The professional truck driver is the best person to consult about driving a truck, as they can provide an accurate and targeted perspective about our transport industry, but do they have time to trawl through the labyrinth of consultative documentation used by the lawmakers?
Drivers have the real life experience to create the change needed to improve the transport industry and yet are time poor due to busy schedules and limited access to communications technology when driving.
The discussion on best possible outcomes for tyre pressure management must lead to questioning the differences between Central Tyre Inflation Systems and Tyre Pressure Management Systems.
Contrary to popular belief, not all Central Tyre Inflation Systems are alike.
Whilst it is true that they all have the capacity to raise and lower tyre pressure, the integrity and stability of these systems vary, as do the savings that may be achieved from any given brand. Like any product, quality and functionality will affect the time taken for a CTIS system to pay for itself in the field.
TPMS advancements have included improved wireless communications and battery life, but fundamentally TPMS is still just a sensor system dependent upon the physical reactions of the driver manually.
Where dual drive wheels are connected to a full Central Tyre Inflation System, they are typically bound together, balancing pressures between inner and outer wheels, while permitting the full benefits of pressure tracking to be realised.
TPMS remains difficult to implement on dual wheel systems. Often for expedience they are only connected to the outside wheel, yet because of road camber and heating effects of engine and transmission, the inside wheels often carry the bulk of a vehicle load. Access for dynamic adjustment of an inside dual drive wheel is quite difficult. Most drivers simply apply a best-guess all-round pressure to the inside drive tyres and ensure the risks and inefficiencies. This expedience is usually ignored by those trying to quantify the advantages.
The AIR CTI system displays live pressures in each tyre zone (group of tyres) against a driver preference. It will automatically track that driver selected pressure within 2-3 psi. If a pressure management repeatedly tops-up tyres over a short time interval, the CTI systems will alert the driver of a slow leak event. AIR CTI allows tyre pressures to be changed as you drive safely from the comfort of the cab, and is also a claimable tax asset.
Even if the driver does not react to such an alarm, the CTI systems will endeavour to maintain normal pressures until the vehicle reaches a safe space for an assessment. For this reason, the time taken for the driver to react to a problem is not as critical on a CTI fitted vehicle as it would be with a TPMS monitoring system.
The AIR CTI systems not only monitor tyres for problems, they automatically respond to adversity and allow vehicles to safely reach their destination. TPMS systems can’t do that.
A proudly family-owned Australian company since 1998, the AIR CTI company, located in Morwell, Victoria, has invented AIR CTI and been fitting and servicing tyre pressure management systems (Central Tyre Inflation) to a range of vehicles across Australia and around the world.
With our decades of experience we are industry specialists in this sector. AIR CTI has a white paper which describes the dynamics and advantages of Central Tyre Inflation in great detail. This document is available upon request.
Central Tyre Inflation (CTI) is the only practical method to optimise tyre life and service. Adjustable tyre pressure (CTI) can be driver controlled or dynamically managed by measurements of suspension air pressure. AIR CTI is the original Australian manufacturer of Central Tyre Inflation with technology unmatched by other providers.
Each AIR CTI system has unique isolation technology to limit air loss in case of extreme damage and unwanted air transfer with off camber loads and drive angles. This functionality is unmatched in other CTI systems.
Consider the time wasted fixing tyres, getting new tyres fitted, fixing damage from blow-outs in addition to increased suspension, brake and drive train maintenance. Having your pressures correctly matching your loads will impact emergency stopping distances. ABS, ELB, ESB features are all great, but all are affected by the size of the contact patch between the tyres and the road.
If you’re getting less than 100,000km on your drive tyres, or have traction problems, or travel empty half the time, AIR CTI is the only way to optimise tyre costs, tyre performance, and safety, while minimising our impact on the environment.
Life is too short to continue making the tyre companies and fuel companies richer.