TPMS will tell you when your tire pressure has dropped below about 26 or 27 PSI. Regardless, you SHOULD be manually checking your tires if you have any true feel for keeping your handling tuned to your liking. Once you find a tire pressure that suits your driving and the tires you're currently running, it's pretty ridiculous to wait for the TPMS light to tell you something isn't right. I did my experimenting and usually run my Eagles at 33 PSI. It's not a big deal to hand pump them up a few PSI or let a little out to adjust for changes due to ambient temperature or a different type of drive.

And as far as nitrogen is concerned, give me a break. I'd rather waste my money elsewhere. Unless I had my own tank AND got it for free...

 

your right you should be checking manually but i for one dont cause im lazy :O so when my light comes on is when i take care of it thats why i got them and also if i do get a nail..Oh and nice yellow light stay's off :0

as far as nitrogen ill waste my money on what even i want and you can waste you money on whateva you want, to each his/her own. I personally like nitrogen ive noticed a difference with them aside from reg air..

 

Thanks for the replies guys. The reason I ask is because my friend and I both have the sensor kit from American Muscle that we put on our current after market wheels. However, we both still have to hit the reset button upon start up even though they were syncronized at a reputable shop. I don't mind hitting the reset button upon start up but I don't want a light on my dash board constantly on as Cameron mentioned. I'm planning on buying new wheels in the spring and was hoping to eliminate these foolish things.

 

I'm not really sure who you're preaching to here man. Again, I stated that I check my tires pressure manually/regularly, just not every 5 minutes. Do you get out and manually check your pressure every 5 minutes? I check mine monthly, along with a visual check each time I drive the car. I never said I wait for the light, nor did I suggest anyone do so. To do that, would be retarded.

Anything can and will happen during the course of a single drive. Your valve stem could fracture and start leaking air steadily but slowly while you're on the highway. The TPMS would alert you of this. You could run over a nail, and again, start losing air gradually and the TPMS would alert you of this situation, and possibly save you from either completely destroying a tire, or spinning out at 75mph violently 5 minutes later (I've done this -- and I can't recommend it). You could have an instant blowout at which point neither the TPMS nor checking your pressure every 5 minutes will save you. The point being, that there is no downside to the TPMS. It is a good safety feature mandated by the government, and I would urge anyone to not cheap out the extra $150 on your new set of wheels/tires, and just have the things put in.

ptaylor, if you have the sensors AND you still have to hit the button, they are not calibrated to the car. Try again if you have the tool that came with the kit, or take it to a Ford dealership and have them do it. I'm running the kit from American Muscle and my light hasn't ever come on since I calibrated them.

 

If you have sensors in each of the wheels and have had them programmed to the car, you should not be having to hit the reset button at start up.

 

Geez . . . I guess I'll never know how I managed to avoid having a low tire pressure disaster happen at some point during the first 45 years of my driving career. Or how my Dad has done so for over 70 years.

Sure, I'm being sarcastic. I'm forced to have this system mainly because of the Explorer/Firestone/dimwit-owners-who-didn't-check-their-tires fiasco. None of those three criteria have ever applied to me, but I'm stuck with it because for a few people all three fit.

I can't speak for any individual state requirements, but as far as I know the only Federal requirement is that you can't disable the warning lamp. Even Consumer Reports mentioned the possibility of running winter tires/wheels without the TPMS without preaching against doing so.


I really, really, REALLY don't like having anybody meddle that deeply into the way I run my life. Kindergarten was nearly six decades ago and I seem to have coped with everything well enough since then. Frankly, it scares and saddens me to realize that my grandchildren may not develop the situational awareness that comes from being 100% responsible for your own well-being.


Norm

 

Wow, some of you guys get pretty offended by an idiot light that warns you when PSI goes below 26psi in a tire, lol. I fail to see why this feature is so despised. I guess I've had more than my share of nails in a tire. None of you guys has EVER had a slow leak? You've never driven over something, and a few hours later find a tire with 5psi in it when you come out of a store? Sure, I might see this, however I might not if its on the opposite side of the car and I had JUST checked my pressure faithfully like our forefathers 2 days before. I'd rather have the idiot light come on so I can go "hey, wtfs going on?" in this scenario...

My great grandfather used to drive around in a carriage with a horse. That doesn't mean he had it better than me riding around in my new-fangled automobile, lol.

 

I have a set of snow tires on right now with no TPMS. Hit the reset button once to clear the low pressure message. The flashing light will go off after a minute or two.

 

It's offensive because (a) it was mandated with little or no opposing consumer input, (b) it costs money that I'd rather spend otherwise, (c) is not consumer-adjustable, should said consumer decide to change tire size and/or inflation pressures, and (d) it is yet another step in teaching people that they don't have to be responsible for much of anything as it will all be done for them. AACCKKK!!!.

With respect to (a), you may or may not remember the infamous seat belt interlocks that were mandated somewhere in the 1970's. Repealed/retracted rather quickly under a storm of adverse public reaction, as I recall.

Should you desire to maintain a set of summer tires and a separate set of winter tires, the cost of the second set of sensor installation will easily end up being more than the cost of a tire. That's a lot of money for marginal benefit.

(c) means that you either won't have the same level of protection or the same margin against the correct inflation for a different tire size. In these cases, the TPMS is pretty much telling you lies one way or the other. Should you choose tires enough larger such that the proper pressure is slightly less than the door sticker number you'll be open to having the warning come at you sooner than that tire needs (nuisance for those who don't check their tires very often, no help to those who do). A tire with a smaller load index would be more than 25% underinflated at 26 psi. Of course, nobody here would ever choose a non-OE tire size . . .

Yes, I've had slow leaks. And some rather fast leaks, actually, up around 3 or 4 psi per day. Cast aluminum wheels with visible leakage right through the barrels of the rims (1972-ish). Honest. It took all of once to see that they were low, twice to realize that it wasn't a tire mounting issue and was going to keep happening, and one wash to find out exactly what was happening to cause the pressure loss. TPMS might have picked it up a day or so earlier, but would not have told me anything more.


I really can agree that TPMS is a reasonable requirement for vehicles that are more likely to overturn than most normal cars. But there was no need for it to be universally required for all cars because some SUVs had an issue.


Norm

 

The only thing I wish the mustang had in which a 350z I rented on R&R from Iraq is the display of each 4 tires and what PSI they were running. Now if it told me that I wouldn't complain about the 150 dollars so much. JMO