TylerDurden

I wanted to install a tire pressure monitoring system available from Tire Rack. If anyone has done that I would appreciate if you could share your experience on this forum

session

my dad has the PSI system by johnson controls in his 2002 jeep grand cherokee overland, and let me tell you it's all bark and no bite. while it's very good for letting you know if your tire pressures are below a dangerous threshold, it's not very accurate and is not good for everyday monitoring. for example, he will add 1 psi to a tire and the PSI system will show no change. other times he'll add 0.5psi to a tire and it'll show 2 psi of change.

maybe the newer ones are more accurate, but until they are, i won't be putting one in my car.

avlis

I know those systems are a MUST-HAVE if you have run-flat tires but, what good are they if you have regular tires? Especially if they're not very accurate?

peet

On my last car (m3) I had the Smarttire system. It was worth every penny. It measured to the pound and allowed me to make sure that steering or brake shake issues weren't related to goofy tire pressure. Plus the benefit of not having to measure manually was great!

I wanted it this time around, but am a little cash poor I just bought new AMG wheels and snow tires for my C7's you see.

But - I highly recommend it. BTW: my wife's toyota has a monitoring system - it just says LOW ... worthless POS.

P

02Impressor

I've seen an old MB commercial (S Class) where they can actually help your deflated tire somehow. It sounded very star-wars like because I think they claim to be able to inflate your tire or some nonsense like that. Anyway I parked over a glass bottle today and that **** shattered and a big chunk when into my tire. I pulled it out but I'm not sure how severe the damge is/was. So will the car sensors notify me if something is wrong?

amdeutsch

Your C-class is equipped with some very good, some not so good sensors. Some of those, of course you must realise, are only active when driving the vehicle. A learning curve for those is required as adjustment may not be possible. I think the one you are asking about is called a *butt sensor*. You may also use some of the external sensors called *eyes*. But that may take some time as cause and result are not instantaneous in a lot of cases.(j/k)

02Impressor

I don't see why all cars can't instill this feature. I'm pretty sure luxurious cars have this feature.

AlpharettaC32

You're either talking about the tire pressure monitoring system that is available on E (I think) S and SLs, or the tire pressure adjustment system that was available on Hummer H1s, where you could increase/decrease tire pressure due to changes in terrain. That utilized an air tank that passed gas (ha ha) into the tires. Or you may be talking about run flat tires; to be honest, I'm laughing pretty hard.

I think Mercedes would tell you that the best thing to do is to look where you're driving (and that's saying something for the company that is pioneering research in systems where the person behind the wheel is not always driving!). Not even the Parktronic system can detect a bottle in your path. Either that, or drive with someone in your trunk who will pop out with a bottle of fix-a-flat when you decide to see what happens when 2800 pounds of car is applied to 2 oz of glass.

tifosiv122

If I am not mistaken, all C5 Vettes have a similar system...plus for like $300 or so you can add the system to any car...its some sort of electric thing with a "reader" that goes inside your car to tell you the PSI of each tire.

Erik

Matt230K

I think there is some basic system using wheel speed sensors on all MB's. My car had a blowout, but my friend was driving and I was not in the car. However, he said there was some sort of warning message that came up. So I think it has a way of warning you, but only if it is a severe decrease in pressure. The tire pressure monitor on the higher end cars will tell you the exact pressure of each tire at any time.

Matt230K

I think very soon all manufacturers have to have a tire pressure monitoring system in all cars. I'm not sure when this takes place, but it is some sort of law that is going to go into effect in the next year or two.

tifosiv122

This is what I was talking about...

http://www.streetbeatcustoms.com/tipsimodi.html

Not worth it IMO, but if you feel you need it, go ahead.

Erik

KOMPRESSORnSC

TireRack has them, too.

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/...artire_all.jsp

02Impressor

Oh ok so I wasn't that far off .... these devices exist --- just not in our coupes. Anyway I'll get the tires checked. When I was at SERVICE A few weeks ago the ******** dealer told me there was a nail in one of my tires. He wanted $30 to get it out, I told him 'no way', so he just left without telling me which tire it was or how severe.

Spyke

Ah... maybe I'm missing something here, but what's the big deal about paying them $30 to repair it? If you're worried about finding it yourself I can't believe you're too excited about actually fixing it yourself?

What did they say when you asked which tire it was in?

02Impressor

No, the reason I refused to pay is because the way he said it I knew he was trying to make a few bucks off me. They didn't do jack ***** for service A and still kept my car there for half the day. When I told him I'm not going to pay, he just said OK, and proceeded to walk away. I caught up to him and asked him if he's going to atleast tell me which tire it is, and he said it's one of the front tires and that he'll let me know in a few minutes. Then 15 minutes later, I got my car back and he was no where to be found.

mctwin2kman

Although most places will plug a tire for free, and $30 is a bit absurd, you should have had it fixed. Because leaving it in there could be a major safety problem for yourself or whomever drives the car. Nothing like a blowout at 70 MPH to test your reaction time. As for the pressure monitor stuff, it makes no diference when a sidewall blows out which is normally what would happen, the sensors are going to alert you to little to late. They are a nice feature, but we must also realize that now we are adding sensors and electronics to an object that spins upward of a few hundred revolutions a minute. Not likely a very reliable piece that I would bet my life on there. It is a toy in my eyes, you can get them on many high-end cars but it should not be used more than your eyes, you should always check your tires before driving your vehicle. And no I do not check them up close every time but I do look at all four tires before getting in the car. But yes they should be offered as an option on all vehicles for that little extra piece of mind, but remember it could warn you when it is too late to do anything about a lose of tire pressure. For nails and screws and slow leaks it is good but it will do absolutely nothing during a blow-out except tell you what you already should know.

tifosiv122

Your lucky (or unlucky) that they actually let you leave. I know in NJ, if they let you leave they can get sued if you have a blowout and get injured. They are not supposed to let the car off the lift once a puncture is found.

Erik

revstriker

I think most places will plug a tire for free if they are already doing some work on the tires; balancing, rotating, etc. If they are not doing this work, why would they, or should they do this work for free? Considering the work involved, I don't think $30 is that absurd.

I do agree with you about getting it fixed though. $30 now verses a new tire (+ any other damage from a blow out) later...

mctwin2kman

It takes less than 5 minutes to plug a tire once the hole is found. It is even easier when the nail or screw is still there as it is easy to find it. They apparently were looking and found it so why not plug it out of convinience. I got my tire plugged for free on my wife's Saturn and she paid half what I paid for my car. My family used to own a car dealership for 75 years and we plugged them for free. I used to do it, along with oil changes and it took literally 5 minutes to find it and plug it.

KOMPRESSORnSC

Okay, I know there are two different ways to plug a tire. With the rope looking stuff from the outside, and with a 'T' shape plug (looks like a panel fastener) from the inside. I've had both done, but when I took my old car in for a plug the last time, the repair shop told me that doing it from the outside was dangerous and they only do it from the inside. They even pulled out the 'outside' plug, and replaced it with the inside style. Any opinions?
BTW- they charged me $7 for the one, and replaced the other for free.

revstriker

You must be talking about plugging the tire from the outside. Everytime I have had a tire plugged (not too many), they have taken the tire off the car, removed the tire from the rim, plugged the hole, put the tire back on the rim, balanced, and re mounted. This is what I was talking about when I said that $30 didn't seem too high.

mctwin2kman

I have had several outside plugs on several cars and several tires. I have yet to see one fail even after 15-20,000 miles. So I really don't care which they use. But either way, for the price of the car and the prestige that supposedly comes with ownership the dealer should have done it for free. Or at least less than $30 bucks. I have also mounted and dismounted many a tire and I can tell you that with the proper equipment that it would take less than 30 minutes to do a tire plug unsing the inside method as well. Either way the dealer should have fixed it because of the safety issue of a blow-out and as stated previously the possible libel that could come from them not fixing the problem.

02Impressor

If G-d forbid anything does happen I would blame them 100% for it regardless if it was the same tire or not.

The question wasn't about money, it was about how he presented the question to me. If he would have explained me the situation in a little more detail perhaps I would be inclined to pay and not think twice about it. But he said it in this 'slick' way that was reminiscent of any dealer or salesman that tried to make a quick buck out of me. Even when I said 'no' he just said 'ok' and walked away as if there wasn't any problem to begin with. I would think if the problem was critical he would have asked me again.

mctwin2kman

I was mearly trying to say they should have fixed it for free with no questions asked. Other than to tell you that they fixed it and told you which tire just in case you wanted to replace it. This $30 crap and the attitude are ridiculous on there part.