Tyre pressure check system!

[bryanp]

I have a Elegance with the tyre check system on it, I know it's a crude system that uses the ABS sensors but I have found it's not that accurate, I've had it warn me when I put my steel spare on after a puncture but not warn about the puncture, then today I was looking over my car as I could hear a suspect noise from the front when turning right, feared it could be a CV joint or wheel bearing but the noise was oscillating and was more or less on every wheel turn, whilst looking noticed the tyres looked low, checked them and both fronts were a 1.4bar instead of the 2.3bar the petrol flap says! Pumped the up and hey presto noise gone!!! Think the noise must have been the tyre scrubing!!!

Anyone else not convinced by the tyre pressure monitoring system on our Superbs!?

Edited 5 January, 2016 by bryanp

[mannyo]

The system will only pickup sudden changes where there is a large rotational difference between the wheels. A small deviation, especially if across the same axle will not be detected.

[Raptor]

Others on this site have had good experiences with it. I have found it yo useless. Blow out took the system several hundred yards on a flat tyre to tell me I had a problem! Others have received notification with a small reduction in the set pressure. I have known my tyre to loose half a bar pressure and no notification. What's the point!

[psycholist]

Mine's saved me having to buy 3 tyres in less than 2 years thanks to spotting slow punctures (A screw, a nail and a poorly sealed new tyre). It's certainly not foolproof, but it's a clever use of existing hardware to add a new function without decreasing reliability or increasing cost significantly.

[Othen]

I've found it to be useful on the whole. It indicated the two punctures I have had straight away (within yards) and also spotted a slow puncture which turned out to be fixable. It did give one false indication last summer, which wasted half an hour in a layby whilst I worked out how to re-set it.

Alan

[Superb170]

While it has been useful and also saved me having to buy new tyres in the past, I've had a few false alarms too where there was no change in pressure and I had to reset it a number of times.

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[Wile7]

I must admit that I have found mine to be pretty accurate on the whole...

...however it does not replace my own cursory visual check of all the tyres every few days and weekly air check at the garage. The swiss air pump systems at petrol stations are really good.

Just in case...

Dave

[langers2k]

You can also retrofit the highline direct system with sensors attached to each wheel to get the actual pressure.

 

If I remember correctly from my retrofit, if your cluster and gateway already support it then all that's needed is the TPMS module and 4 sensors fitting inside the alloys.

[Superb170]

...however it does not replace my own cursory visual check of all the tyres every few days and weekly air check at the garage.

 

I agree, like most drivers aids they are exactly just that and are never a substitute for common sense and a little observation

[Bristolf2b]

I am another who think the system works well, and has saved three tyres on mine and my partner's cars with the same system. I was advised a while ago by an Audi dealer (when I had my A4 with the same system) to check the pressures with an accurate gauge and reset regularly as good practice. It takes a couple of minutes a month.

I've had one unaccounted for false alarm in nearly three years. It has gone off twice when I adjusted the pressures for a higher load and forgot to reset it (doh) in both cases it took about five minutes driving to trigger.

Edited 6 January, 2016 by Bristolf2b

[peterposh]

Mine went off and the tyres all looked ok , went round with a gauge and one tyre had only a bar in it courtesy of a screw. Tyre place said the detector is in the valve

Edited 7 January, 2016 by peterposh

[wokwon]

Mine went off and the tyres all looked ok , went round with a gauge and one tyre had only a bar in it courtesy of a screw. Tyre place said the detector is in the valve

 

Nope, there are two systems.

 

For cars sold in USA, they must have an actual pressure sensor in each tyre.  Sometimes it's part of the valve assembly, sometimes its a thingy glued to the wheel.  These ones can tell the car the actual pressure in side the tyre. Sometimes these actual-pressure systems are used on premium cars too.

 

For our Skodas, they use the ABS sensors.  Each wheel hub has a toothed ring that rotates past a hall effect sensor.  Using this the ABS system knows how fast each wheel is rotating.  A deflation of one tyre will reduce the diameter of the tyre, causing it to rotate faster.  If the difference is enough, the system will trigger an alert.  It cannot detect a problem if both tyres on one axle deflate at the same rate.

 

I bought an aftermarket system that uses sensors screwed onto the valves and a display in the car.  I was chasing down the tyre scrubbing problem and wanted to keep an close eye on the pressures, rather than each fortnight when I check them all manually.  The one I used is a Steelmate TP-71.  It's tiny and unobtrusive in the car.  It was around $150AU (about 50 pence Stirling, our currency is worthless at the moment).  It showed me a very slow leak I had on a freeway trip from Melbourne to Canberra when the tyre had deflated from 40 PSI to 36.

[Guest]

Well I think the TPMS system is okay. Went off to work and on the way it came on. Checked the tyres at work and one was slightly down. Finished my 4 day shift pattern and off for a quick trip and it came on very quickly. Turned out I had a nail in the middle of the tyre and this was causing the loss of pressure obviously.

Could have had it fixed, but I never have punctures repaired as I simply don't trust the tyre after a fix. Always ditch them no matter how new the tyre is.

Now fitted a Yokohama tyre in its place. Tyre monitoring for me works.

[psycholist]

Provided the tyre is removed and patched from the inside there's not a lot to worry about regarding tyre reliability after puncture repairs - certainly I've seen no adverse effects. Plug style repairs inserted from the outside are only supposed to be temporary however.

[Guest]

Many years ago when I was travelling all around the South West of England and Wales, I had a puncture. Got it fixed and a few weeks later whilst travelling "in the region of 70mph" it blew up and I had 3 lanes of busy motorway to cross to get to the hard shoulder. Sat on the bank for some time before I could change the wheel. Ever since then, punctured tyres are ditched. I simply don't trust them.

[bigjohn]

How do you know if your car is fitted with  tyre pressure monitoring system. Mine is a 2014 facelift twindoor 1.4S and I'm sure I read somewhere on an online spec that at this age all were fitted with it. However can't find any evidence of it in Maxidot?

[Bristolf2b]

When you turn on the ignition and all of the warning symbols light up, the TPMS looks like a section of tyre. If this shows on your dash and then goes out when you turn on the engine, then it has TPMS.

The reset button is on the centre console, left hand side

Edited 7 January, 2016 by Bristolf2b

[bigjohn]

When you turn on the ignition and all of the warning symbols light up, the TPMS looks like a section of tyre. If this shows on your dash and then goes out when you turn on the engine, then it has TPMS.

The reset button is on the centre console, left hand side

 

Thanks,

 

Just checked - Don't think I have it fitted on mine 

Edited 7 January, 2016 by bigjohn

[Jamsco]

I had two new rear tyres fitted today and immediately I started the car, the tyre pressure warning came on. Stopped in a the petrol station and both were well below pressure. So, good job done by the warning system, poor show from the tyre fitters!

[Ootohere]

Not really.

The tyre fitter could have put in too low a pressure, but reset the TPMS, and then you would have had no warning.

 

The system needs pressures checked, then TPMS reset.

And tyres can drop pressure over time equally and then there may be no warning.

[peterposh]

I don't think my S has it

[Jamsco]

Oh, well thank you to them for not stitching me up!?!

[Superb170]

And tyres can drop pressure over time equally and then there may be no warning.

Yes, this happened to me a few weeks ago. All tyres went down by 2 psi all round. Didn't know until I physically checked. Again like all the other monitoring systems and aids, regular checks are still necessary.

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Edited 9 January, 2016 by Superb170

[Othen]

Not really.

The tyre fitter could have put in too low a pressure, but reset the TPMS, and then you would have had no warning.

 

The system needs pressures checked, then TPMS reset.

And tyres can drop pressure over time equally and then there may be no warning.

... It was still pretty poor of the tyre fitter to under inflate the tyres in the first place. He may well have charged for filling with nitrogen as well (which always seems a bit of a scam on a road car as it makes up 79% of air)!

 

Alan

Edited 10 January, 2016 by Othen

[Ootohere]

Very true.

But very few Tyre Fitters under inflate. Usually they over inflate to get the tyre seated on the bead, then deflate.

They should ask the Customer what pressure they want, or say what they set them at.

 

But equally the Customer should ask, or say what they want, then reset the TPMS. 

Or reset pressures them self.

 

The Driver is the one responsible really.  They should know the pressures required for the load being carried.