TPMS - Did its Job?

HK64_L said:
every 4 - 6 weeks I check them with my t.p. monitor and 'clean' the tires (the 90% that are visible) to remove road stuff. This only takes 5 - 10 minutes
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There are always a lot of mundane stones stuck in the tread... I assume by 'cleaning', your intention is to discover more ominous objects like nails or pieces of glass before they can lead to a problem?
 
MrFixit said:
There are always a lot of mundane stones stuck in the tread... I assume by 'cleaning', your intention is to discover more ominous objects like nails or pieces of glass before they can lead to a problem?
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Yes, I brush the stones away, often some quite big ones, and generally view the tyres. I do this regardless before a long journey; otherwise its every 4 - 6 weeks. Tedious but only a few minutes.

Lawrence
 
Next time do a recalibration even with a known leak. It's smart enough to know something is happening again. (Have an indirect TPMS on our '04 Sienna and a few miles from home just after starting calibration it lit up. Sure enough there was a leak. The Clarity knows even when all four are relatively low. (Checked the next morning with my digital gauge 0.5 PSI resolution with all four exactly the same down to that). I'm currently running 30.5 PSI.
 
Hi. Unfortunately on my 2002 Volvo XC40 Recharge with the “Ultimate” package the TPMS does not display individual tire pressure, nor does any feature in the on-screen vehicle information display. I suppose tHis means they used the less expensive “indirect” TPMS, without internal pressure sensors in the tires. I’m a little disappointed about considering a $27 aftermarket device with cap sensors on a top of the line Volvo but most of the reviews are looking pretty good. I’m glad to see the Kona EV (as well as my 2018 Nissan Leaf) do provide individual tire pressure readings on the dash.
 
Call me sensitive but I can feel the larger rocks stuck in the treads while driving.

There are aftermarket internal TPMS kits. That's what I will put when I switch to RunFlats. If your Volvo already has RunFlats you don't really need it unless the inconvenience of checking all four when a light occurs must be avoided. It is imperative to do a calibration every single time you do a tire pressure adjustment, meaning letting out or adding air to at least one tire. I found out the hard way with the Sienna...
 
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Mike and DeSha said:
Hi. Unfortunately on my 2002 Volvo XC40 Recharge with the “Ultimate” package the TPMS does not display individual tire pressure, nor does any feature in the on-screen vehicle information display.
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In the US, TPMS was not required until 2008.
As such, it is not surprising that the 2002 Volvo essentially has nothing.
 
jzchen said:
I'm currently running 30.5 PSI.
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Do you do this to obtain a more comfortable ride vs. the 36 PSI specified on the door jamb?

jzchen said:
There are aftermarket internal TPMS kits. That's what I will put when I switch to RunFlats
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The aftermarket kit that @Robert_Alabama identified above had some very bad reviews. That convinced me that the caps might be a better solution in spite of perhaps a greater leak potential. Aftermarket internal TPMS kits seem to be rare birds. Is there a specific one that you like?
 
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MrFixit said:
I wanted to reflect on a recent TPMS experience. While driving along, a TPMS warning appeared. Naturally, worrying about a flat, I stopped to check out the situation.

First problem - The TPMS (although I am certain it knows) does not provide any clue as to which tire(s) may be low. So, I go around checking all the pressures and sure enough, the rear driver's side tire was low (around 28 PSI). The others were all very close to the desired 36.

I examined the visible tread area and didn't see anything or hear any hissing. So, I filled it back up to 37, and started driving again.

Second problem - Even though the tires were all back to nominal pressure, the TPMS warning persisted. The vehicle latches the TPMS warning and it will not go away until you perform a TPMS calibration. This is a problem because I had no idea whether this was a slow leak, or a fast one... I did not want to do a TPMS calibration without further knowledge because doing a calibration while the tire is leaking is a bad idea. It should have used the previous calibration (and removed the warning) until I chose to re-calibrate it.

So, without any additional help from the TPMS system, I had no choice but to repeatedly stop and re-check the pressure of the bad tire in order to know how badly it was leaking. After doing this 3 or 4 times and arriving home with essentially no loss of pressure, it was clear that this was a 'slow' leak.

I removed the tire which allowed me to thoroughly inspect it, and was able to easily find a nail:
View attachment 16253

I could see why this leak would be slow and it looked to be easily repairable. I took it to the local tire shop and they patched it just fine. Now, at this point, it was OK to re-check all the inflation's and do a TPMS calibration.

Here is what irks me... The whole principal of this TPMS system (where it doesn't measure the tire pressures, but rather, looks for rotational difference between tires) has been questioned before in this forum. Be that as it may, Honda failed in mechanizing this system. With no additional cost (only a small software update) the system could easily report which tire is at fault. Also, if the fault goes away (ie: you add air pressure), why not clear the indicator to be able to perceive additional air loss while it doesn't make sense to do a calibration without identifying what the root problem is?

Yes, it detected a real problem - and I am grateful for that. It could have been much more useful however.
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Does take long to rcalibrate? I think it just recalibrates to the new state of rotation soon after you start driving.
 
MrFixit said:
I wanted to reflect on a recent TPMS experience. While driving along, a TPMS warning appeared. Naturally, worrying about a flat, I stopped to check out the situation.

First problem - The TPMS (although I am certain it knows) does not provide any clue as to which tire(s) may be low. So, I go around checking all the pressures and sure enough, the rear driver's side tire was low (around 28 PSI). The others were all very close to the desired 36.

I examined the visible tread area and didn't see anything or hear any hissing. So, I filled it back up to 37, and started driving again.

Second problem - Even though the tires were all back to nominal pressure, the TPMS warning persisted. The vehicle latches the TPMS warning and it will not go away until you perform a TPMS calibration. This is a problem because I had no idea whether this was a slow leak, or a fast one... I did not want to do a TPMS calibration without further knowledge because doing a calibration while the tire is leaking is a bad idea. It should have used the previous calibration (and removed the warning) until I chose to re-calibrate it.

So, without any additional help from the TPMS system, I had no choice but to repeatedly stop and re-check the pressure of the bad tire in order to know how badly it was leaking. After doing this 3 or 4 times and arriving home with essentially no loss of pressure, it was clear that this was a 'slow' leak.

I removed the tire which allowed me to thoroughly inspect it, and was able to easily find a nail:
View attachment 16253

I could see why this leak would be slow and it looked to be easily repairable. I took it to the local tire shop and they patched it just fine. Now, at this point, it was OK to re-check all the inflation's and do a TPMS calibration.

Here is what irks me... The whole principal of this TPMS system (where it doesn't measure the tire pressures, but rather, looks for rotational difference between tires) has been questioned before in this forum. Be that as it may, Honda failed in mechanizing this system. With no additional cost (only a small software update) the system could easily report which tire is at fault. Also, if the fault goes away (ie: you add air pressure), why not clear the indicator to be able to perceive additional air loss while it doesn't make sense to do a calibration without identifying what the root problem is?

Yes, it detected a real problem - and I am grateful for that. It could have been much more useful howeve
Frankwell said:
Not to go too far trying to defend Honda's rationale, but since the system compares and records the rotational differences between the four tires, and then looks for changes in these differences that exceed a certain value, it's possible that they feel that while the system can detect a possible problem they don't feel confident that it will always be able to identify the problem tire. And similar thinking when you add air to a low tire after filling it, probably the rotational difference won't be exactly what it was at the last calibration since all of the tires may have lost some varying amount of air over time, so they don't want to just make the assumption that if it all looks good then it all must be good. Instead they want you to recalibrate, since that's easy to do. Now you have a valid point about the "moving target" when there is a faster leak, I guess the best approach is to fill the low tire, calibrate, then as soon as calibration is complete pull over again (when safe) and check the low tire again, if it's already lost pressure then you now have an idea how fast the leak is, but if has lost little or no pressure then you know it's a good calibration that did not get distorted by a faster leak and so the system should be able to let you know during your drive home if the tire later loses air. A hassle, but maybe the best that can be done with this type of system, I don't know.


If it shows tire pressures then the system uses sensors. One advantage of the method Honda uses is that there is no concern about sensors wearing out, or getting damaged by a tire shop. It saves Honda money in manufacturing, and potentially the consumer money. Although obviously another viewpoint is that that's being penny wise but pound foolish. Unfortunately probably the vast majority of consumers of any product tend to be pound foolish, and car makers and other producers respond in kind. Not that this makes it right, but we have seen that with virtually every safety product that has ever come out. The public was not clamoring for ABS, airbags, or before that even seatbelts from what I have read. It has almost always required regulation to get these systems into cars.


I didn't want to have one on the dash so I got one that plugs into the 12V socket. It's tiny though and lacks some capability. I hadn't thought about using battery packs so I might try that when I replace this one. What happens if you plug it into the USB port? I realize it will lose power while the car is off, but will it initialize quickly enough when you start the car? Or is the concern that you might wind up driving off with a flat and do damage before the unit has a chance to initialize.
Click to expand...

r.
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MrFixit said:
I wanted to reflect on a recent TPMS experience. While driving along, a TPMS warning appeared. Naturally, worrying about a flat, I stopped to check out the situation.

First problem - The TPMS (although I am certain it knows) does not provide any clue as to which tire(s) may be low. So, I go around checking all the pressures and sure enough, the rear driver's side tire was low (around 28 PSI). The others were all very close to the desired 36.

I examined the visible tread area and didn't see anything or hear any hissing. So, I filled it back up to 37, and started driving again.

Second problem - Even though the tires were all back to nominal pressure, the TPMS warning persisted. The vehicle latches the TPMS warning and it will not go away until you perform a TPMS calibration. This is a problem because I had no idea whether this was a slow leak, or a fast one... I did not want to do a TPMS calibration without further knowledge because doing a calibration while the tire is leaking is a bad idea. It should have used the previous calibration (and removed the warning) until I chose to re-calibrate it.

So, without any additional help from the TPMS system, I had no choice but to repeatedly stop and re-check the pressure of the bad tire in order to know how badly it was leaking. After doing this 3 or 4 times and arriving home with essentially no loss of pressure, it was clear that this was a 'slow' leak.

I removed the tire which allowed me to thoroughly inspect it, and was able to easily find a nail:
View attachment 16253

I could see why this leak would be slow and it looked to be easily repairable. I took it to the local tire shop and they patched it just fine. Now, at this point, it was OK to re-check all the inflation's and do a TPMS calibration.

Here is what irks me... The whole principal of this TPMS system (where it doesn't measure the tire pressures, but rather, looks for rotational difference between tires) has been questioned before in this forum. Be that as it may, Honda failed in mechanizing this system. With no additional cost (only a small software update) the system could easily report which tire is at fault. Also, if the fault goes away (ie: you add air pressure), why not clear the indicator to be able to perceive additional air loss while it doesn't make sense to do a calibration without identifying what the root problem is?

Yes, it detected a real problem - and I am grateful for that. It could have been much more useful however.
Click to expand...
I had a tire with a slow leak also. I would air up the tire and do the tpms calibration. the warning light would go off and be good for 2 or 3 weeks but then eventually come back on. I never worried about the system. On another occasion i had a worse leak. I was on a road trip and no tire shops around. So i would air up the tire then do the calibration, and about 2 hours later the tpms light came on again. I had to air the tire up a couple times to make it home. But the system seemed to recalbrate promptly. I think that on a leak much worse, the light would soon come on and you should be able to hear the leak. I do agree that being able to see the actual tire pressures would give more peace of mind.
 
MrFixit said:
I wanted to reflect on a recent TPMS experience. While driving along, a TPMS warning appeared. Naturally, worrying about a flat, I stopped to check out the situation.

First problem - The TPMS (although I am certain it knows) does not provide any clue as to which tire(s) may be low. So, I go around checking all the pressures and sure enough, the rear driver's side tire was low (around 28 PSI). The others were all very close to the desired 36.

I examined the visible tread area and didn't see anything or hear any hissing. So, I filled it back up to 37, and started driving again.

Second problem - Even though the tires were all back to nominal pressure, the TPMS warning persisted. The vehicle latches the TPMS warning and it will not go away until you perform a TPMS calibration. This is a problem because I had no idea whether this was a slow leak, or a fast one... I did not want to do a TPMS calibration without further knowledge because doing a calibration while the tire is leaking is a bad idea. It should have used the previous calibration (and removed the warning) until I chose to re-calibrate it.

So, without any additional help from the TPMS system, I had no choice but to repeatedly stop and re-check the pressure of the bad tire in order to know how badly it was leaking. After doing this 3 or 4 times and arriving home with essentially no loss of pressure, it was clear that this was a 'slow' leak.

I removed the tire which allowed me to thoroughly inspect it, and was able to easily find a nail:
View attachment 16253

I could see why this leak would be slow and it looked to be easily repairable. I took it to the local tire shop and they patched it just fine. Now, at this point, it was OK to re-check all the inflation's and do a TPMS calibration.

Here is what irks me... The whole principal of this TPMS system (where it doesn't measure the tire pressures, but rather, looks for rotational difference between tires) has been questioned before in this forum. Be that as it may, Honda failed in mechanizing this system. With no additional cost (only a small software update) the system could easily report which tire is at fault. Also, if the fault goes away (ie: you add air pressure), why not clear the indicator to be able to perceive additional air loss while it doesn't make sense to do a calibration without identifying what the root problem is?

Yes, it detected a real problem - and I am grateful for that. It could have been much more useful however.
Click to expand...
MrFixit said:
I wanted to reflect on a recent TPMS experience. While driving along, a TPMS warning appeared. Naturally, worrying about a flat, I stopped to check out the situation.

First problem - The TPMS (although I am certain it knows) does not provide any clue as to which tire(s) may be low. So, I go around checking all the pressures and sure enough, the rear driver's side tire was low (around 28 PSI). The others were all very close to the desired 36.

I examined the visible tread area and didn't see anything or hear any hissing. So, I filled it back up to 37, and started driving again.

Second problem - Even though the tires were all back to nominal pressure, the TPMS warning persisted. The vehicle latches the TPMS warning and it will not go away until you perform a TPMS calibration. This is a problem because I had no idea whether this was a slow leak, or a fast one... I did not want to do a TPMS calibration without further knowledge because doing a calibration while the tire is leaking is a bad idea. It should have used the previous calibration (and removed the warning) until I chose to re-calibrate it.

So, without any additional help from the TPMS system, I had no choice but to repeatedly stop and re-check the pressure of the bad tire in order to know how badly it was leaking. After doing this 3 or 4 times and arriving home with essentially no loss of pressure, it was clear that this was a 'slow' leak.

I removed the tire which allowed me to thoroughly inspect it, and was able to easily find a nail:
View attachment 16253

I could see why this leak would be slow and it looked to be easily repairable. I took it to the local tire shop and they patched it just fine. Now, at this point, it was OK to re-check all the inflation's and do a TPMS calibration.

Here is what irks me... The whole principal of this TPMS system (where it doesn't measure the tire pressures, but rather, looks for rotational difference between tires) has been questioned before in this forum. Be that as it may, Honda failed in mechanizing this system. With no additional cost (only a small software update) the system could easily report which tire is at fault. Also, if the fault goes away (ie: you add air pressure), why not clear the indicator to be able to perceive additional air loss while it doesn't make sense to do a calibration without identifying what the root problem is?

Yes, it detected a real problem - and I am grateful for that. It could have been much more useful however.
Click to expand...
 
For the XC40 Recharge I am guessing that "2002" is a typo and they have a new 2022. I think that is a pure electric car if not PHEV.

@MrFixit I progressively lowered the pressures because of terribly/visibly obvious center tread wear. Then more recently I am tracking it with an Autel TBE-200. I hope to find the sweet spot for even wear then I'll report. Nearing 58k mi on the original tires.

I actually have 2 aftermarket systems but have not tried them yet. One allows changing tire positions with tire rotation but the other I found out does not. (The other actually connects to the OBD 2 port to display other parameters, but sadly does not support tire rotation)...

A neighbor's late model Audi has indirect TPMS. Not surprising everyone switching to indirect. Too bad self programming sensors didn't catch on...

EDIT- I have confirmed that eBay Item # 144180386208 does allow configuring tire placement for rotation. I am still waiting for when we need new tires to try it though so I can't really comment that I like it or not yet beyond that it does. (Important for internal sensors that is).
 
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lincomatic said:
Here’s on that alerts when the sensor isn’t detected. Also shows it on the screen

Tire Pressure Monitoring System with Intelligent Voice, Universal Wireless Smart Car Tire Safety Monitor with Solar and USB Charge, Real-Time Pressure & Temperature Alerts, 6 Alarm Modes, Install Tool https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TT8DY1B/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_KW5AWVA4Y2DNXKM1DM9H?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I just ordered one. Will report back after testing it out
Click to expand...

I tested this product out this weekend. First, the good news. It's surprisingly accurate, within 1lb of my Acutire gauge. And for some reason, I can't get a tight seal w/ my Acutire on my right rear tire, so I can't even get a decent pressure reading on that tire w/o this add-on TPMS.

Now, the bad news and concerns:
1. The product is not as described. Like the other products people have tried, it doesn't detect when a sensor is offline... the reading just freezes up. Also, it doesn't have voice output, and just beeps instead. I am certain that they sent me the wrong model, and have contacted the seller for a replacement.
2. It didn't occur to me until I installed it.. having these things on the wheels makes it inconvenient to add air to the tires. If you use the locknut, you better make sure you put the wrench in a safe place, because it's difficult to remove the sensors w/o it.
3. I wonder how badly they affect the tire balance.
4. Even though I have a compressor in the trunk, I still worry about them getting loose and bleeding out my air while I'm driving.
 
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lincomatic said:
3. I wonder how badly they affect the tire balance.
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I had thought about this too.

I think you could compensate for this by weighing one and then just sticking an equivalent weight on the opposite side of the rim. Stick-on weights come in a wide variety of different values. Of course if you ever have a tire shop do anything, you would have to be careful about this. Either have them balance the tire with this unit in place or remove your weight and then re-install it when you get it back... This is just a complicating factor.

It will be interesting to see what the seller tells you. This is quite different than what was advertised.

It is inconceivable to me why a reading would freeze if contact with a sensor is lost (with any of these). That just seems fundamental that there should be an error or an alarm or something if a sensor is lost.
 
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lincomatic said:
having these things on the wheels makes it inconvenient to add air to the tires. If you use the locknut, you better make sure you put it in a safe place, because it's difficult to remove the sensors w/o it.
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I assume you meant to say don't lose the locknut removal tool.

I gave up using the locknuts on mine. Mine has weatherproof rubber boots on the sensor that are optional to use. I like using the boots, maybe it's not necessary but it just seems better to keep out moisture. But I found it's either/or, as using the boots makes it very difficult to loosen or tighten the locknuts. Even without the boots it's a slight hassle to loosen the locknuts whenever I want to add air. So I decided to not use the locknuts and I just use the boots. The boots by themselves doesn't make it any harder to remove or reinstall the sensors. And the boots might help keep the sensor from getting loose when not using the locknuts. Also someone said they experienced (or they read somewhere) that using the locknuts contributes to leaks because it prevents screwing the sensors in fully tight. Of course by not using them you give up whatever security the locknuts provide, but I would think that would be mainly effective against teenagers or others who would remove them just for fun. Someone who steals the sensors for intended resale would likely have no problem removing the locknut.


MrFixit said:
It is inconceivable to me why a reading would freeze if contact with a sensor is lost (with any of these). That just seems fundamental that there should be an error or an alarm or something if a sensor is lost.
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I agree and gave my thoughts about how I think it should work in post #16.
 
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The second link looks like the ones I use (light background and black text). I’ve had good luck with them so far on two different cars.
 
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