Riptide

I think it sucks. If you have a car with it then you are forever having to deal with that extra crap when you change your wheels. Some people are fine with that. Others like me would rather not have it.

I've been driving for years w/o the "benefit" of TPMS. Did just fine.

ReaperGT

I put nitrogen in my tires and its supposed to be way better in climate changes. So im not worried about the cold with my tpms......yet

Nuke

Nitrogen vs. air... Nice can-of-worms, ReaperGT. AIR is mostly nitrogen anyway but, yes, nitrogen doesn't have the temperature/pressure profile that plain old free air has. Other than that, you're wasting your money. Regardless of WHAT is in your tires, stop being a girly-girl and pay attention to your car. Don't expect your idiot lights (wonder why we call them that?) to tell you when it's time to add or replace your oil or to tell you that you have no brake pads remaining...

Norm Peterson

I wonder why it apparently didn't go off before he started driving. I'd consider it a flaw in the system to let you start driving before telling you it thinks something is amiss. Like the topic title, that's being more a PITA than helpful.

Anyway, that's part of my point - having the system mandated makes it way too easy for people to rely only on it,and to pay no other attention to their tires. I suppose it's been made mandatory in large part for the benefit of those who would pay about zero attention to their tires without it, and for those who own SUVs (which are somewhat more sensitive to underinflated tires). Just "gas it up, keep it pointed it sort of down the street, and go" level of awareness.

We all have stories to support one side or the other in this discussion. Mine went off a few moments after driving slowly through a puddle that was just barely deep enough to wet the rims. Although it wasn't particularly cold, the water was apparently enough cooler than a fully warmed up tire to make this a temperature-related issue as well, and I have no way of knowing which or how many tires were involved. So I checked the tire pressures with a gauge (in the rain), quit looking at the light, drove home and added 1 psi to each of my rear tires (which for a separate reason had been intentionally set at slightly less than 32 psi but significantly more than 26), and went to bed. All was fine come my 3.5 mile morning commute. That's a false alarm that nobody needs. Chicken Little, and the boy who cried 'wolf' come to mind about here.

How useful is a system that has only two conditions - either silent or going off at full alert? Being a psi or so under the warning threshold is not nearly as significant of a loss of pressure (in most vehicles) as being down to half the vehicle's recommended pressures or lower. Taking six months to drop down to the threshold is not nearly as severe of a concern as if the same pressure loss occurred overnight or during one work shift. A true advancement needs to have a little judgement built into it. The consumer should not be an unpaid "beta-tester".

That's one of the few situations that TPMS in its current state of development is any good for. And all it does there is tell you a little sooner what you're going to find out when the job is over for the day and it's time to go home. It probably could save you having to change a tire, which I guess is more important to some people or under some conditions.

I have a really good story about road debris and fairly rapid tire deflation in the absence of TPMS. Long story short, the vehicle stability benefit that you get from mounting tires on rims up around the "max recommended" width will serve you better than TPMS under at least that scenario. Note that all of the S197 OE 17" and 18" tires are mounted on wheels that are at the top of their respective recommended/approved width ranges (with the sole exception of the 285/40 GT500 rear tires).


Thanks.

You aren't supposed to be monitoring your car's performance in the same sense as the way an dashboard instrument or datalogging equipment measures and reports it. But you ought to have some marginally conscious awareness of when the car is acting a little differently than usual. A tire that's gone way soft - say 10 psi or more under its normal inflation - should make as obvious a difference in the way the car drives as the difference in AT response after installing a tune.

What I object to is the idea that I can be required to have systems such as this, that I have no input to or any control over, and that I must then pay for it. It means that I am being forced to accept somebody else's criteria over my own judgement and my own decisions, this being the end result of carelessness or stupidity on the part of others rather than my own. Had this system been optional even at zero additional cost, I'd have opted out.


Norm

Norm Peterson

The only advantage that commercially available N2 inflation has over normal air inflation is that it is generally drier. N2 still has to follow the same gas laws that relate pressure to temperature, so the TPMS vs temperature situation remains. Whether there might be a small advantage in long-term sensor life due to the moisture issue has not been established.

IMO, this has been oversold to the public.


Norm

wthalliii

That's one of the problems I have with it. It didn't tell me the tire was low when I was sitting in the carport getting ready to leave. It would have been a lot more convenient had I known then that the tire(s) had low pressure. It waited until I had been on the freeway for a few minutes. As a matter of fact, I was on a stretch of freeway where there are no gas stations. By the way, since I had been on the freeway for about 10 minutes when it went off, the pressure in the tire should have been higher, because the tires should have warmed up by then.

The other thing is that I can't tell from the TPMS if I have cold tires, a slow leak, or a flat. I have to pull over and measure the pressure in each tire to find out. Or at bare minimum, I have to pull over and make sure none of the tires are flat as opposed to low.

It sure would be a lot more convenient if there was a readout for each tire so when the darn thing goes off, you could check to see if it's just a tire that's a little low, which isn't an emergency but needs attention when it's convenient, or a really low tire that could be dangerous.

I agree with the posters who point out that I should check my tire pressures on a regular basis, but the reality is that like most people, I'm not as good about that as I should be. I agree for most people, including probably me, that a TPMS is a good idea. I just think it's a pain when it goes off at an inconvenient time.

Norm Peterson

Systems installed on some cars a little further up-market do just that. As I understand it, the Corvette system does display individual tire pressures. But that may be due to the use of run-flat tires (that are much more difficult to visually detect underinflation in than ordinary radials).


Norm

wthalliii

Dang! I shoulda bought a 'Vette! ;-) I guess the Mustang is in the category of bargain sports (sporty?) car, so maybe this level of functionality matches that.

nm3

It's not just Vettes. I recently bought a new base model Malibu which has a psi readout for each wheel/tire.

JasperGT

Well you just destroyed the argument I was gonna make! But more importantly YOU BOUGHT A CHEVY!!! AHHH!!!

The TPMS is just a indication that you should probably look into doing something about you tire pressure. You can ignore it if you want. That's your choice, but it seems to me to be a dumb idea. I don't think it is a cure all, and no one should treat it as such. If you do proper mantainence you'll probably never have a problem with it. If it does come on during a drive, just pull over and take a look if ito is a long drive or look at your tires when you get to your destination if it is a short one. I find it hard to believe that so many people are taking such a strong stance opposed to these devices.

I like the idea of what it is trying to do, but when I upgrade my wheels and tires in the next month or two (hopefully!!!) I will not be paying extra to have this system in place. I will not be paying for the 4 new straps that will be required and I won't pay to have a place put them on and mount and balance them when I can get them balanced from the site that I am ordering them from for free. That money will go towards the new panhard bar I will have to buy because my axle alignment is an inch off to the driver side (lowered FTW!!!).