Runflat questions

S

Ste

Senior member
 Costa Del Barrow-in-Furness
This may all seem very basic and pointless, but being a complete run-flat virgin please bear with me :D

Driving to Manchester on Friday and about an hour down the motorway the runflat light came on red on the dash and chimed. s**t me up a little bit, so slowed to about 60 and pulled into the nearest service station... Checked the tyres visually and also took off the caps and checked they all had air in, so assumed it was a fault and reset with the button on the centre console.

Drove the rest of the way to Manchester, parked up for two days and drove the 100 odd miles home all with no problems, so assumed it was just a glitch.

But then driving last night in the wet and the light came on again. Again, checked visually and checked the tyres had air in and all was fine, so reset.

Question is, how can I tell if one of the tyres is punctured with them being runflats (Bridgestone Potenza 17"), is it a case of going and inflating all the tyres to whatever pressure it says on the door (anyone know what that is?) then doing again and checking none have lost pressure, or what? Might be the kick up the arse I need to ditch the runflats and get some proper tyres, but could do with it coming after christmas for financial reasons :(

Ta x
 
Just use a pressure gauge to check the type pressure

If any are low pump them up then check them a week or so

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
When you reset the pressure monitor, you are essentially telling the computer that the current tyre pressures are all correct and proper. Resetting when you do not know this to be true gets rid of the annoying light, but is not really helpful.

The recommended pressure varies with several factors, model, engine size, tyre size, suspension type. Best to just check the placard in the door jamb.
 
bcworkz said:
When you reset the pressure monitor, you are essentially telling the computer that the current tyre pressures are all correct and proper. Resetting when you do not know this to be true gets rid of the annoying light, but is not really helpful.

The recommended pressure varies with several factors, model, engine size, tyre size, suspension type. Best to just check the placard in the door jamb.
Click to expand...

Agreed
 
micz4 said:
bcworkz said:
When you reset the pressure monitor, you are essentially telling the computer that the current tyre pressures are all correct and proper. Resetting when you do not know this to be true gets rid of the annoying light, but is not really helpful.

The recommended pressure varies with several factors, model, engine size, tyre size, suspension type. Best to just check the placard in the door jamb.
Click to expand...

Agreed
Click to expand...
+1 :thumbsup:
 
Ste said:
This may all seem very basic and pointless, but being a complete run-flat virgin please bear with me :D

Driving to Manchester on Friday and about an hour down the motorway the runflat light came on red on the dash and chimed. s**t me up a little bit, so slowed to about 60 and pulled into the nearest service station... Checked the tyres visually and also took off the caps and checked they all had air in, so assumed it was a fault and reset with the button on the centre console.

Drove the rest of the way to Manchester, parked up for two days and drove the 100 odd miles home all with no problems, so assumed it was just a glitch.

But then driving last night in the wet and the light came on again. Again, checked visually and checked the tyres had air in and all was fine, so reset.

Question is, how can I tell if one of the tyres is punctured with them being runflats (Bridgestone Potenza 17"), is it a case of going and inflating all the tyres to whatever pressure it says on the door (anyone know what that is?) then doing again and checking none have lost pressure, or what? Might be the kick up the arse I need to ditch the runflats and get some proper tyres, but could do with it coming after christmas for financial reasons :(

Ta x
Click to expand...
Had a similar experience earlier in the year the first time i checked the tyres i found nothing so took them up too pressure and left them for about a week then the warning went off again this time i found two screws in one tyre :headbang:
Got the screws removed and tyre repaired for about £15 at Hiq been fine since :thumbsup:
 
Took it to a friends garage today, all tyres were slightly low so I got him to inflate them all to the pressures on the door, and reset the sensor. Will check them again in a week or next time the light comes on and see if any have lost pressure.

Cheers all

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2
 
i think the TPMS is a good feature when you understand it .
when it goes off it does'nt necessarily mean a flat tyre . more likely that one has dropped below the level the system was set at .
i had a slow puncture on a previous 5 series & the tyre needed air every 4/6 weeks . required nothing more than a top up .
do agree though if it alarm's at motorway speed there is a tendency to panic :cry:
 
Especially alarming as it's RED, which usually means stop ASAP and investigate. Should be a two stage system, amber for any usable pressure level, only red for close to complete loss.
 
I checked all my tyres and all were slightly down so re inflated them to the correct pressures on the door, not had any problems with the light coming on since so assume it was a glitch or just caused by the slight loss of pressure but admittedly haven't had a chance to recheck the pressures yet.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2
 
When I had my Z4 3 years ago the sale guy did say that bumpy roads can trigger false alarms re the tyre pressure monitors. Heading home after picking up the car whilst on the M42 just after joining fron the M40 heading North the monitors went off on the awful concrete surface that rattles your body, it was a false alarm. No other problems since.
 
I think you'll find that the TPMS doesn't actually monitor tyre pressures but simply measures the speed at which the tyre is rotating compared to the road speed. It does this by using the ABS sensors. Therefore checking if you have air is not a true indication of an actual problem. Even tho you have run-flats a reduction in pressure will change the circumference of the tyre and subsequently cause an error due to the change in rotational speed.

However just to contradict myself I've heard that some later z4's actually do monitor the pressure. Anyone know the changeover year??

:)
 
I'm going to put some winter tyres on this weekend anyway so i'll have a good look at the runflats when they come off check all is ok with them.

The guy in the garage gave me the old "we really can't recommend taking off runflats, it can invalidate insurance and cause all sorts of warning lights"

Any truth in this? I was under the impression that once I take the runflats off i'll just need to reset the TPMS and it'll work just the same with any other tyres? And wasn't aware it'd effect insurance?
 
Right, reset after any tyre change, RFT or not. Either the non-RFT crowd is more vocal, or most of us have gone non-RFT. No problems with TPMS. The insurance issue may vary by carrier, but it seems most don't have an issue with it. Roadside assistance coverage could have an issue though.
 
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