Why TPMS?

Most of us lead rather busy lives, and as a result, one of the most overlooked regular checks is tyre pressure. Proper tyre pressure is important to maintaining the manufacturer-intended ride comfort and handling of a vehicle, as well as ensuring each tyre wears evenly. This is also important to safety, as badly worn and under-inflated tyres can cause blowouts, and very possibly lead to bad accidents.

With a tyre pressure monitoring system, or TPMS, one can see tyre pressures at a glance from the comfort of a car’s interior. No more having to get your hands dirty and walk around the car with a tyre gauge, unscrewing each wheel’s valve cap, connecting the pressure gauge to read tyre pressure and then reinstalling the valve cap.

This also comes in handy while on the move, since the driver can keep an eye out for air leaks due to punctures both slow and fast, and can be alerted to such an event to pull over for remedial action.

Many cars these days come with factory-fitted TPMS, but what if your car doesn’t have one?

This is where Steelmate brings its TP-S11I and TP-S11 to the table, for convenient and clear-to-read tyre-pressure monitoring.

The display

The Steelmate’s TP-S11I and TP-S11 both feature wireless multi-colour solar displays, which makes installation a cinch.

Simply plop the display on the dashboard and it’s good to go, charging its internal battery with solar energy while on the move or parked outdoors. And with smart automatic backlight adjustment that varies the brightness of the display relative to sunlight intensity, as well as intelligent sleep mode for power savings, the display is able to run for extended periods of time.

There’s also a micro-USB input in the event of extended parking under shade and where manual charging of the display via USB is desired.

For enthusiast-drivers, the display also shows tyre temperature readings alongside pressure, making it easy to keep track of tyre health while driving.

Tyre pressure thresholds are adjustable, meaning you get to set when the display warns of low pressure.

To DIY or not to DIY?

For the DIY enthusiast and even the everyday motorist, the Steelmate TP-S11 comes with a screw-on sensor that replaces each wheel’s valve cap. Simply remove the cap, thread on the sensor and tighten it down with the included spanner. Done! The sensor also features a user-replaceable battery to extend its service-lifespan.

TP-S11I offers a more traditional TPMS sensor, if this is desired, and requires professional installation at a tyre shop where each tyre would be dismounted from the rim, valves replaced with the included sensors, and tyres remounted, re-inflated and reinstalled on the car. These sensors feature low power consumption and come with a military-grade sensor battery that’s good for up to 5 years.

The advantage of TP-S11I is its ability to read up to 8-bar of air pressure, whereas TP-S11 reads to 6-bar. However in practice, both will work fine in the real world, as cars, SUVs, vans and light-duty pick-up trucks typically don’t need more than 3-bar (300kPa) of pressure.

Both TPMS systems come with pre-programmed sensors, so there’s no need to faff about with a sensor-pairing sequence that some other brands require.

The perfect companion

Any TPMS is only good if tyres are inflated. The simple solution, of course, would be to drive to the nearest petrol station and fill up on air. But what if we want a ready-at-hand DIY solution instead?

This is where Steelmate’s PO6 tyre inflator comes into play. Compact in size, which makes it easy to store, the tyre inflator connects to a vehicle’s 12V socket to power its pump. With a built-in digital air pressure gauge, one does not have to second guess how much air is going into each tyre.

Having  Steelmate’s PO6 tyre inflator also makes it possible to set tyre pressures first thing in the morning when the car has been parked overnight and the tyres are stone cold. Moreover, emergency inflation can be performed if needed before driving to the nearest tyre shop for repair.

This tyre inflator would also be handy for keeping the spare tyre, if any, inflated and ready to go.

Where to buy
Simply make a booking via AutoApp and a friendly Service Ambassador will bring your car to have Steelmate’s TP-S11I or TP-S11 TPMS installed (and help to purchase the PO6 tyre inflator on your behalf during installation), or check out Steel Mate’s Facebook page.