[Wendell Young]

Are any special precautions needed to protect the tire pressure sensors ehen removing wheels from a solstice, or when replacing tires. I don't really know how the system works, but I like it and don't want to break something.

 

[gwhunter12]

Tire sensor

Just remember to reprogram the ECM if you've rotated the tires. Such as front left is now the rear left tire. Owners manual has a walk thru system to reprogram this.:leaving:

 

[Wendell Young]

Thanks for the information. I do appreciate it.

 

[blackbirdracing]

2007 FTW!

Love no TMPS.

 

[Treeman]

Tpms saved my butt on the business trip I was just on when I had a slow leak due to a screw in the tire. Light cam e on in the rental at 22psi. The tire looked fine do I would not have known otherwise. Heading into a very rural area and I would have been stuck.

Sent from AutoGuide.com App

 

[Wendell Young]

I love the tire sensors, I just don't want to do anything ti hurt them. Do tires have to be changed any differently?

 

[GXP08jrf]

There's essentially no difference when dismounting or mounting tires with TPMS. No new equipment or tool is required. It'll be transparent to a reputable tire shop.

Damage could occur to the sensor if the technician is not paying attention causing the tire bead to catch on the sensor during removal or snagging the sensor with a tire iron. But in my experience the transmitter/sensor is hearty and would almost require deliberate action to damage during a tire swap.

The system itself is relatively simple. On the inside of the rim, the valve stem contains a pressure sensor and an RF transmitter which sends the pressure reading to the vehicle's computer, similar to how remote keyless entry works, except the TPMS sensors are transmitting information regularly opposed to when a button is pressed. (I believe TPMS and RKE even use the same receiver!)

Regardless, I don't think it's something you need to be concerned about provided you're getting the work done at shop that does tires regularly.

 

[Wendell Young]

Thank you for the answer. That was exactly the sort of information I needed.

 

[Shadofax]

MANY cars have a TPMS these days so shops are very familiar and should never damage the sensor on the inside.

 

[llllfly]

Love them.
Eazy to relean.
After 1st time you do it.
Easy as pie.
LLLFLY

 

[RedDevil]

How accurate is the TPS? I noticed the on board reading on the DIC and my trusty tire pressure gauge are off by a pound or 2. Also, does the cold weather make tires loose air eventually over time? Seems like mine go down by 1 pound of pressure during cold months. Normal?

 

[rob the elder]

The simple answer is yes. The pressure of a trapped gas is related direct to the temperature.

Ideal gas law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PV=nRT

Which means
Automobile tire pressure increases (and decreeses with lowered temps) about 1 psi (pound per square inch) for each 10 degrees F increase (or decrease) in air temperature. At an air temperature of 55 degrees F, a tire's pressure is 30 psi. That same tire, at 25 F will lose 3 PSI on average.

If you fill your tires to pressure when hot, on a 90 F day, then look at the temperature on a 10 degree day with cold tires, you can see a swing of 10PSI.

 

[LiquidPT]

In other words, you didn't lose air. The air just got more dense (took up less space) and put less pressure on the tires

 

[The_Ghost]

How accurate is the TPS? I noticed the on board reading on the DIC and my trusty tire pressure gauge are off by a pound or 2. Also, does the cold weather make tires loose air eventually over time? Seems like mine go down by 1 pound of pressure during cold months. Normal?

Mine are awful! They are not correct but for the first week after they've been reset. I use 3 different gauges, all say my tires are at 32psi, but the dash after 2-4 weeks says 25psi.... <sigh> So I have mine reset everytime it's in for service...and within a week it's off 2psi. Within 2 weeks its about 3-4psi... My car was in for service 5 weeks ago....it's reading 24psi all the way around, but they have 32psi in them... :banghead:

 

[MidniteBlues]

Well last week en-route to Sebring I ran over a bolt, heard it when I hit it and found it caught up onto the shock/spring assembly on left front tire. I was 20 miles or so south of South Bay, sure enough the warning light came on that I was losing air..:willy: Luckily I made it to a gas station and had a shop replace with my donut spare. Returned home, went top my local good year and had both front tires replaced. When they replace the tires, they also replace not only the stem, but the TPS doohickeys... I use it more for what they are, a "monitoring" system. I knew that when I was losing air that the tire was damage..

 

[rob the elder]

Some how we got along without them for 100 years but now the GOVMNT has decided that we must have them . . .

I have 4 cars with them. The Sky has individual readouts and has performed very well since we got the car. Accurate and never a hickup.

The other three cars have ALL had TPMS problems. All three have "integrated" TPMS by which I mean it shows a warning light but not pressure by tire. All three have had a false positive alert. Generally when the temps get down below 5 for a few hours, one of the three will have a sensor freeze and stop working which results in an alarm.

One has aftermarket sensors installed (the factory units went with the wheels stolen from the car while parked at work). One of the four sensors consistently reads 3 pounds LOW. Which means when I fill all four tires to the recommended pressure, the LOW reading sensor alarms. So I have to add 3 pounds to that wheel to shut off the false positive error.

On the whole, I am happy without the TPMS but its not something I am going to fight to remove.:devil:

 

[wspohn]

You might want to look at this earlier thread I started on exactly this issue/question.

http://www.solsticeforum.com/forum/f11/tire-pressure-accuracy-82489/

 

[RedDevil]

In other words, you didn't lose air. The air just got more dense (took up less space) and put less pressure on the tires

Thanks!:thumbs:

 

[RedDevil]

Mine are awful! They are not correct but for the first week after they've been reset. I use 3 different gauges, all say my tires are at 32psi, but the dash after 2-4 weeks says 25psi.... <sigh> So I have mine reset everytime it's in for service...and within a week it's off 2psi. Within 2 weeks its about 3-4psi... My car was in for service 5 weeks ago....it's reading 24psi all the way around, but they have 32psi in them... :banghead:

Our cars are supposed to hold 29psi not 32 according to what is on the inside door panel. Just saying.

 

[GXP08jrf]

For those that may be curious: The tire pressure recommended on the door panel sticker is developed from what Pontiac determined was the best balance of ride quality, fuel economy, performance, handling and a few other factors. This number was arrived at based on the OEM tire construction, so if you have a different manufacturer, size or model of tire other than OEM, some of the above characteristics may be different (from OEM) even at the same pressure anyway. It is not necessarily critical to have your tires at the 29psi that RedDevil pointed out. You will want to stay away from over and under inflation, though.

Increasing or decreasing the pressure a couple pounds generally shouldn't be harmful if you desire to tweak the above performance characteristics to your driving habits. My personal opinion is that 90% of drivers wouldn't notice a difference anyway.

Keeping on the subject of this thread though, the TPMS operates the same regardless if you're riding on 5-year-old, stock Goodyear Eagles, or 5-month-old Hankooks. Tire selection shouldn't have any bearing on TPMS operation.