TPMS's..caution everyone...

[wolfdogs]

as you know, NHTSA has mandated them on all vehicles 10,000 gvw and below..many manufactures have already been supplying them with certain models...some its an option, some its standard. next year..it will be standard. thing is... the industry is trying to get their tire dealers to get educated on them. the days of taking a guy who's sweeping the shop floor and telling him to change tires are quickly going away. Tire changing equipment must be updated.. (the mounting machines). Every car manuf.'s system is different..there is no standardization at this point..and tire dealers are either nervous or they just play dumb. This can end up costing them big..or you.

The first thing a tire dealer may ask you is if you vehicle has a TPMS. If it does, he will most likely ask you to demontrate that it works by dropping the tire pressure on one or more of your tires to set it off. They know that some folks with inoperable ones will try and blame the tire dealers after a tire replacement.

Alot of systems use a TPMS valve in the tire. These are probaly the most difficult for the tire dealer to work with. When a tire is changed with a TPMS valve, the dealer should let the valve drop gently into the bottom of the tire after unbolting it and take it out after taking the tire off the rim. The gromet seal needs to be removed from the valve and a new one installed. The tire mounter then puts the valve back in the rim..places the nut on the unit and tightens it up. Using the original gromment, velve core and retaining nut could result in an air leak.... and the valve stem nut needs to be torqued to the O.E. manufactures specs as well. Then!!! when the tires are back on the car...the tire tech needs to reprogram the sensors so that the vehicles PCM knows where they are positioned again.

As you can see....not only will TPMS raise the price of new 08's... but tire mounting and balance charges will be going up as well.

just FYI for those who havent heard.....

[Steel Chicken]

woot for the nanny state.

[1Monark1]

How disgusting. Anyway i don't see myself buying a brand new car for a long time. New cars don't do it for me, but I will remember this a spread the word.

[AlphaEden]

vettes have had this for a long time, big pain in the ass, the damn sensors are expensive too if they go out

[Pennybags]

In my opinion... New cars are nice but with all these electronics on them, it's getting to a point where you can't do anything with them unless you replace the whole electrical system with something simple.

Look at this whole remote start deal. It's a little ridiculous. Just because there were not that many GTOs produced is not a reason to not support it.

This coming from an EE. :wiggle:

[bullygoat]

Just chalk the TPMS up too people being too stupid to operate there vehicles. I don't expect anyone here to take offense. If you did, I'm sorry the truth hurts. Most safety innovations placed on vehicles come from a need to protect people from themselves. But back to the point of my post, the tire monitors on GM vehicles at least post no additional costs to a tire change if you know what you're doing.

Tim

[Rob@WretchedMS]

The gaskets will need to be changed on the sensors everytime the tire comes off, Everything that Wolfdogs said is 100% true. I have a new machine coming in 2 weeks, and the gasket kit is nearly $200 from NAPA and it only covers some of the cars.

Tim, I agree, this whole TPMS thing is also a direct result of poor engineering on Ford's part. If it were not for the Ford Explorer you would not have TPMS on cars.

[Steel Chicken]

If it were not for the Ford Explorer you would not have TPMS on cars.

you mean if it were not for people driving their explorers at high speeds on under inflated tires on super hot days.