Tyre Pressure Monitoring System

[bobfair]

Does anyone have any experience with the TPMS system? It comes as standard on the new turbo and I am not sure I want it.
I am told that if you change wheels it can take more than 100 miles for the sytem to pick up the sensors on the wheels. Also I am told the sensors are easily damaged and run at over £100 a throw. I like to take my wheels off to clean them and use a spare set for track days so having a warning light flashing at me all the time wont go down well. Can the sytem be easily switched off?

 

[Guest]

I find it quite useful - quite sensitive though - if you sit the car in hot sun then there is a visible pressure difference between the 'sun' side and the 'shady' side. Personally I would get sensors for your track day wheels too - would give you early warning of pressure loss before a blow-out for example. Re speed of measuring - I accidently reset my sensors (as per tyre change) and they recalibrated within minutes. Re sensor damage - they are mounted round the centre of the wheel within the tyre - so would take some bang to damage them - the silver caps on the valves are just for show...
Finally if you are a) purchasing a turbo and b) tracking it surely the odd £100 (if it ever came to that) is small fry compared to other running costs?

 

[bobfair]

Thanks good feedback. One of my problems was that I was hoping to be able to use my existing 19 inch wheels for track use but my OPC said they would fit but would cause a problem with the TPMS. Point taken on the £100

 

[oliver]

Isn't it calibrated to only allow factory recommended pressures? So, if you run on anything different, by even a small amount, it will indicate a fault.

 

[sidicks]

ORIGINAL: oliver
Isn't it calibrated to only allow factory recommended pressures? So, if you run on anything different, by even a small amount, it will indicate a fault.

As far as I'm aware it isn;t calibrated to anything - It gives you a 'real time' read-out of the pressures for each wheel, so you can easily see whether there is a problem with an individual wheel.

Maybe if there is a major difference between presuures on one particular axle it might pop up an error message to alert you to the issue??? (note to self, read the manual........)

sidicks

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: bobfair

Does anyone have any experience with the TPMS system? It comes as standard on the new turbo and I am not sure I want it.
I am told that if you change wheels it can take more than 100 miles for the sytem to pick up the sensors on the wheels. Also I am told the sensors are easily damaged and run at over £100 a throw. I like to take my wheels off to clean them and use a spare set for track days so having a warning light flashing at me all the time wont go down well. Can the sytem be easily switched off?

An absolute MUST HAVE in my opinion. It's already saved my bacon once:

I was out doing some Sunday driving back in January and suddenly the warning lights of my TPMS started bleeping stating I had a flat tire. I immediately pulled over in a lay-by and got out the car to watch (and hear) all the air rushing out of my passenger-rear tire. It was completely flat within 60 secs.

I was going quite fast down some quiet windy roads through a large wood. If I didn't have TPMS on my 997 I would have continued driving completely unaware and probably spun off the road uncontrollably at the next bend (or earlier). That could have been potentially SO nasty, if not fatal!

Luckily everything worked out with very little drama. I was collected by a pick-up-truck an hour later, taken to the nearest OPC, and then driven home.

Very little drama"¦compared to what could have been!

 

[Alex L]

Plus it's great for knowing when your tires are fulled warmed up and you can really start throwing it into corners more! []

 

[oliver]

ORIGINAL: sidicks

ORIGINAL: oliver
Isn't it calibrated to only allow factory recommended pressures? So, if you run on anything different, by even a small amount, it will indicate a fault.

As far as I'm aware it isn;t calibrated to anything - It gives you a 'real time' read-out of the pressures for each wheel, so you can easily see whether there is a problem with an individual wheel.

Maybe if there is a major difference between presuures on one particular axle it might pop up an error message to alert you to the issue??? (note to self, read the manual........)

sidicks

When it was demonstrated to me at my OPC it gave, as you say, the actual pressures. But, if these are not the same as the recommended pressures for the particular tyres (it can differentiate between 'winter' and 'summer' tyres) then it provides an error warning. I think this means that you cannot run other than the recommended pressures.

 

[sidicks]

ORIGINAL: oliver
When it was demonstrated to me at my OPC it gave, as you say, the actual pressures. But, if these are not the same as the recommended pressures for the particular tyres (it can differentiate between 'winter' and 'summer' tyres) then it provides an error warning. I think this means that you cannot run other than the recommended pressures.

I will look in the manual, but I've never had a warning message, and my tyre pressures have varied by more than 4psi between first thing on a cold day, and long drives in the heat of summer.........

sidicks