I can't believe that anyone would have a problem with TPM exept that there is no way (yet that I know of at least) to input the pressures that you think are optimal. I agree that at first the warnings were a pain at the track, but they got very easy to ignore and having fairly accurate pressures actually is a good thing. I wish they would have included temps too. Information is a good thing, you just need to filter out what you don't think is important. In fact, my car keeps telling me I have a flat tire! Who cares, I just look at the pressures and ignore the rest.

Now if TPM meant throttle position management, then it would suck!!!

 

The problem was a little more complicated.
Ford had developed the Explorer at the time to ride on a certain brand of Firestone Tires. First year buyers complained of poor/rough ride.

Since Ford had already pre-purchased millions of tires from Firestone, instead of replacing the tire with a new make on the 2nd 3rd and 4th year Explorers they re-tested the Explorer on the same tires BUT this time with lower air pressures to provide a smoother ride. It worked BUT, all of the testing Ford did with the low pressures took place in Michigan and NOT in a hotter climates.

In hotter climate's the hotter asphalt caused the sidewalls to wear much much faster than in Michigan as an example. Most blowouts took place in the south. This problem was something that even a TPM would not solve b/c it was the manufacturer that specced the tire pressures and NOT the buyer.

TPM's aren't going to solve any of these issues. Waste of money.

 

What is "accurate" to you?

Do you do track days? Do you fill your tire with Nitrogen? Will you change your rims?

If it were Throttle Position "measurement" it would be way cool... you could improve your driving on the track if somehow you can download the logged data as a report.

 

TPS = Throttle Position Sensor
TPMS = Tire Pressure Monitoring SystemThe BERU system will let you recalibrate the target pressure, there are even codes for turning the whole system on/off but I don't yet have them for Porsche just for every other manufacturer.

 

I don't have a problem with it...people in general are idiots; even with the public awareness campains post-Explorer debacle, most don't check pressures...and especially with lower-profile being mainstream and run-flats becoming more popular, an idiot light is the only way for most to tell they're low on air.

 

it's the insurance companies. they want to reduce their claims.

 

First of all, yes I track. It is the only use the car will get. I am the CTI for PCA's Gold Coast region. Yes, my tires are filled with nitrogen and I understand the pressure implications of using that gas. Yes, I plan to change to 18" wheels but you can still use the system if you were so inclined. I may not for convenience reasons, but that is another story. As far as fairly accurate, let me give you my take. I have a Longacre digital guage and I know what accurate is. The Porsche TPMS would only be an assist to my ongoing pressure monitoring. TPMS is important for seeing how long it takes to get to desired pressures, and it also would give information about a pending disaster by showing lowering pressure in a tire. It is useful and if I trusted tire mounters to not trash the sensors when they replaced my tires, I would use it.

Second, I may be wrong but I think you can already get throttle position in data aquisition (in fact I am sure).

 

Mitch,

I am sure this is a totally "begginers" question, but why and how do you fill your tires with nitrogen ?(maybe they provide more stable temperatures at the track?)

 

Instead of blaming the government for everything what we should be doing is screaming at the major automotive companies for trying to save $3 by not implementing a better system.

 

You can disable the TPMS warning light, your dealer can do it using the hammer.

You may have noticed that race cars has tyre pressure monitoring systems. The 959 has a TPMS, when it needs resetting you reinflate the tyres to some unfeasible pressure and then let the air out.

Munich frequently experiences Föhn winds, the huge change in atmospheric pressure that accompanies this atmospheric phenomenon sets off the warning system. I fiddle with tyre pressures much more frequently with a TPMS than without, its a nuisance but one I can live with, I have seen what happens to tyres at high speeds when they are damaged, it makes me much more careful about not curbing tyres.

R+C

 

No problem. I believe the reason to use nitrogen is that the water content of nitrogen is much lower than normal "air". It is water that expands when heated and so is more difficult to predict pressure increases when on track. Now you see alot of companies using nitrogen (like Costco) when mounting tires. I'm not convinced that for normal driving, it makes any noticalble difference since almost nobody I know cares about their tire pressures anyway and just runs their car until they get a flat. For the track, it is nice to use since the gas is not affected by humidity like compressed air is.

The proper way to use nitrogen (although I'm sure most don't do this) would be to use it during the mounting proceedure and then deflate and re-inflate with nitrogen again. At the track I use a bottle. There are some threads about how to set it up.

 

Are you referring to the PiWis(sp?) thing?

 

I am referring to the diagnostic tool the dealers have - as I'm presently in Britain and my team's tool is in Stuttgart, I can't confirm the model number.

R+C

PS Lots of people don't bother with fitting pressure sensors and transmitters to their winter rims, so need to hasve the dsystem turned off on a regular basis.

 

Yup, that's it. I had a race shop disable the thorax airbags and AWS so I could mount my seats. I guess I can have him reprogram my TPMS.

BTW, if you don't have sensors, you won't get a error message. You just get an empty stalk.