that your home could be destroyed or your tiny four-year-old twin passengers hurt.

An ounce of prevention

You can’t eliminate an RV tire blowout, but you can take steps to prevent such an incident. We have a checklist we use every time we move our RV, which includes steps to check tire pressure and tighten lug nuts before hitting the road. Read our blog about our eight safety tips for RVers, discussing driving at a safe speed of 65 mph maximum while towing (not 80mph – Dad, I’m looking at you!!) We recently upgraded our brakes, wheels, and tires, a worry point on our minds. Our number one item we have found that helps give us peace of mind and an early warning to an RV tire blowout is a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) like TireMinder.

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How does a TPMS work to prewarn you of a possible RV Tire blowout?

Transmitters on the valve stem check for tire issues every 6 seconds. If no problem is found, transmitters send updated pressure and temperature readings every four minutes. The display provides both visual and audible alarms, including blowout alarm, high-temperature alert (at 167°F), low and high-pressure alerts (15% below and 20% above baseline), and fast and slow leak alerts (3 psi or more in 2 minutes or less and six psi or more in 10 minutes or less).

Most people are familiar with TPMS as they come on most new vehicles. Our 2020 F-350 Super Duty had a TPMS system, so we knew we needed to get a TPMS for our special-ordered Solitude. We visited a local RV show with different vendor displays. Top on John’s mind was the drive home with our rented camper, and he never wanted to experience another RV tire blowout. Seeing a TireMinder vendor at the show, we purchased a TireMinder i10 RV TPMS with 4 transmitters right then and there, our very first RV accessory purchase (we didn’t even have the RV yet!).

Our first experience with an aftermarket TPMS

We used the TireMinder i10 TPMS our first year of travel and 12,000 miles of travel. Only twice did we ever get warnings. Once, in the Utah desert and on a 100-degree day, all four of our tires beeped with a warning for 135psi. We figured our tire pressure was high due to the excessive heat, so we pulled off the road to a safe place and let some of the air out of our tires to be within an acceptable range. Then again, during a torrential downpour where water on the road caused a temperature drop, we received a warning on all four tires of a sudden pressure drop. Since it did affect all four tires at once, and with the sudden weather change, we knew there was a rapid cooling to the tires, but we were still around the recommended 110psi.

In our first year – knock on wood – we had no tire incidents! We attribute this to our diligence in maintenance, driving only 65 mph maximum, and our TireMinder i10. We found the system easy to use, especially if you read the instructions first (pointing at the hubbies in the group!). Whoever wrote the instruction manual had humor and made it entertaining to read and learn about the system!

Upgrade our TPMS

In March of this year, when we upgraded to a 2021 Ford F-450, we didn’t realize the truck didn’t come with a tire pressure monitoring system. The F-450 is considered a commercial-grade truck and comes with commercial tires. The TPMS is not a federal requirement on commercial tires, and manufacturers have had trouble with internal TPMS working with commercial tires as these tires have a steel carcass. We were nervous about traveling another year, with six of our total of ten tires not monitored.

Our friends at TireMinder suggested we try out and evaluate the new TM-88C system. In addition, we are also evaluating the brand new and soon-to-be-released flow-thru transmitters.

Peace of mind with TireMinder TM-88C

The TireMinder TM-88C Color is described as the most advanced TPMS and comes in a large color display screen.

TireMinder Flow-thru valve stem transmitters

TireMinder has developed the industry-first flow-thru valve stem transmitters! Traditional aftermarket TPMS transmitters act as the valve stem cap and must be removed whenever airing up a tire. Now with the flow-thru model, you don’t have to remove the transmitter. The best part, these TireMinder flow-thru transmitters are incredibly lightweight, weighing just a couple of ounces more than a traditional transmitter, meaning they won’t damage the valve stem integrity. These flow-thru valve stem transmitters upgrade any TireMinder system and can be purchased separately and sold exclusively at Camping World or Gander Mountain.

Install experience

Sometimes words don’t paint the picture. Therefore, I will save most of the install experience for your viewing pleasure on our YouTube Channel. First Lesson – Read the manual! Second Lesson – I know you are excited after opening the box – but go back and read the manual. Third Lesson – See if wifey can help!

True confession: we didn’t read the manual before jumping in! We had previously installed the Tireminder i10 and thought we would have no troubles. As a former marketer, I actually greatly admire Tireminder’s manual as it is easy to read, and hats off to the author as they had fun writing the manual.

In our excitement to play with our new gadget, we set about installing all the transmitters to all the tires on the truck at once. This is a no-no! You have to install transmitters one at a time for the monitor screen to pick up the Bluetooth transmission signal and allow you to assign the tire location (ex: driver front tire).

First Lesson – Read the manual! Second Lesson – I know you are excited after you open the box – but go back and read the manual. Third Lesson – See if wifey can help!

We ran into a problem

Having the F-450 dually, we set about removing the outside rear tire. This is a real chore mainly because of Ford’s hubcap and trying to get it off. If we ever need to, changing those dual tires would be a big challenge, but at least we know how to – and so do you if you watch our YouTube!

So picture this: we have removed the back outside wheels/tires, added all the transmitters at once, and then put the outside back wheels and hub caps back on. This is when wifey (me) picked up to read the manual and realized our mistake of putting on all transmitters at once. Hubby was not happy! Before he set about removing all those tires, I decided to see if I can reach both rear inner tires valve stems with my small dainty hands. Imagine the look on his face when he realized I could reach all the valve stems and didn’t need to remove any wheels at all!! LOL (I am still laughing on the inside!) Goes back to lesson #3 – get the wifey to help!

We did run into a minor issue with the front and rear-outside tires. On F-450, steel wheel cutouts don’t leave enough clearance to use the longer (and wider) flow-thru valve stems. While we were disappointed the flow-thru wouldn’t work, the traditional TPMS transmitter fit just fine. As long as our tires have TPMS, we don’t mind this minor inconvenience. The new flow-through transmitters did work on the inner-back tires and our trailer RV tires.

Maybe it’s just us, but read the manual!

After finally reading the manual, the rest of the install was a breeze! We were able to locate all transmitters, assign wheel position on the monitor and set our desired tire psi. Installing in the actual truck was easy as TireMinder includes a mount for the dashboard. We did need to install a transmitter booster for the trailer tires, but that’s two simple alligator clips to the RV battery and a piece of velcro.

Overall experience with TPMS

Our fear isn’t just a simple inconvenience of an RV tire blowout. We think about the safety of our twin daughters. Being stranded on the side of the road in a hot desert chasing a tire is never fun, but picture the situation with two whiney four-years olds where the situation can quickly escalate in either tears or, worse, a secondary accident on the side of the road. If a tire blowout were to damage our rig, we aren’t just inconvenienced with a few days in a repair shop; we also have to move into a hotel until our RV is fixed.

While we take several actions to prevent an RV tire blowout, we think purchasing a TPMS system gives the ultimate peace of mind. We have really liked the TireMinder products we have used. We find them to be reliable, of good quality and if you sit around enough campfires, it’s a favorite of RVers for BRIGHT DAIS AHEAD!

Disclaimer

NOTE about the gear we recommend: Some of the equipment we recommended is sponsored or endorsed. We will always give you our honest feedback. If we don’t like something – we will tell you. And if we love something, we will shout it loud and proud for all our friends and family to know. Some of the products we recommend are products we used our hard-earned dollars and shelled out the dinero just like an average consumer. We do have affiliate links for products, which means if you purchase anything listed through our link, we receive a small commission to help support our life on the road, but it is at no cost to you! Thank you for taking the time to check out our list.

We want to hear from you!

Let us know some of your thoughts, questions or upgrades you have made.

Other posts to check out

Check out other blog post about our experiences:

• RADRUNNER POWER UTILITY E-BIKES – ONE YEAR REVIEW AND OWNERSHIP
• HOW TO PRESERVE THE LIFE OF YOUR RV WATER HEATER
• HOW TO REPLACE RV SLIDE TOPPER AND AWNING MATERIAL
• RV STATE STICKER MAPS – BRAGGING RIGHTS AND THE RULES
• HOW TO INSTALL 22″ RV STEP COVERS AND A COMPARISON TO THE CAMCO STEP COVERS
• WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE A BOONDOCKERS WELCOME HOST?
• A GLAMPER’S GUIDE TO AN EASY BATTLE BORN LITHIUM BATTERIES UPGRADE
• RV PERFORMANCE UPGRADES – BIG DECISION TO MAKE
• HOW TO PROTECT YOUR RV INVESTMENT
• RV HOME TOUR – A LOOK INSIDE AND OUT
• FOR ULTIMATE SAFETY, USE A TPMS TO PREWARN A POSSIBLE RV TIRE BLOWOUT.