Cat eye pressure monitors. Good or bad?

Personally I would invest in a decent tire pressure monitor system. Cat eyes are a good way to run on 2 under inflated tires.

 

U use crossfires,...same priciple.,love the visual gauge and. Just have to inflate one time....they do cut off the good tire in a blowout and do help with even tire wear have put 90 k on these caps gone through about 8\32nds of tire tread all 8 showing 13\32nd and wearing straight accross.....,of course had an md allignment also truck runs straight but i do run heavy most of the time also

 

Exactly. On top of that ('2 under inflated tires') the cat eyes are usually the source of your air leak. By the time they start to come full on (80 pounds or so) you're close enough to get a flat violation (30% under max or about 70 pounds). Drivers who don't give a hoot and start to rely on them are just asking for trouble IMO. Company I drive for likes them. I don't.

 

Elroy,i have a in cab monitoring system.
That i would recommend.
Any system that cannot give a signal in the cab is most off the time useless as by the time you stop and see the warning,it is too late and the damage has been done.

 

The company I work for uses the Crossfire. They also run some super singles. Any time it is inflating a tire a light comes on the fender of the trailer. One day I had the light come on going down the road and it kept coming on and going off indicating a pretty significant issue.I ran another 10 miles before stopping and realized one of the super singles blew a hole in the side wall about the size of a golf ball. The Crossfire kept air in the tire for a long time although I don't think I would have made it much farther. When I stopped at a truck stop and shut the engine off the tire was completely flat within 5 minutes. So yeah....a great investment and a wonderful tool.

 

I've had cat's eyes on both my trucks and trailers for about 2 yrs now. They have paid for themselves in road service calls that were never made, plus better, more even tire wear, many times over.

As Victor points out, they don't fix stupid. You still have to be smarter than the tool, and there is some care and maintenance required. If you're OCD about removing/installing them yourself and lubing the seals with some 409 or whatnot and not over-tightening when putting them on, they will be trouble free. I carry a couple of replacement hose ends and spare seals on the truck. Beats taking them off and waiting to get back home or wait on an order.

I have had one blowout with them on my truck, my son has had one or two. They work as advertised. On mine it was a trailer tire that the sidewall popped. It popped as I was backing almost straight into my parking space at the home terminal. I either pinched it on a pothole/curb or had a sidewall defect and that was the moment it decided to let go. Another time I woke up with a flat at a truck stop. I had picked up a bolt on the way in I guess. I was able to move to the shop for repair. Although, in that case, I removed the cat's eye hose right there and inflated the good tire to max before moving. Just in case.

 

I have to agree with RedForeman. I have run them for approx. 15 years. The one's on my tractor are over 10 years old. They have save me a few tires. But you have to know how to use them and take care of them. Everytime I have tires changed out, I have to watch the tire guys on overtighting and breaking the seals.
No doubt and in cab monitoring is faster and better but quite a bit more costly. Also in cab monitor doesn't equalize tire pressure between duals where as cat eyes and cross fires do.
Also cross fires are pretty much the same as cat's eyes'. Both are good for the O/O, not for a company driver.

 

Now you have me confused. I thought the crossfires was the same (different brand) as cat's eyes? But then sounds like your referring to the automatic air applications that most new trailers have. Isn't that difffent yet?
I'm so easly confused.

 

I have them on 3 trucks. We had a highway blow-out and it worked as advertised and kept the other tire inflated. I like the single easy to get at inflation point for both tires at once. This makes a huge difference in January in Massachusetts. quicker, less hassle, etc. you get a bit of a warning on a slowly leaking tire, at least with the local work we do. what it didn't help with at all that an in-cab would have was we picked up a nail and it hadn't started leaking before the truck left the yard, but about 150 miles later it had dropped the pressrure in one tire and we had a blow-out (on a brand new tire, not cheap). So for local work I think they're a great time/effort saver. They're not terribly expensive and well worth it. For long distance work I think the in-cab monitor is worth it, I intend to buy one.