This weekend, I took out the tire guage and checked out the tires on three vehicles on which I foot the tire replacement bill. All twelve tires were low, some by as much as 5 PSI. If I had to replace all of these tires tomorrow, the bill would easily be $2,750 - $3,000. The low pressure warning systems were quiet as mice, as apparently the low pressure thresholds were never hit, but surely the lower pressures were impacting tire wear and rolling resistance.

I was reading an article earlier this week about Goodyear fleet-testing an internal system that could be mounted in a tire that would maintain air pressure to the desired level. Seems like a nice companion to TPMS systems, and would probably pay for itself over the life of the vehicle in terms of preventing fuel economy and tire life degradation.

Would you pay a price premium, say $200 per vehicle (my WAG on cost) for such a system?

Goodyear self-inflating tire technology | Official specs, pictures | Digital Trends

no....course I don't expect to ever own a car with tires that cost 700 ea.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

If you were referring to my numbers, that $2,750 - $3,000 is for 3 cars/12 tires.

Nope. But I'd pay for a TPMS with software that reports actual tire pressures on an MFD vs just showing an idiot light.

How much at replacement time? Say it is a $200 option but it costs $1000 more than a set of regular tires, probably not. OTOH, if I am doing a fleet thing, it could make sense.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

CTIS like the MTVR and FMTV have would have been nice when I was transitioning between dirt, mud, and pavement on a frequent basis. Now that almost all of my driving and riding are on pavement, I have no use for such a thing. I can tell when my tire pressures are off just from how the vehicle feels. I also find the manufacturer recommendations for most cars to be way low. For example, my 300D has recommended pressures of 28 front/32 rear. I air up to 40 front 38 rear and get considerably improved handling as a result.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.