Tyre pressure warning system - not convinced.

[Bristolf2b]

I had the warning light go off yesterday. Checked the pressures, o/s rear down from 2.6 bar (winter tyre) to 2 bar with a screw in the very edge of the tread. Pumped it up and got home. Lost 1 bar overnight, so took to tyre fitter. Unfortunately because it is on the edge, tyre is toast so new one needed. However, the TPMS worked exactly as it should, and had the screw been in the centre of the tread (actually only about 5mm further from the edge) the tyre woukd have been saved as no sidewall damage.

The only disappointing thing is that the cover had done 4000 miles or less so it has about 7mm of tread left!

[Albervin]

As a motorcyclist I am in the habit of doing visual checks as well as physical checks on the tyres of all my vehicles. The visual is done very time I use them and the physical (tyre pressure check) is done once a month. My BMW bike has a real time pressure monitor so I can see the pressures as I ride. This alerted me to a slow puncture a few months ago before I could even feel it in the saddle. The Skoda system is less precise but still alerted me to a puncture last year. I always use the same tyre gauge, a Michelin Vigil, even though it doesn't agree with my BMW read out. All of these systems are just aids for the driver/rider and not a substitute  for vigilance.

[POHB]

It might not be infallible but it has saved me a lot of hassle.  I set out for a short trip to a shop and it bonged after 1/4 mile, sure enough tyre was down a bit but not enough to see or feel.  Checked again at home and it had gone down again, turned out to be a screw through the tread.  Got tyre fixed.  Very glad of the warning because I had an early start and long drive the next morning and would have been most unhappy to find flat tyre then.

[scottalej]

The light came on last week about 3 1/2 miles from the house and I found a rear tyre was nearly flat. The inner sidewall was split.

Last night I changed wheels around as well as fitting the wheel with the new tyre and checking all the tyre pressures. I drove 3 miles this morning before the light came on. All tyres are fine.

So, originally was that tyre soft when I left the house and it took 3 1/2 miles for the system to realise?

[trundlenut]

The light came on last week about 3 1/2 miles from the house and I found a rear tyre was nearly flat. The inner sidewall was split.

Last night I changed wheels around as well as fitting the wheel with the new tyre and checking all the tyre pressures. I drove 3 miles this morning before the light came on. All tyres are fine.

So, originally was that tyre soft when I left the house and it took 3 1/2 miles for the system to realise?

Yes, it takes a while for the system to notice.

When you changed the wheels round did you reset the system? If not that's why the light came on.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[scottalej]

 

 

When you changed the wheels round did you reset the system? If not that's why the light came on.

`

I know. I deliberately didn't do this just to see how long the system would take to notice any change and / or if it was sensitive enough to notice differences in tread depth.

[Wizzmed]

I had it on my octavia. I concluded that I was much quicker than the system in detecting if I had a flat or low pressure in a tyre. Its a waste of time in my opinion.

[Bristolf2b]

I had it on my octavia. I concluded that I was much quicker than the system in detecting if I had a flat or low pressure in a tyre. Its a waste of time in my opinion.

I disagree strongly , on both of our cars on  the three occasions it has gone off, the system worked before any change in handling could be detected, perhaps because in each case it was a rear tyre. The pressure had dropped by about 0.6 bar, the tyre sidewall was not visibly very different and indeed in each case I only found out which tyre was affected by using a pressure gauge. A very valuable asset in my opinion

[Superb170]

A very valuable asset in my opinion

I agree, more times that not it will be accurate.  Even more useful on the lower profile tyres as the side wall pressure differences are not as visible.  The TPM has saved me from buying a new tyre on more than one occasion where I would have probably done irreparable damage if the warning hadn't activated and I kept driving for too long.

[vkd]

Changed the front two tyres, and TPMS went on after few miles. Reset it, didn't had any problem since then

[Richf]

Mind you I have tpms system in my Nissan , a sensor in each tyre which includes the valve , one of mine is cracked and leaking causing a slow puncture (common fault) but it still works , to replace them is £46 each , plus you then need to get them coded by the dealer . They are made of plastic and very easy to get damaged when you have tyres changed , the Skoda system might not work that well but is less likely to fail

[2SkodaFamily]

I had what I thought was a false alarm on my way to Manchester Airport at Christmas. Stopped on the hard shoulder, all looked fine. Reset it and carried on. Came back to a flat tyre :-(

 

I have had one confirmed false alarm since then. I immediately checked tyre pressures and all ok. I had another bong on the motorway yesterday. Pulled into services, visual inspection seemed fine.

 

This is one of the reasons I HATE dealing with tyre pressures in Bar. Why can't Skoda put the bloody PSI on the inside of the filler cap?

[Huskoda]

Whats the problem with Bar?

[Superb170]

Whats the problem with Bar?

I agree with 2SkodaFamily - I do prefer PSI.  A lot of garage gauges (especially older ones) use PSI with no reference to bar.  Even my dealer only refers to PSI.  In fact I have rarely heard anyone in the tyre industry (Ireland anyway) referencing about bar.  Its always 30PSI or 32 or whatever

[ords]

I had what I thought was a false alarm on my way to Manchester Airport at Christmas. Stopped on the hard shoulder, all looked fine. Reset it and carried on. Came back to a flat tyre :-(

 

I have had one confirmed false alarm since then. I immediately checked tyre pressures and all ok. I had another bong on the motorway yesterday. Pulled into services, visual inspection seemed fine.

 

This is one of the reasons I HATE dealing with tyre pressures in Bar. Why can't Skoda put the bloody PSI on the inside of the filler cap?

Then do a conversion !!

[psycholist]

PSI tends to be more convenient as most of the gauges I have that read in both units have better resolution in the PSI scale of the gauge. The argument that Bar should be used because it's a metric unit doesn't hold a lot of water as neither PSI or Bar are SI standard units but both are currently defined using SI standard mass, length and time units. There would have been plenty of room to add PSI to the filler cap label when it was being printed, so they missed an easy trick there.

Edited 26 February, 2015 by psycholist

[2SkodaFamily]

Exactly. If we were using SI units of pressure, we would be using MPa.

 

I don't like bar because, assuming that 2.2Bar = 32psi, a drop of one digit in Bar is much more significant than a drop of one digit in psi.

[trundlenut]

I have a digital gauge which does psi, bar and kPa. And 1bar is 100kPa.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[psycholist]

The reason they don't use kPa or MPa as 2.2 Bar is 220 kPa or 0.22 MPa, neither of which looks as neat as the bar figure. 32 PSI looks neater than the other options. Just be glad they haven't caused further confusion by writing it as 22 hhPa (1 hectohectopascal = 10 000 Pa, SI rules don't allow multiple prefixes on units, but that doesn't stop people doing it :P). It's almost guaranteed no matter how carefully it's labelled, people who work outside the technology/engineering area would mistake this for a PSI figure and wreck their tyres by running them too soft if the numbers looked too similar anyway...

[williamshatnerspants]

I reset mine when I check/inflate the tyres. So far it has failed to detect one tyre with 22PSI in it. Not trusting it again!

[wokwon]

Why can't Skoda put the bloody PSI on the inside of the filler cap?

 

Mine has PSI in parenthesis on the filler cap (MY12)

[2SkodaFamily]

I had replacement front wheels fitted by a Skoda dealer a few weeks ago. (Long story)

After many tens of miles the warning went off. My wife checked tyre pressures to find that the two fronts were at 1.8 Bar instead of 2.2.

Another black mark for the dealer in Scarborough, and further proof to me that TPS is an erratic and flaky system.

[Superb170]

I had replacement front wheels fitted by a Skoda dealer a few weeks ago. (Long story)

After many tens of miles the warning went off. My wife checked tyre pressures to find that the two fronts were at 1.8 Bar instead of 2.2.

Another black mark for the dealer in Scarborough, and further proof to me that TPS is an erratic and flaky system.

I think the TPS was just dong its job there.  It will always alert you after a few miles when you've just changed your tyres or made some adjustment to the pressures - this is just a prompt from the computer to reset.  The system should always be reset once any changes are made.  It can then begin to monitor your pressures based on the adjusted setting

[Martin.S]

I have had mine in to have the TPS checked because it was failing to report a persistent slow puncture (turned out to be the seal with the wheel - now sorted) and over about 3 weeks of it dropping between 4 & 14 psi it never 'bonged' once - yes I reset it after each top up. Then when I got an actual puncture and new tyre fitted and having reset TPS it I got a false bong the next day and none of the tyres had lost any air.

[2SkodaFamily]

I think the TPS was just dong its job there.  It will always alert you after a few miles when you've just changed your tyres or made some adjustment to the pressures - this is just a prompt from the computer to reset.  The system should always be reset once any changes are made.  It can then begin to monitor your pressures based on the adjusted setting

It was about 60 miles at least before TPS went off. That's unacceptable.