Today was the first cold day here in North Texas and sure enough, the TPMS alarm went off on the way to work. At lunch I went out and after stopping at several stations, finally found one with a compressor. It cost me $.75 and it wasn't working too well. It would only put 31 pounds in and ran out after only filling one tire. I decided to wait until I got home. Well, I fired up my compressor, and something's wrong with it. It will only do 29 pounds.

What a pain. They normally fill the tires when I get an oil change, and I hardly ever have to worry about it.

Thanks for letting me spout off...

 

LOL Same thing happened to me last night....but I didnt have the part about the comressors not working right

 

Rule of thumb: 1 PSI change in pressure for every 10 degree F change in temperature.

Get yourself a decent hand pump and gauge for those minor PSI adjustments and adjust BEFORE driving.

 

cold weather is a biotch and so is that darn tpms!!!!!

 

What a pain, it helps extend tire life and helps you remain safe on the road...

Wait, thats not a pain!

Mine light up. I inflated my tires, and now I get to laugh at all the people running with flat tires.

 

It's a poor substitute for periodically checking tire pressures manually and developing an awareness of when they may be a little low. It re-assures the dimwits that it really is OK to be brain-dead about one more little but important thing in their lives. And teaches the same lesson to people who would tend to do tire pressure maintenance on their own without being nagged. It encourages a mindless "drive until you see the warning light" attitude. No need to listen for tire squeal on turns or sense that the ride and handling is getting a little "mushy" any more - as long as the TPMS light is not lit, you're good to go . . .

To "need" TPMS now is to ask myself how did I ever manage to survive almost 45 years of driving - which includes experience with tires that went soft or flat - without this nanny? Good grief. And no thanks.

For what this little bit of tech is worth, TPMS can throw a false warning under certain conditions even after you've driven the car a few miles and it didn't throw a light when the tires were cold. If I have to think about whether the light is for real or not, it's not helping.

We got stuck with this system in part because of that mess a few years back involving people with Explorers and Firestone tires. It might have been justified in that particular combination of circumstances, but a Mustang riding on relatively large-size performance-oriented rubber at 30+ psi is not under the same conditions of risk as an SUV running on tall profile tires at somewhat lower inflation pressures (pressures that were chosen partly on a need to limit lateral grip and the potential for rollover).


Norm

 

Beautiful Norm. I couldn't agree more.

 

youre right Norm, we shouldnt embrace advancement, because they damn sure didnt have TMPS on the mustangs of yesteryear, and they did just fine without it!

screw the people that dont drive with the windows down, listening to every tire squeak so they can maintain optimum tire pressure at all times, and instead pay attention to the road




i seriously cant believe that you guys are that upset over an extra precaution

 

At what pressure does the TPMS go off?

 

In its current state of development, TPMS is hardly better than a good pair of eyes, given that the owner of those eyes has some idea what to look for.

Being sufficiently aware of your surroundings to notice clues that your tires may need a little air takes no special tricks or effort. Once you know what to listen/feel for, the mechanics of doing so sort of drop off into your subconscious. You pick up on a sound that you didn't hear the day before, just like you'd notice a small exhaust leak or suspension creak. A known bump in the road feels less disturbing even though it has not been fixed. Stuff like that. I don't know how else to describe it, but then again maybe there are people who might never pick it up.

Even my wife, who is decidedly NOT an automotive enthusiast, will comment "he needs air in his tires" upon hearing some other car generate noise while making a turn from one neighborhood street onto another.

If it were truly an advancement I might feel differently. But as of now it's just an attempt at idiot-proofing a complex but common piece of machinery. In and of itself, it does nothing to improve any measure of either performance or ride quality, and substitutes decision from afar (and obviously from some point in the past) for individual wisdom and right-this-very-instant conditions.

Be careful about how you view externally applied influences and controls over your own decisions that masquerade as "advancements". It's a slippery slope.


Norm