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Tire pressure monitor sensors

Alloy wheels and tyre discussion
CYCLONE2
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Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by CYCLONE2 » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:12 pm

I took my 2 front wheels in today to have the new Continental Extreme Contact DW tires installed. For some reason the rear tires are lost in UPS land somewhere. I've got the Ellipsoid wheels. I asked the installer if they were hard to take off and install. He said they were a little difficult. I asked him if the TPMS units made the installation more difficult. He told me there were no TPMS sensors on the wheel. :?
Is that true? I assumed there was some kind of device on the wheels but he said no. I know the car has that system so what's up with that?
Did someone steal them from me during the night? :x How does the system work? He said he's seen systems that sense ride height and that is how those systems work.
Maybe the sensor is in the valve?

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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by Half Colin » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:33 pm

The TPMS in US cars (guessing you're on the other side of the pond from your spelling of tyre! ) is different from European cars and does use pressure sensors in the wheels. I don't know what they look like but it does sound like you're missing them. You really need someone on your side to help you out.
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Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by Liam-O » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:12 pm

If you mean when it checks for a flat, it does it by checking how many revolutions at a certain speed I believe.
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Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by Adamski » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:26 pm

Liam-O wrote:If you mean when it checks for a flat, it does it by checking how many revolutions at a certain speed I believe.
That was my understanding of how it worked...
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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by WLH » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:28 pm

CYCLONE2, what year is your Z?
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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by M@r]{ » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:28 pm

Thats how it works on the 5 series, no sensors as such, just the rate of revolution.
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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by WLH » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:31 pm

Ok...It look like you have 2005 Zed and therefor no TPMS sensors. TPMS sensors started on the 2007 models for the US.
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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by cj_eds » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:31 pm

Yip, it guesses from the 4 wheel speed sensors that if one wheel is dragging its feet a little then its an underinflated tyre.

Problem being it can also go off for other reasons, like the wheels are experiencing different levels of grip. (Such as ice in winter.)

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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by CYCLONE2 » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:30 am

WLH wrote:CYCLONE2, what year is your Z?
2005 with 18" ellipsoids.

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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by CYCLONE2 » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:39 am

I "ASSUMED" that if I lost a few pounds of pressure in a tire that the system would let me know about it. I then would check my tires, add the air needed to the problem tire, reset the system and away I go. I also "ASSUMED" there was a sensor of some kind in each wheel. I was surprised to hear there was not.
Thanks for the responses..........

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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by dan425 » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:41 am

When my tyre pressure was low the other day my run-flat warning light came on. I filled all four tyres up and reset the RFT system. No problems since.

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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by WLH » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:43 am

CYCLONE2 wrote:
WLH wrote:CYCLONE2, what year is your Z?
2005 with 18" ellipsoids.
No worries as your model uses tire rotation measurement from the anti-lock brake system to determine if a tire has lost air. However, as I understand it it's not as accurate as the TPMS system and you can have quite a bit of air loss before you get a warning.
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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by WLH » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:55 am

CYCLONE2, BTW you're going to really like the Continental Extreme Contact DW tires. They are just excellent... :driving:
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Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by Liam-O » Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:14 am

As I found, losing air equally across all tyres meant no warning. I think the system is just to detect a flat, and is not a substitute to checking manually?
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Re: Tire pressure monitor sensors

Post by Bumpy » Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:56 am

Tire sensors in North America work like this:
American cars have the built in sensors.
They can be identified by a stiffy valve stem.

Canadian cars monitor air pressure via the diameter of the tire when properly inflated, as interpreted by the ABS System.
They can be identified by a flexy valve stem.

Problems can arise cause alot of American Z's get imported into Canada.

My advice is to give the valve stems a wiggle and you will know right away where that tire came from.

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